Eminem was almost collateral damage in the feud between Suge Knight and Dr. Dre.
In an interview with Murder Master Music Show, Shady's former bodyguard Big Naz Williams explained how he almost lost Em to Knight's red-shirted goons during the 2001 Source Awards.
"We were at The Source Awards, and we all know historically in the past, The Source Awards, someone always got shot," Naz explains. "That was our first encounter with Suge Knight and his henchman. Em was going to his seat and The way they had the seating was all messed up, and the bodyguards couldn’t sit with the artists. I think that was by design ’cause I think they really wanted the artists to be able to network with each other, but it also gives people who got beef with other artists to get at them. “He’s beefing with all these guys in these red shirts [Suge is a blood} So I come from where I was at, I had to come back around, I noticed Em’s face changing, he’s turning like tomato red. There’s a sea of red guys around him. I had to bust through the middle man and snatch him up. Like, ‘Hey man what the hell’s going on up here?’ This is exactly what they said, ‘Death Row, motherfucker, Death Row.'" I had to snatch him up," Naz continued. "I had to call Dre and his bodyguards and tell them what was going on because they was backstage, snatched him up backstage, called the limo driver. I said, ‘Look, I need you all to have that car around when I call y’all. But the way they had it set up, the limos can only stay seated for like 30 seconds at a time in front of the red carpet for security reasons. So long story short, we ended up going backstage, Eminem did his presentation, and we had to watch out for guys backstage. So I pretty much had to have him stand behind me, and I just had to be on knockout mode, man. So it was me, Dre, Dre’s bodyguards, we were in beast mode the whole time. So, anybody that got anywhere close trying to get an autograph or trying to talk, trying to speak, they were gonna get laid out, man because that was the kind of atmosphere that was set up.”Naz went on to talk about the time Suge sent 50 goons to Hawaii to break up a Dre and Snoop Dogg show.
Listen to his tales below: