DJ Yella of NWA: Eazy Didn't Know He Had AIDS

We like to welcome everyone to another episode of the Gangst the Chronicles podcast. I am big Steal with my guy sure and today we have our special guests going on three weeks in the row with us as we count down the top fifty Gangster rap albums of all time. My man journalists, extraord there, mister Soren Baker, thanks for having me. I'll appreciate it for sure. And you know, tonight, man, we got a guess, but this falls in line with the you know, fifty greatest gangst the Rap albums of

I would say so.

Just when they came out, because they're the ones that you know, people were making, you know, gangst the rap albums before them. You know, it's a few people that was putting out. You know, Ice had Six in the Morning, right, you know, you have Schoolly D that had you know, DSK.

What's up?

Man?

You know how to give you a hell of an introduction this nigga. Man, I'm sitting over here like.

Damn, you got the whole script wrote.

Out, Hell yeah, man, you know that's what ship.

Man, you gotta start sending in me ship like that or the email ship you be right.

Shore, I got you. I'll let you say it too if I send it to you. All he gonna say is all he gonna say? Is all gonna say is I'm good? Up, my nigga, you got it.

I feel like I needed out of a podium with a touch seedo all right down.

Ship.

We had to motherfucking grabbys or something shit, But we hear that.

Man.

I don't remember a word I said. Man, I can't remember a word I said. You got to catch the replay. You got to catch you on the replay. But seriously, man, you know what I was. You know what I was thinking about. I was just thinking about y'all family tree right on. What y'all with the group brought to the game, right, think about all the artists that spawned you You ever think about that, man, all the motherfuckers that just come

It, Kendrick, and you know you can you.

Know Eminem it's just yeah, the game, I mean, it's a whole bunch.

I mean. And the thing about it, we just did our thing. We just did music.

Wasn't thinking about money, one't thing about hits, just doing it.

You know, being from Compton.

Ain't know that Compton is confident that that's what we talked about because comp it wasn't respected back then.

It was a bad word and.

Every yeah man, we was it was it was hood Maneah was hood man. I don't give a fuck. Before the music came along, yellow man, it was it was just hood.

Like Watts, Wats was worse than us.

Wats was worse than us.

But and then our high schools man was was you know, niggas was banging hard.

Yeah, and so.

Just to just to get that uh, that pathway to music, man, it was a beautiful thing. And ship man, you know what I'm saying because we was listening to some crazy ship. You know, before we was able to be recognized as who he was, as as being comptent, niggas just saw us as man. Once Colors came out, man, niggas just saw us as man.

Don't fucking go to coming. That's all you heard.

Even when the raps started getting the music started getting popular, it was like fuck that, yeah, and Colors was fucking South Central Watts and Ship for some reason. Man, they just tagged us with it and was like, man, fuck that.

Man.

Well they out in Compton. It's vicious. So yeah, before the music started, it was crazy because.

People would ask me, man, you walk it up. I lived there, It's nothing else. But people thought it was just like Vietnam or something.

You know how you hear about uh Schiraq now Chicago and motherfuckers be like nigga, don't go nigga. I was like Compton in the early days, it was like, don't go there. But people was very curious about the city. Man, when the music started.

The other the other thing that shocked me the first time I went to Compton was how small it is. Not no one from being from Maryland. When I first went out there. I was like, wait a minute, I already drove through Compton, I was on the launch.

I was like, wait a minute, the mingus.

You go over the hill, you go down the lines, man across the tracks. Man once you get by the airport.

Man, Yeah, yeah, just a little bit more.

It's just a little bleep on the bed.

But billion all the talent, That's what I was gonna say, Fuck all the talent.

Man. It was hooded like a motherfucker.

I'm talking about like niggas just don't understand, like a lot of motherfuckers was lucky to even be here. And Yellow y'all was crazy as a motherfucker because y'all was going up to skate Land.

Yeah like that, y'all different neighborhood.

Crazy as a motherfuckers. Niggas was young and banging back then.

And you know that, yeah, because uh niggas says all that.

Was that the area central, all up and down Rose Crimson was all where the beadog homies was.

You know.

And in my time of growing up thirteen fourteen, in that serious eighty three, eighty four, eighty five, man, you did not go to Skateland or Dodos or none. Of that real talk.

Because even after dark, that was right, and even.

Even even after dark, y'all, man, please Linzo spot no you didn't.

You didn't venture nah we we didn't act.

And Niggas says that, yeah, all that.

Give a fuck. He was one like Nigga, we finn get this music ship off.

He was on a mission.

He did fucked because I would have been like, hell no, Nigga, we ain't going up.

He's so crazy. We didn't have no problems.

That No, y'all didn't know. And that was the crazy shit because everybody knew where Eve was from. Oh yeah, nobody knew where Wren associated from and all that, and y'all never went through no like we gotta fight thirty niggas out of here ship, Like Niggas is waiting for us in the parking lot and I never heard none of them stories.

Yeah, no, it wasn't.

That's foreman, that's crazy.

That's because at the time, I guess Niggas was so fascinated hip hop man, like we had a past, and Niggas was representing the Hub city, so like fuck it, you know what I'm saying.

But yeah, I know Niggas was getting a little dirty.

You remember when hell yeah, nigga, I was like the it was the gospel to us young niggas. It's because we didn't we didn't have really, we didn't really have music that associated with what the fuck.

Was going on because you had with you had time.

But they that was just local like TDK mixtapes and yeah, like they their main success was was like how niggas do mixtapes?

Were gonna take Houdini instrumental, We're gonna take fucking ll cool J instrumental or whatever, and we're gonna talk about tales from the hood. Nobody did that until Easy came on you. As far as street music, you get me, So, nigga, it was fascinating. It was the gospel. So because I was listening to Ship like Freakazoid to Ship, I was listening to the Wrecking Crew. We was listening to fucking

Yeah, even on Boys in the Hood, Easy said fuck the police and a fabo too, So nobody, nobody, what was the reaction to that.

They didn't put that together.

The only hood niggas got that, Yes we police, We could just be standing in the hood. And it was a few.

It was a few versions made of that record, too, wasn't it, Because yeah, because I heard one. I'm not gonna say what it said. We talk about that off the air, but it's said some ship that would have been deemed controversial. It was a little bitty park. I think you know what I'm talking and I always knew that. And my homeboys got Tim Dog one. No, not the Tim Dog one. This is for boys and hood. You talk about somebody wrecked this car, right, talk about somebody

I don't jump ships, I don't change ships. I just ride to it, ride out.

That's when I start.

You started off as a drummer. You used to drum at Compton High.

Yeah, yeah, I used to the drum then I was the drum major. Yeah, you know I didn't do all that. You know the dance that they doing. Nah, we told them big seas up.

Yes, like that was like motherfucking like that was ship that we knew fluting and I knew that ship floating around in the hood at thirteen. Y'all was a drum major at Tompton High and he was hard. Niggas used to talk about it. Really we yeah, man, I mean shit, well.

Cometing the small you hear everything.

Then Ship, we was right there, and you know niggas in trag New We were so cool with niggas from them. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, I heard everything. Man. It was the homies right there. So you was in the swamps, so we heard everything.

Man.

Ship. Now do you remember the first time you met Yep?

I met him.

