Rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight has been injured in an early morning shooting at a West Hollywood nightclub but is expected to survive.

Sergeant C Tatar, watch commander at the Los Angeles County sheriff department's West Hollywood station, says the 49-year-old and two others were hit at the 1OAK club around 1.30am.

Authorities say the club was packed at the time, and they are still seeking a suspect.

The other victims were a man and a woman.

Suge, who founded the label Death Row Records, was also shot in 2005 at an MTV awards pre-party in Miami.

He helped make megastars out of Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre, shifting the centre of the rap universe to the West Coast in the 1990s.