LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight was taken to hospital on Thursday shortly before he was due to appear in court, in the second such incident in weeks, his lawyer said.

The 49-year-old had been due to be arraigned over allegedly robbing a camera from a photographer, in a case separate from a murder and attempted murder charges he faces.

The exact reason for his new hospitalisation was not immediately clear, but local media said he had complained of stomach pains after being transferred from jail to the courthouse.

His lawyer David Kenner told the TMZ celebrity news website that Knight had been dealing with bleeding in the stomach.

On Feb 3 he was taken to hospital after complaining of chest pains, shortly after appearing in court over a hit-and-run that left one man dead and another in the hospital the previous week.

Knight co-founded Death Row Records along with hip-hop music king Dr Dre in the early 1990s.

The label launched stars such as Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur but collapsed in 1996 when Knight was jailed for violating a probation order by beating up a rival in Las Vegas.

He again served a 10-month jail stint in 2003 after getting into a fight outside a Hollywood nightclub.

Last year, he was shot six times at a music awards party.