We're still in the record crew and Dre had him come by Lonzo's house in the back. But for some reason, this girl from Bullocks or somewhere in Cerritos giving me free guests, I mean Aaron Jean Jackets belts T shirts. So I started selling it because he was rolling with money. So I got the fresh, just the real stuff. That's how many selling him, selling him. And at the time it was little Derek. Uh, his mother was pregnant with little Derek. That's when I became little Derek's godfather. But yeah,

A little ball in the hood. Oh yeah, yeah, yess what was the motherfucking for Sachi?

Yeah?

Please, for that very.

Reason, it was only sports, motherfucking cords and ship cords and fucking five or ones and ship So nigga niggas see a nigga and some guests.

Nigga nigga You was like nigga niggas all it.

Was always somebody. It was a nigga like you. In every city. They had to hook up on the guests that would be able to get it from the stores. Because I bought my wife, the woman i'm married to now, it was a big deal to Hamie Eric Eliot from Long Beach Insane. He was on my team. He said, cuz I got something for you for your girl, and I said yeah, And he got me some guests. He said man going to shoot a nigga a hunter. That was a lot of money to me. You know, I'm like, a hundred.

Dollars got you the whole suit. You got a whole buddy.

But when I gave her them a little shorts, them little white shorts. Now see, I'm still married to him. I was on like recip my homeboy, because they was, you know, I don't know what they had going on, but they would come with guests and all kinds of stuff. So when you initially met him, was he was it on some music stuff? Was he talking to you about making music?

Well, he came up to and this was before Boys in the Hood. It was just it wasn't even a thought yet because we me and Dre were still in the Wrecking Crew and were like at the tail end, you know, we weren't making no money, you know, none of that. So I went out and got a job for real, and then E and Dre you know, started the Boys in the Hood, and it was just.

It was just like on from there.

It's crazy. It wasn't no big thing. The Boys in the Hood was just a song.

That was meant for somebody else from New York.

It wasn't it hard to convince him to do it because we all know that it was for the niggas from New York HBO and like they hated yeah.

Yeah yeah, they didn't understand.

Our cars and ship.

Niggas wearing fucking workmen they used to get to the ad because we used to go out of town and wear khaki suits. Niggas used to iun't like a motherfucker, like, why the fuck y'all wearing Janitor suits?

Wearing them at the sea.

Yeah yeah, yeah yeah, nigga, we thowt Khaki suits was the ship niggas. They didn't understand the culture of that ship. It wasn't like we tried to wear Janitor suits, nigga.

This this was hood attire in a few years a motherfucker from the swat.

They were wearing it.

Later, but check this out. Once gains the reps start hitting, everybody across the country was wearing a nigga.

Niggas love khaki suits. Nigga, really nigga man.

And workman suits turned like a nigga was a nigga every day attire nigga because nigga, you couldn't gigga. We wasn't getting no money back then, Nigga was a struggle so ship. Niggr Moms give you about motherfucking forty dollars. Nigga, go get you some school ship. Fucking well, get me two packs of fresh teas. Nigga, about three pair of khakis, Nigga the core Tes. Nigga, I got outfits for the week. Nigga shop the sharp as a motherfucker.

Nigga.

Please, man, you know what the thing is, ma'am When you look back on it now, right, did you ever think it would go as far as it did?

Never never even real we never even thought about gold. That wasn't even nothing.

I thought it was just I guess that's what made it so unique, because we would just ain't well, no, it's just about the music. It was just doing what like we got this big contract for you.

Know, old records, promise like being from where we came from. Man, I don't know. I never looked that ship like that. I like publishing and all that type of ship. Like Nigga the Homie got some turntables. Here's a mic. We finished, spit some tales from the hood and Nigga we ride. Nigga rolling the limo. Nigga the nigga let me wear the fat dookie rolle. Nigga, Ita made it. Nigga, you what like you didn't think of like I don't know,

Man.

So music was like Nigga gold records and going on tour and fucking that was making I'm making money from talking about the homie big Dog from the hood. We got Jack last night and the one time and then add and me and all this shit. So it was like the nigga, what like, I get money off of this ship now? So it was it was a distant thought. Like I said, when I first started rapping, we was in the garage. I didn't think like I'd be on planes going to Japan and shit, like on stage with

So that's crazy. Now, when y'all was recording that verse for easy right for Boys in the Hood, and y'all had the piece them together and it wouldn't easy.

That wasn't just for that song. Every version he done it. Take them, I mean a couple of hours, all of.

It, and any of them.

It's a lot of artists do who still like that to this day.

But that's the thing I was trying to tell my my wife and my daughter, like, listen to the breath patterns on all these new songs and all every line is punched, every single line.

I mean, now you can punch the digital soul. Yeah, punch eat it's like.

And that's what I'm saying. So for all those and the audience that don't know, it wasn't like the pro tools and stuff. No, the way you just pull the cut, copy and paste.

And yeah you had yeah, and two inch rails was nothing to play with. Man expensive spind it back and you have to do it, mess up and do it again, and sometimes you mess up the punch.

Oh God, looking at me out like, I know, I killed that one right there, do the whole line.

It was the hard day record.

But you know something, it made us what we turned out to be. We had to work for everything. What't sampling was new. All this was new to us.

We had to figure it out. Everybody did. They were so close to everybody had to figure this out. It wasn't no for the YouTube university. And that's how you do it.

Well, there's no barrier to the there's no barrier entry anymore.

Nah.

You used to have to learn some ship as you wanted to be a rapper. Even if you wanted to be a rapper, it wasn't like it was every you know, right now you can go online to buy three beats for seventy five dollars.

That wouldn't less or less or less.

That wasn't cracking back then. So you either had to learn. I know me, I would put the Paul's tapes together. I would put the tapes you know where I had that player and that would just make me an instrumental. It would be off in someplace. And if you foxed up once, you had to go back and do it again. But you learn how to produce and you learn time. And then you go to turntables because you were initially outside of being a drummer, you were j yeah DJ,

Definitely that both me and Dre was DJs.

That's what we you learn, what the people like, you know, because DJing ain't just all the scratching. That ain't dj and is rocking a party from your time you know to your end.

Ain't no sitting down. You know, back then it has slow songs. You know, you have to break it down every once in a while. It's about the programming. That's what like producing. But due to this program in this song, we're making what the chords gonna sound like, what this gonna sound like.

At the beginning, all this stuff, we just brung DJing into that world, and we had to learned producing on the fly.

There wasn't no book, wasn't no call up New York. How do you guys?

Because I noticed on the earlier n w A albums they had more like a real East Coast son was break beats in there? Oh yeah, sins played over it's still the West Coast.

We played more instruments, Yes, we started getting into playing more instruments because everybody was sampling, you know, like you said, sampling was new and thus for you would hear a lot of the same breakbeats on certain songs and whatever. So I think that's what made me getting to uh when my dude shout out my people's will ez Uh. It was what made me get in the studio with him and start just having him play stuff and even

That's you arranging.

That's that's how it came up.

With most of my beats off of my projects that I would do. I would sit there and get high and be on a motherfucking plane and just be like thinking to myself, like, damn, that would be tight right there being start humming the shit into the mother fucking tape recorder, and then as soon as I get to the hotel, I get on the phone with willie' Z and I play the ship for him. And then he'd called me back later and he'd have made a whole

On a lot of the same projects. So that's twelve X. That's when you got into probably trying to play on what.

