Have Gun Will Travel: The Spectacular Rise and Violent Fall of Death Row Records

Have Gun Will Travel is not strictly a Tupac book. It is the story of the label where he made his final albums. New York-based music journalist Ronin Ro traces how Death Row Records became the most powerful name in West Coast rap in the early nineties, and how the company came apart amid violence, investigations and prison time. The book is in English.

The facts

Ro has written for The Source, Vibe, Spin and Rolling Stone, among others. His earlier book was Gangsta: Merchandising the Rhymes of Violence (1996); later came books on Sean Combs’s Bad Boy label (2001) and on Dr. Dre (2007).

What it’s about

The central figure is Marion “Suge” Knight: his path from Compton via football and bodyguard work to the top of Death Row, the signing of Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg and eventually Tupac, the methods the label used to keep its artists in line, and the rivalry with Bad Boy in New York. The story runs through Tupac’s death in 1996, the murder of The Notorious B.I.G. in 1997 and Knight’s imprisonment. Ro describes intimidation, beatings and gang ties in graphic scenes.

Verdict

Journalistic reportage and one of the early go-to books on Death Row. Publishers Weekly called it a significant contribution to the history of pop music, and the library trade journals Booklist and Library Journal also praised it. Kirkus Reviews, on the other hand, found it “sloppy but repellently gripping”complaining that crucial information is scrambled or missing. The serious allegations against Knight, such as gang money behind the label’s launch, are the author’s findings, not court rulings. Still, anyone who wants to understand Tupac’s Death Row years will find it hard to skip this book. More titles: Books.