by Devon Maloney for Vanity Fair

When Lydia Harris has been included in the hip-hop history books, it has mostly been as a wife. Her husband, Michael “Harry-O” Harris, claims he was one of the first to bankroll Death Row Records, the legendary—and legendarily doomed—West Coast label that launched the careers of greats like Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur. But if it were up to an industry that has hosted more than its fair share of violence, exploitation, and disrespect of female artists and entrepreneurs over the years, Lydia would have been forgotten altogether.