Made us turn after straight out of Compton. Seemed like every lawyer, everybody came to us. Yeah, we was a sample never permission used people they told us.

Sold them samples.

Nah.

See, you know that's the thing. I want to go to something real quick, and I ain't gonna stay on the long time. But you gotta imagine how it was easy when he started that.

Company, oh mid twenties, gotta be he was.

You'all's kids pretty much. Yeah, so you know, you think about it. You're artist, right, and you see we selling all these albums. But don't nobody think about win Clear Nearest sample on his mouf.

But we didn't know it to clear You wasn't fucking like I said, shit, when I first started, I didn't know about writers and published it and all that type of shit.

I didn't know shit. I just was like, fuck it, Nigga'm finna get in here and make a record. And that's it.

The ins and out of the record business. You learned as you went along. Yeah, the hard way, because I didn't know about contracts and none of that shit.

Nigga. I'm like, oh, nigga, I'm finna make a record.

Yeah, because our first.

Three we didn't sign contracts until eighty nine, in the middle of our tour, after the.

Platinum and the goals. Already it was just a you know, we just it wasn't even a handshake. It just we just did it. It wasn't thinking about it until the people come in.

Start you'll start seeing some money at least do because y'all was go on tour and stuff.

Well the tour, well, we really seen money after we signed them contract and I know I signed mine.

I picked it up. It was seventy five thousand dollars check there, I turned it over and signed it. I don't know what was in that contract.

You just knew that you do that something. That's why they do it that way. They had that check right check for young right there from the Hub City. This man yeah, are you crazy? Thigga could have had to be ten thousand. Yeah, like that's ten thousand.

I'm sleeping at.

My bomb's house and ship on the couch and ship you had me ten thousand or some ship.

You ain't lying some ship we in the garage. Matter of fact, you said ten thousand.

Say don't like that.

The first deal we was trying to get was for Island Records. We did a showcase for Island Records, just for them, and they was gone. And me and Dre wanted to be command Drake, you know, to come from a record win no money. Were like, man, let's sign with that police Eric just like n I want my own label, with my own color, my own name. Nobody would do.

It but priority.

Yeah.

And the first deal was ten thousand dollars I think, or something like.

The crazy thing is later Island had to buy the international rights. Really yeah, they bought the international.

I know they kicked theyselves and but they wouldn't have did it right. They wouldn't have did it right.

No, none of us got I mean on the up and up as far as that's concerned. We nobody got done right. No, And I, like I said, we was just naive kids. Man, we was naive kids thinking like.

Taking advantage up.

We got took Let me ask you that motherfucker, because that's one of the biggest stories with n w A. You know, everybody de fected, you knowing first Arabian Prince, Arabian Prince you know, left first or whatever.

She's got a big posse? How much is that record?

There?

You go? Brother? Was that as all?

She's got a big posse? I remember that Arabian Prince was signed to uh you was with you, was with you, it was with us. After he left, y'all came over and signed to Orpheus.

That's for it was.

That's why I was like, she's.

Got a big.

And I remember I was like, wow, Arabian Prince.

You about to get started. He went on the lines, was so bad with the music and stuff. But you know again, you got kids. Now you got Jerry Hiller this day, right, you depending on him. He's being dependent upon to look out for everything. Kind of mind in the shop, so to speak.

But well, the key to that is at towards the end of the record crew, that's when Jerry came on with the record crew. He got us to a show. If the big concert that was in London every year.

I forgot the name of it, but be all the hip hop groups from everywhere, we got us on that, so were thinking, oh man, really, and then once we got the deal for priority, you know you're just thinking.

Okay, he know what he's doing.

You know, we don't know nothing, not mechanicals, not publishing, not writing, and writers is.

Two sides over here. For the movie, we didn't know, not the producers, artists. It's so many ways to get paid.

But the he was the problem where I found out, and it cost me ninety three thousand dollars I found out.

See he was the manager for the group, and he was the manager for the label.

Yeah he was double dippings.

That's a conflicant entrance. We really didn't know.

Hell no, you don't know that.

I mean, you know that happened. That's the same kind of shit that happened. And me and Chill and whatever, my lawyer slash manager was mine. And then he turned around and started being the manager for Chill and Dam and all of them and shit. So he get paid, getting paid off every every fucking corner, more than the group.

Yeah, come on, man, yeah, I mean Russell Simmons, I think made more than run in and see.

Actually, oh, I'm quiet.

But like I said, when you naive and.

You really don't have no one to school you on the entertainment ins and outs, Like he said, Nigga, when I signed the mechanicals, what the fuck is that?

What is a mechanical?

Nigga?

A fucking publisher at a at a fucking writers at, the.

Producers and artists all the goddamn thing about that ship. I thought that when you walk in there and you sign the contract and the nigga gave you that advance, Nigga, that's it, Nigga.

From there, nigga.

Whatever nigga gave me up front, Nigga, I took it back to the hood and Nigga I was that was it. Fucking I didn't know nothing about nigga getting paid for that royalty. Royalty, Nigga. I ain't see a royalty ever. I'm talking about ever ever in life of a fucking record label. Nigga and I didn't been doing records since right after that.

I never seen it. Wait, when you come strap, you never got never seen a fucking royalty really never.

Wow, I don't feel so bad.

They nigga, They nigga. They gave me about three up front and that was it.

Oh yeah, you cause you ain't.

You ain't.

They get what they do.

They tell you you don't recoup.

That's what they do. You ain't recouped.

And it's impossible to recoup because you're getting recouped. You're not getting recouped off the whole dollar amount, getting recoup off something like a dollar or whatever, so or maybe not.

A dollar off of cding gett.

No dollar was getting to tell you, let me tell you what they did. They gave me three hundred to do. We come strapped, and then when it dropped about two months later, they slid me a check and said it was an advance for the next project. They slid me about another one fifty, so that was it.

Yeah, yeah, they.

I'll not move more than five hundred thousand.

We come strapped, did about nine hundred.

That's what I'm saying.

They something else.

Oh yeah, and they heard up and got you another one.

Yeah.

I mean, if you putting money into young black kids here, you you.

Don't, like I said, And then when you don't have people who are have your best interest, because let's face it like you said, we some young black niggas from Compton.

We don't know shit about.

Major record labels and distribution and mechanicals and royalties and writers and artists and all that shit.

We don't know shit.

We need some young, poverty stricten, young black teenagers from

Nigga, I'm telling you really what I'm doing them up day you get me. I came up big, I got to go get me a cutlass on datings.

With the Nordy steered wheel. Niggas sit, nigga, Nigga please, I felt, Nigga. I felt like I was on top of the world and not knowing that a Nigga sitting behind the desk. Niggas raking in million. We're getting all the money, but at the time, I don't know what fucking money is. Have you ever noticed is repers come from money? If you ever noticing is reppers.

But like I said, I didn't come from nothing.

My father worked at General Motors, in my mom's was a little CNA nurse.

So I'm like, I came from the druggle.

So to be able to go buy some fresh kicks nigga and the ounce of weed, and then I got some datings on my motherfucking car. Nigga, please niggall ball of pages on the hip, big brick fowld Nigga, get the fuck up out of here, nigg out lifting Nigga out. You could have said Nigga was a billionaire right there.

You get me.

Let me ask you this man once easy, so once all the discrepancies became fucking he made it right though, didn't he?

You know something, I think about it every blue moon. The problem was never in the group, never no arguments, no nothing. The problem is the people on that circle behind the group, right outside the group, right around you should be getting this, You should be doing this, it's the outsiders.

It wasn't the insiders that did the group. The Outsiders. I'm quite sure whoever's.

In cubes here then later Dre's here, then Rent. You know, whatever happened with that, you know, it just but it was the outsiders.

It was in the group.

No arguments, no nothing. I don't care what the movie showed. There wasn't no arguments, none of that stuff.

I remember mixing the last album, Niggas for Life, and we just me and Dre were laughing about stuff.

That's going on, you know with the DLC, and you know, another person were laughing before we finished mixing. It was totally different. I mean, I've seen some dirt. I don't even talk about it. I don't even tell nobody.

But really I'm just like, oh my god, what's good man? It was. I can tell you about the missing tapes. I had the missing tapes the last album. We just mixed it. We mixed the half inch quarter inch fatter base. So I had the tapes at home.

And I dropped them off in that office and he called me, tapes are gone. Uh, I just dropped them off, He said, what, I just dropped them off?

M hmm.

Let me call you back. He never done another priority song after that.

I was just like, are you serious? Those tapes?

The owner had the tapes. I put him in his head. I delivered him too. He took him.

You know, I'm looking at other people know I'm out of here. I don't even you know, he ain't my business. It's old, that's gone, nothing coming back, you know, But it's it's.

The music game is a cold piece of word with.

The biggest.

And not trying to get controversial because I ain't to stay on this, but would you say that Jerry Hiller kind of took advantage of the situation.

Well, I mean, I ain't gonna talk bad Malvin because he's when you getting paid from both sides. If you don't know, it may not be dirty pool, but it's a dirty game.

Not to speak bad on them.

But I'm just gonna say this, the music game has always been made up of shady and shisty characters, especially when it comes to our race and just the music business period. As an artist, if you wasn't the fucking owner of the label, you got fucked. And even if you was the owner of the label, if you you know, executives and those people have always had their hand in controlled the music game. Uh, we've never been had a fair share as as black artists or artist period. You

You know the odds and ends, you're done. Yeah, because had I known what.

I know now back then, I've never signed to now, motherfucking you.

Get me.

Funk that I'm gonna take my chances and put my own records out and try to eat like that.

You know that?

That that Uh? That that what a lot of niggas did on the West Coast in the early days.

Get me, you didn't see a lot of artists, even with going back to the Record Crew or fucking Unknown Records, niggas wasn't trying to get major deals.

I'm gonna go fucking start.

It just wasn't.

You know, it didn't happen.

So if you was on the West Coast as an independent record label, nigga, that's how you was eating and ship.

Well, like some just mentioned you had records was a cold piece of work.

Let's say you're gonna look at it.

That deal.

Yeah, that's where all the deals were coming, you know, deals.

Yeah, yeah, And there was a lot of money. I know, because you had physical products back then.

It wasn't I mean, you don't know. But he's pressing. No, okay, give me one hundred copies. He the press five hundred.

Copies, Yeah, and four a hundred fuckers out nigga for him.

Oh they was once you ship them out, they don't come back.

Yeah. No, it's that game was so new and just they just happened to be smarter than us. They out did us. They just they knew the game. We didn't know that.

We didn't know that, nigga. I didn't.

We just had the talent, that's all I want. We had it down.

I didn't know ship man, I'm sorry. I didn't know a goddamn thing. All I knew was how to talk and represent Compton. And when they came, like I said, contracts and all that ship nigga. I was just like, nigga, how much he just wanted to check man? But that's every like, yeah, one hundred and fifty pages long, and nigga ain't all the small words.

I don't know money to go hire a nigga to read through this ship.

He gonna want about ten fucking grand I'm thinking, like, Nigga, you're only giving me fucking fifteen. So fuck yeah, everything of this bitch good. He designed your fucking life away and shit not doing. But like I said in them times, I mean, what else was your choices?

You get me like, yeah, we kind of I know, we kind of breezing past stuff because I want to get to a certain point right now, everybody is gone easy get sick. I'm looking at somebody and you know this happened during easy birthday. Flag goes out there, he goes on math office. Sure, and he says that Easy he knew he had the A's virus.

I don't think he did.

I don't think because I got a picture from his last public picture, which was December of ninety four. I can look at that picture because I took one because he gave me a birthday party in the year before he gave me one. I can compare both pictures. He's smaller in the ninety four to one compared to the

He had to be the other way and stuff.

It's hardy, something about the and the penis.

Yeah, it's just it's just however, it's hard to I'll tell you all after.

I'll tell you all after be looking at him like so was like he gave me that look like I have's the answer for that, but to just chill out in I'm looking at that.

But he never mentioned, never, never said nothing like that. I know he didn't know.

And then another key thing too, This is where I'm not a conspiracy guy. He ain't tell me I am, but you it's a little bit. But give us that slap us with it.

This is my thing.

He excited that he did. He had an insurance policy written up two months before he died.

Well, I don't know about that.

We had done insurance companies when Dre was still there, Lords of London. I remember that because they had to take blood. So I'm like, but who's you know, who's I didn't know nothing about beneficiary, who.

Gets the money? They was like million dollar policies on me on Dre. I'm quite sure Eric had a couple of million. Somebody had them policy.

Discussion for like why did you guys get it? What made it happen?

Then it just was oh, we're gonna get some insurance on your hands and this and that.

You know, they cover stuff like that.

And I remember we went there, drew the blood and they had got insurance policies. Of course, you know, it wasn't Eric's idea.

It was the other guys the idea. I'm quite sure.

And I can imagine who got the money from if they kept the policy up all that time.

I'm quite sure they did well.

It sounds like the obviously I don't know. This is pure speculation, but in the middle it sounds like the type of situation where some of the athletes will do insurance, like when they're in college. So if they go pro and they're playing football or something and they break their leg, they can't play.

Yeah, insurance, So if Dre broke.

His arm, he couldn't produce her that's what they That's what they got us on.

It was body or so whatever. But there was a million dollar policy.

Well, I guess the record company would be the beneficiary.

Which are the manager, yeah, the person and the should have been it should have been both, or are my family or his family?

To me, that's a conflict of interest because the thing is, sometimes an artist is more valuable dead than heels alive. You know, if you figure if you've got a dudes catalog, right, artists to go eventually leave somebody anyway. I don't care how tight y'all whatever, Every situation is going one day come to an end of recording business. Because this guy's gonna get big one day and he's gonna see in his head, it don't make no sense to give you thirty no more.

I need that.

I'm further along in my career, so I'm going about my business. Think about it. If you missed the record company, man, you got an insurance, man, well shit, this motherfucker died. I get a million dollars in.

I got a whole.

Motherfucking reels his ass back there as soon as we put out. Oh man, such mc sdew wrong is gone. Go put this album out and it's gonna go triple platinum. We gonna get all the money.

Oh huh.

I mean it's a cold business. It's more colder than the streets. The streets, ain't that cold?

Man?

You the second artist that came up there and said that cocaine was just up here a week ago. He said, Man, being the rap game, it's like being in the dope game.

Man, it is. It's treacherous.

Yeah, I mean, kill you and shit niggas want to take your spot and whatever, and haters and you know, and just it's just a hustle game.

Man.

Yeah, you know, your product gotta be the top notch or shit, you ain't gonna be able to sell your shit to the customers, the consumers whatever.

Man, So you go from champon chump real quick man, man, definitely Champton chump with the quickness. So y'all once Q dropped that, no vast lean man, what was your mindset?

What was you doing?

Because you seemed like a dude to just.

Tell the truth.

Yeah, I mean I did, just because I told him about that scene in the in the movie.

He said, what was y'all do? He called me the night before the chot he said, what happened when the song?

I just I told him. He got us.

That's all was discussed. It wasn't no discussions. He got us. He made a whole song about us. We never made a whole song about it. We had snippets and commercials, a few hits here and that, but he made a whole song. So that was it.

That was all it was.

It wasn't no oh man, we're gonna kill nah. It just he got us.

Yeah, he came with some shit. Y'all threw a rock at him. He hits you up, came, y'all threw a rock and cube. He came black. He wasn't bullshit. So do you think all that stuff could have been rectified.

Before he died. He talked to Cube in New York. I think he talked to Dre. It was some talks going on. I don't know about what, but it was some kind of talks going on. Rin came back around. We did a couple of the songs on his last album, Man produced for him, and it was.

I don't know if it would have ever came, anything would have happened, but at least the talks was there.

I don't have a guilty conscience. I sleep good at night. I was there, you know.

I was just because when Dre was finna leave, I remember him calling me, I'm gone. You know, I'm thinking six in the morning. I'm looking over what's.

In my bed? Yeah in the morning, okay.

And I told him I'll call you back. It took twenty five years later before I told him. I went to his house and he had I said, I didn't choose a side. I was thrown into that you left at that particular time.

I didn't know you was leaving. I didn't know what you was talking about then, easy and I just like, I just stood my ground and I'm just here with he. I didn't picky. Yeah, I should have left with Dre, but I just stayed where something told me to just stay.

Because you and Drey was pretty much production partners. Yeah, oh yeah, because y'all did everything together.

I mean from the beginning from DJ and all the way all the way to the end, most of the roofless stuff.

You ever think about, Man, you could have been a part of some of the Mother albums.

Not really, because like the DC he said, Man, I'm going to work on DC album.

I'm good. We had just finished our our them on a Friday and on Monday, you want to go back to the student stuff. No, I'm good, Michelle A same thing. I'm good.

Then you did your mon Milkie.

That's because Dray didn't want to do it, and they looking at me, Okay, you do it. I'm like, okay, I liked it.

That album. That was the ship they got caught up your more mark, It was a mocking bird and all that shit.

You know what's so funny, For the love of Money is the same.

Had it first though?

Had for the love of I made that and it's the same track. And I guess did Easy decide to use it again? I guess he let Bone hear it and I guess they just boom you did they.

Vocals is it was already out.

Yeah.

That was like the first time I've ever seen that like that, you know what I mean, Like you see it commonly now with remixes.

And people using but back then that was like it was unheard of.

Wash.

That was the crazy part about it, you know how that was. That was kind of like with that one record too that I Got the Power, you know, we had the two people. Yeah, and Snip was actually like a euro group, like a euro group, like a euro dance group or some ship like that. Always like, but that was the same.

That was the It was the It was the same fucking track, right, you know what.

Much later, but it reminded me with the scarface with Mary Jane and Shanti with Baby. I was like, wait, that's just literally the instrumental scarf.

People started doing it then like fucking you know. But like I said, back then, I was like, damn they using the same indeed.

And then dre used it on the Content album later. Yeah, yeah, yeah, inspired by yeah.

So, And I ain't gonna ask you because you had a million people ask you about your opinion of the movie. You ain't about the opinion, but more like, do you think the character they had in the movie actually reflected your personality?

Yeah? I was. It was about the women. It wasn't about the money. Yeah, it was about the women.

He was really out they chasing the women.

What.

I don't know. I didn't.

Be being in being in n w A at that time because, like I said, I can attest from even from putting out my first single in a video.

It wasn't too hard.

Yeah, yeah, chase, nothing but that.

And at that time, just being from Comptent just.

Just oh yeah one Compton got the name.

Being from Compton and just I mean ship Compton was It was exciting itself with all the women and ship and whatever, and then to be able to go on the road and motherfuckers videos and all that ship.

Man, it's just man, did you ever get married?

Yeah?

Are you married? And you're married now?

Oh yeah ten years?

Ten years man?

And I never wanted to get married, you know. Once I did, that was that was it for me. I'm good them old games.

Yeah, yeah, it's you know, you had your fun and it tied you out and then you get to a position to where like, fuck it, I'm grown up.

Now you know that ship, And.

I was assume that you had your your your feel of fun.

Oh yeah, I mean see, I could talk about minds, but but I'm gonna put myself.

Been a couple of pool parties and everything. Man, ship, it was very fucking exciting.

Man, I heard about them.

Did you come to the pajama party?

I didn't come to the man, that was too treacherous for me.

Man, you went to the pool parties. I went to both the poor parties set up the contest. It was strippers, of.

Course they were. I knew a couple of they. Was just I knew a couple of them.

Yeah, yeah, later later, Yeah, I.

Went to both pool parties. Yeah, motherfuckers.

That was ahead of their time right there. That was something.

And the thing about them food parties, their money, that was out malleable. Nigga, that motherfucker was cracking cracking. Oh man, Man, you saw it all you to be arrested.

I was a young, young nigga too, had no business in the motherfucker. But I'm like nigga see him dubbed out in that bitch and it was just like God.

Damn, this bitches everywhere. Hey, motherfucker.

Let me ask you this man, was there ever any issues about dudes women's being up there? Dudes come up there looking for their girls and ship their wives.

No, no, we just did.

Y'all didn't give a damn wives whoever?

Girlfriend?

Yeah, man, this ship was exquisite.

You ain't never had nobody. You ain't never had nobody front you off like man.

You never came. I mean you couldn't get in the studio because of that bar gate, but nobody. No, I didn't have no issue.

She was just gone. It was just over over what would take your ass off? Hole, But you'll out and just do whatever.

That's his favorite thing was, is that your girl. Don't say it's your girl.

Because it's gone.

Yeah, I said, he my girl, your girl away an hour. He won't mess with it.

Don't say that.

He was something else. Boy. Me and him used to go battle. We used to have a thing called the point system on the road. You know, the full thing is a whole point or a little half a point or little bitty Yeah, he got ten points in one night. The game was over. Oh we done. We ain't messing with you.

Ten points in one night, dawn. See, I never got to go to none of the pool parties. I had been in that house of Northwalk before, have you? Oh wow, I've been to the house with what before with my boys from the black Hole to watch they were signed over there. How many groups the Ruthless had the one time signed over there? You had a gang group signed over there?

Man.

Wow.

In the original Ruthless it was only JJ Fad, Michelle a dlc us see us in E we split that in the beginning, it was just one group, but somebody, somebody said, why don't we just make two groups?

All the money? So easy and wy that.

Was clever though. That was something that I thought that was clever.

Yeah, and I think people also forget that easy. Does it came out first?

So waitit wait wait wait the album yeah yeah yeah, the album there yeah yeah, yeah, it came out.

First, but it was that wasn't the first gold album.

No JJA was the first out the two points old single. It brings me to two points because I think it's very unfortunate that people don't understand or appreciate document whatever however you want to look at it, the importance I want you to break it down of JJ Fad really setting up so much for what ruthless?

And how did y'all meet jj fad I think you know what's so crazy?

Me and one of the guys that replaced Clientele in the Wrecking Crew, we went out to their house to have some fun.

It was a dry run. You know what dry run? I guess, but that it was. And then later Arabian brng them to us. What happened? How we got the album? The Dream Team owned it a single.

And Easy brought their contract.

We was waiting on Rudy to bring the master to the song. He never brung it, and Dre said, that's redo it. Once we redid it.

We owned the song, so they were Dream Team group. Yeah, and Easy brought their contract. Oh that's Dre and Everybody's first gold record.

I know, I know the record was big. I didn't, and I hate it that.

I just heard that it came from somebody else. I don't I don't know where I forgot what somebody. I just heard that we're breaking news on here, so he ain't do that beat real. I don't know if it was an idea, I don't know. I thought it was all Arabian, but somebody just said it was somebody else. I don't remember the name they said, but I'm gonna.

Stick with it Arabian.

He brought the group to us, and okay, because it was five in the group when they got the rooflet was only three and I don't know what they.

Did with the other two to change the meaning of the name too. Oh then they was there because JJ fadd originally was all five of their names. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it changed just jam and Fresh and Death because they got rid of the other girls.

Yeah.

Look so, and that's why he's the walking hip hop thesaurus his story.

Yeah, that's good ship A little bit, yeah, yeah, a little research, you know what I'm saying. Let me ask you this, something ship your ass should have died.

I know that, I knew that already. I knew that already. Damn and Fresh and Death that.

Get that off, you know. Let me ask you this. Were you in there when they were actually recording the song?

Yeah, once, not the original once we once we redid the song, which is the same song we made, We played it exactly.

Let me ask you this, bro, whose idea was it to tell him to go mama lumma saying Lama mama, Mama, But that.

Was already on the song.

Was already there.

That was already there on the original song.

It's exact same song since he remixed it, since he didn't, well, we didn't remix.

We just replayed it over.

He played it exactly. Wouldn't give y'all masters. Yeah, he didn't forget the masters from him.

Yeah, we never he never wrote them.

I don't know why we Was it their intention to put them out on the Dream Team records?

No, dream It came out on drews Out it did. It was okay, it wasn't It wasn't a hit, I don't think was it? No?

No, no, it was the side they had Another Hole that was.

That was the A side, right and super Sonic was the B side, but we switched for I remember, I do remember it was a B side song.

Yeah, another Hole, Yes.

I do remember that.

Yeah, but the original was Another Hole was the A side.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

Oh yeah, yeah, I did not know that.

You just said it.

You know what's crazy, man, is that it then blew up when it first came out. But Easy brought it over there and and went. He was a pretty good executive, wasn't.

It because he came from the streets like like.

He knew what was happening because he found bone thugs harmy. I'm gonna take you. I get the correction in now. The correction is you read all.

You're still from the still about to report some ship that ain't true, So let's get down him.

I met him.

Wow, we're breaking news over here.

We were doing the show in Cleveland and these five guys back there easy walked out the room. So they started rapping to me and I'm like this in the hotel, No, it's backstay and I'm like, guys saying, hey, you see that guy coming in here, go to him. And then by the time we got home from the room, they was there. They got right on the bus with one bag of chips for the whole bus ride that right, and had no money, no nothing.

That's Cleveland. I'm from Cleveland.

Man.

They was hungry, but they was. They remind me of us or you got you know, we was hungry. We didn't know nothing.

We just nigga. Ain't had ship.

Nigga we used to it just had a bag of a's.

Fuck that's two days or something.

That's crazy. Niggas had that bag of chip the whole way bill.

That must have been one chip an hour of starving, like a motherfucker.

What do y'all know? They ain't had no runners for y'alling was y'all.

Nigga.

We was over there, broken, starving and hungry, trying to make wrecord, just to try to man. When I first hooked up with slip Man we Nigga, I wasn't going to school, Nigga.

I was ditching school everything. Nigga.

I probably didn't go home for probably a week or so. Nigga mobs was calling like, Nigga, what the fuck nigga? Because I didn't, Nigga, I'm finna make me a record. I didn't give a fuck.

Nigga. No food, Nigga.

I used to have to call moms and tell her to bring me some Louis Burgers or something because Nigga was starving.

Nigga.

We was and it was niggas slip out of places Dad, Nigga. They used to do all the sound systems for all the concerts around La. They used to do music people that was slipping them. Really music people were slipping them. So they used to provide all the sound systems all the DJ all the big La sound you know, they

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I've been.

Everybody used to go there to rent their equipment for parties and whatever.

Where they got the base and Nigga, that's where we That's where I first met Slip. Nigga.

I used to sleep up in that motherfucker because Nigga, we used to be in there, Slip out a little fucker.

I don't know what it was, a full track or whatever they had in there.

Nigga, we used to be in that motherfucker all night because his pops would not let us come to the crib and do that. So Nigga we'd be up there. Nigga just just broke starving. Slip had to beat up old ass Central Nigga with a seat.

Nigga would just just move around the front seat, would just move around in that bitch.

It wasn't nailed down, and motherfucker looked like a junk yard and papers and everything, and the homeboy time used to work at motherfucker I don't know what grocery store, but nigga. He used to work the night shift, and he used to tell us, Nigga, come up there, Nigga.

We go up there with two dollars, Nigga, and we'd be willing our shit.

On a pallette, so you'll have luird food and crab legs and everything. We go to the register. That nigga come to the register, act like he punched this ship. We had that nigga two dollars and he'd be like, all right, thank you, nigga. We going out with our shit.

On the pallette.

Nigga about a thousand dollars, was like some here, I don't know what the hell going on on? Boy Rock and tip Man Nigga, Nigga. We used to be starving artists. Nigga, what you mean, nigga? Nigga starving nigga.

Fucking nigga.

We got us some motherfucker thunder bird on the palette. Niggas want the big ass eat forty jugs.

The motherfucking why this ship some of that wild turkey?

Nigga. We was cracking young nigga starving man.

So when Easy died, man, how that hits you? Because I remember, you know, when Magic Johnson announced that he had I think when Easy enounced, when the whole thing happened Easy, I think that really hit the black community.

That hit everybody, neighborhood, Magic, you know, the Magic is out of touch black.

When it happened to Magic, I think it hit the black community. But when it happened the Easy nigga hit the hood people like.

People is going to get Yeah.

That age because you don't never think about no ship like that.

You was like, I was like this.

I was at football practice. I was playing college football at the time, and I was like, damn, he said, got ads, and I'm gonna tell you what it did. Do That Monday, a whole bunch of dudes went up to the office and take a test. And you know, now you get your results right, you know, you know a few minutes later, you know what I'm saying, they let your asks no quick right back then you be waiting around some days and I swear you think every slimy motherfucker, we think.

You don't motherfucker across you have that thoughts in your head, like man, Yeah, that's mother because I heard it.

Yeah, dog, motherfucker. I'll be sitting been front every and you aching because you thinking about some ship. You don't did it seven eight years ago?

He was like him, he was stack and see your ass right there, just started around patient, pulling on that motherfucking beard.

My god, damn one of my homeboys. I had a homeboy, right.

We wanted to go, you know, take our little tests and ship and I wouldn't really worried worried like that, but he just did some ship like a week before that he wasn't supposed to be doing. And he was in the bed. Man crawled up.

I think they got me. They just said, I think they got and then they never called.

Right, you know, we didn't hear nothing. So I was like this, I didn't hear them. I was like, fuck it, I'm cool. I ain't called me. I mean, that must be straight. My homeboy went up there, man, and he was just like I was wondering at and called me and said, but if we didn't call you good, you know what I mean.

How would you know them if they don't call you? Yeah, wait a week though you waited.

If you missed the call, exactly.

This is back in the day. There's no he was like, this't I was young? Back to ship he called me.

I'm good, I'd have been knocking on the door.

Did that miss you up any.

For well, the whole situation did, because I found out from the streets first, So rumors was going, I'm like what they talk about because originally how I got out as a nurse or somebody ran her mouth outside the.

Hospital and it spread like or the news even did it. It was already in the streets.

She could have got sued for that. Was it big?

Because I remember in the East Coast it was big that they sat big that he came had ages.

Did y'all ever hear that? I ain't never heard.

I think I heard that I was big in Maryland. I heard we were all like, that's just or was it really?

That was before Easy, which made it all the crazier one about Easy.

I mean when I finally I think it didn't hit me until I went up to the hospital. I know Dre had came maybe an hour before me, And when I came, nobody told me he was in a coma.

You know, they put him in a coma, and I'm just talking and doing all kinds of stuff.

I get out.

Oh, oh, we forgot to tell you an induced coma. You tell me that before I come in here. He's some prayer, you know, What's so crazy? When I was talking to him, he moved his hand. Yeah he probably can hear you, bro, Yeah he can. He moved his hand because.

You know you ever notice how sometimes when you at home, you fall asleep with the TV on, and you'll be dreaming, and you might dream about chasing some motherfuckers and some mother fuckers chasing you, and you wake up and you look on TV as the same exact shit going on.

That's never happened to me still, but yeah, but that to me before.

My brain is always on high alert. Whatever that weed.

But he probably knew you was, you know, not I knew you in the room, but he probably filed.

I think he knew because I said something and he squeezed your hand a little bit, moved his fingers because he ain't. You can't move once you're in that coma, because after the surgery they put him in that, you know, because I think he was trying to pull off the tube or whatever, the breathing machine.

But yeah, he definitely moved his hand. That kind of.

It kind of triggered me because once the funeral came, which maybe three weeks later or something, and once I seen them pound the dirt.

I have never seen nothing like that before. I mean they put him in the ground, put the dirt, got.

The bulldozer and all this, and everybody left and I was just there, like three or four people, and I thought, I said, you know something, this is it for me.

That's it. Music was over till this day. I just told Dre this a few months ago, and a few months before that. I'm good. I don't want to do with music. I ain't thinking about music. It's no big thing. I had it. It was fun, it's gone. It's just out of me, completely out of me. And I think that day it wasn't no. Oh should I know. I just like, I'm done with music, was done. Yeah, I jumped into my next venture. But I.

Want to ask you about that too.

Man.

Were you satisfied at that point with with where music took you from from nothing to the beginnings with lines and that?

Oh? Yeah, I mean I think that's what it was like. Okay, I'm good. I mean, ain't no big thing. Cause see much as me and Dre was together doing stuff, he wanted it more than I did. You give me this one hundred dollars. I'm good, I'm satisfied.

I never wanted that rich in all this old Yeah, I like spending money, but never that was no big thing to me.

Money was never a big thing the women. Ye think some of us be settled with the path we get. You know, there's a lot of motherfuckers who get to that, and then it's some of us who get here. And like I tell niggas all the time, I'm cool with where I'm at. Like, you know, I never longed to be in another nigga's shoes or position, whether it was you know, or nigga got a billion dollars or a nigga got a private jet or niggas. You know, at this point, I'm like, I'm good. Yeah, I mean, never

We happened to be in the golden era. That was the best MUTI say.

You know, you think about this room right now, seem debut definitely a legendary group, you know, n W a legendary group. Man So and y'all were in the era to where it was. It was harder than it is now because back then you had to be original.

Nobody been off each other. Nobody, I don't care if it was you put on the song. Everybody know who that song is exactly.

Everybody was original and it was way less people, right, So you stood out a lot more. You know what I'm saying. You stuck out. You couldn't hide.

Now it was more fans artists.

Now it's more artists than fans. Everybody's an artist. Everybody got a video, A fan is an artist. So you never thought about I could fan. You go home and they got to set up and they live from getting.

My ship off.

So you never thought about signing the group.

Nah.

Once on that funeral date, that was it. I don't want to do nothing with music. But then a company came to me a year later to do an album. I'm not a rapper, I'm gonna do an album, so I just you're gonna give me how much?

Yeah, okay, I'm a rapper, people wrapping.

People rapping. I'm gonna do the beats and nigga.

That this is for the e with Coach.

And that was just it.

That was just something good. They didn't know what they were doing. They wanted to advertise. You put it on the outside of the bus. They put it on the inside, the on the inside buying records. I had that argument and that was the last.

Time I talked to him. What did y'all do?

That was Scotti Brothers, Yeah, stupid Scotty Brothers was around for a couple of records.

Yeah, they had something.

Uh they had a ic and Smooth and Greg Mac, Craig Mac.

They had zoom Zoom. They had that record over there. I don't zoom zoom zoom.

I remember the Craig Mac record.

What else did they have?

They had nice and Smooth, Craig Mac Yellow and.

I think it was too won a Grammy his first record out.

Yeah, I think that's what it was.

Yeah.

So you don't have no regrets from n w A. No, No, I don't think you have to. Man, your legacy is definitely see you.

I mean, you know, it's so crazy.

Here we are, thirty years later, we're still talking about this Compton hip hop stuff.

It's it's like we was in that right time. There can't nobody replaced. It was the perfect time. New very few groups.

It was from the West. Matter of fact, from the West. It was over us too and too short. It wasn't who else had an album. Nobody else.

Didn't make an album.

Is from both coasts, Yeah came, but.

Yeah, y'all, we y'all had the album. We had an album. I would say iced t is definitely West Coast who.

Short had an album, but that up north is different from.

Yeah, Southern California.

When y'all first clicked out, a lot of niggas didn't have albums.

They had twelve inches. A lot of niggas had twelve inches.

Because in the record crew day we was and that era was the only one that did an album.

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

The albums was definitely.

Because rap albums really didn't start happening on a major level or a lot of artists really till eighty seven. And then eighty eight was the explosion. Eighty seven had to been run m maybe no no running the way before that Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, eighty seven there started.

Being a lot more album a lot of more and Ron Page because I remember it. We just it was just a game of twelve inch Yeah, it was just we niggas didn't do albums.

They did single deals and then had singles.

You got a mingle deal and you maybe put three songs on the single.

That's what you had to really be moving something to get an album before that, Like the Fat Boys got an album, und got.

Out, but we got an album.

They were used groups.

Yeah, there were very few rap albums.

Oh yeah, Utfo had the album.

CFODDI damned the crossed Over though, man, because everybody liked Whodini.

They only had the one album they made that other one, but the first one was the best they had hit to me.

That was they had several.

They had the fucking uh had there five minutes of funk?

Oh, that was on the same friends. Five minutes Yeah, that one I'm a whole had on and.

He came back with the motherfucking back in black or something with the funky beat.

Yeah, that one was old. Was one love on that that one loved?

Yeah?

Yeah, I like one of them, motherfucker I liked them.

They was they were the first group. Yeah, I bumped Holdini to this day. So five minutes of funk oh, Yeah, they for sure gave you that R and B flavor. They for sure gave you that R and.

B stories, that melody, they had original unlike most of the.

Rap, the big mouth and everything.

That's where that's where all the homies used to uh nigga Todd them had ganger cuts off of their off of their instrumentals and ship nigga freaks come out at night, the clucks come out at night. Man, Todd them used to be spitting on all that.

Ship Man because those shout out to Larry Smith, one of the best producers that doesn't get a lot of shout outs in the game. Man, Yeah, he was the ship down a lot of great material.

So y'all doing the type of material that y'all did back in the day. Man with the one moment that you remember, Man, where you thought, Man, they're about to throw us in jail, Man, were about to get in trouble.

It had to be when we got the letter from the FBI. I'm like, Oh, you don't play with the FBI. You could play with the cops them suits. Nah, you don't play with them. I'm like, oh, they finish. Do you think they do?

You think they was following you all y'all in the surveillance.

I don't know, but it's like, Man, the FBI, I'm like, what the and it's so crazy. They sent us a letter and then another agency sent them a letter. You know that you can't be sending that to us. But that was beside MTV banning us the straight out of compt and we spent all that money to make the video they banded in that letter.

Totally different group.

That was your publicity right there.

Yeah, free advertised, free advertisement, like a mother video nowhere. We would be at the crib just waiting to see that ship. Contay. I saw it like three times.

Yeah, they would not show that video.

They played it.

I saw it like once or twice, and you could not see it.

Man.

I made my whole schedule around watching you on t reps.

I saw it one time, really, and that was it. I saw one time.

I think we spent maybe I don't think it was one hundred, but it was back then.

Back then, it was ridiculous.

Man.

It was a little different time, man, tape. I'm gonna tell you, Oh yeah, this digital area. Man, look at this ship right here. Man.

You know, you know it's just they got it easy.

Now.

That's why so many artists.

That's what I'm saying.

It's too easy, man, because back then, like I said, you had to go through some stuff.

You had to, because think about it, eight people with demos and all that no talent, they didn't that was it.

You didn't get past.

Nothing, man, nothing You wouldn't get off a nigga death.

Nowadays, the people with no talent is making all the records, I mean just anything.

There's no there's no community policing in this shit. That still mean like.

It's it's it's so accessible for a motherfucker to go. You know, I don't need somebody to tell me that my shit is good or not good. I don't buy me a program and a microphone and I don't give fuck and I'm gonna make my own lane for it to each his own.

But like I said, we have no.

I felt like back in the days of me coming up and rapping, motherfuckers had to give you that approval. You didn't get that approval for motherfuckers, you didn't make a record. You get me, and that was just it. From the time you put out a twelve inch to you trying to get the record deal. If if you didn't get that stamp of approval from the community and from other artists, you didn't make records. You didn't make

And then it went to a time now, it got to a time almost for a minute, to where you almost had to release the album and get it going and then you would get picked up. Remember that like that like in the mid two thousands.

Yeah, one name we forgot what a lot of albums though, was Curtis blow Too.

Curtis was poppingis. Did he make an album made Curtis blow Out?

I did not know that he had lots about a J scratch and bash that was all that ship. But that was single of Curtis, the breaks and all that ship. Yeah, he had an album.

The hits was on singles.

Yeah, the all the hits was the singles back here for Me back in the days everybody released singles.

That was big, that was had twelve inches.

Yeah, twelve inches was big because then you could take the B side and think that the record wasn't gonna be the ship on the B side. Put a record on the B side and that motherfucker blow up. So that's how we a lot of artists got off and got their recognition just by putting on the man.

That's crazy Yellow. I don't know if you notice or not, Man, but have you ever sat back and thought about, man, that Snoop was almost on ruthless record, Snoop and Warrings?

Really?

I mean you know that.

I didn't even know that.

Cocaine told me that last week because they was messing.

With above the law.

First, Oh, I didn't know they was above the law.

Warren used to come to the studio.

You know, Warren, have his glasses, have a piece of tape right here, because there was broke and Dre used to leave him.

I had to take him all all the time. He would tell me, you got you got up here, you gotta find your way home. You're gone all right, Warren? Come on, let me take you over there off of what was the street. It wasn't Atlantic Orange.

I think it was Orange somewhere.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I used to tell you home all.

The time and that's crazy minute the trip you out when you saw him blow up.

Oh yeah, I'm like that's Warren. I'm like, Wow, Warren.

Had a big ass record though.

Oh yeah, yeah, the biggest ever.

Yeah, one of the biggest ever regulated regulate was big. And I think didn't do that record for him.

That's what I heard. I heard.

I heard that I've never heard.

Yeah, that's what I heard.

I don't know.

I got to confirm that. Man.

Yeah, I don't think so. Sounded like Dre.

Somebody said he gave it to him.

Oh now that I don't know. But I heard one last night on something. He was saying, you know, he just heard heard the song and then sampled it.

And yeah, he might have did that. Drake might have helped him with it, that's what it may be.

Might have shown him how to do it or something. I don't know, you know, none of that.

Warren't definitely had to go get his own way though. Man, it don't seem like he got no push or nothing.

Mm.

He definitely did his ship Warren at his time.

Remember he wasn't even signed of death throw you all you need to know.

He was getting slept on. Man, what's what's your biggest memory, man? Of all the stuff that you've done in your icon of career. Man, Like, what's your biggest memory?

It's so much. I mean, I like the eighty ninth tour because that tour was everybody was nervous.

It was gonna be fights, and there wasn't one fight besides the Detroit play PD running us off the stage and stuff.

But I think that was one. Well I look at it, that was one of the biggest because it was forty shows. That was forty points for me. Come on, hey, you know how we did.

Your point system?

Man? That was fun.

Now, the tour was fun. But you know something just being in the music game, being ahead an eight or no. We were just ahead of everybody, but we didn't know it. I mean, our music stand to this time. It ain't when you put on all I don't care if you put on now us. It don't sound old like ooh that old.

Examin like a muffuger. I was just playing some n W eight earlier today, as you should. Niggas for life, the niggas for life album definitely, which.

Was the better produced album, better sounding album.

I do think it's an amazing album, dres ever done. That's the best production wise, really yeah, I really do. That's a flawless sleeper.

You even put that over the chronic Absolutely, yes, yes, I can't say I don't disagree with you. I was arguing with Glasses Malone shot the glasses about that and we talked.

Called it's a one hundred better than stra outa Compton straight out of comptent?

Was just the original? Are the top original stuff? Your originals really hard?

Yeah, that was the one that makes y'all are stable. Well, you know what, you had the compilation before that.

But that's not really an album that was.

That's not an album, no, you know what it is.

That came out because Priority was waiting on us to come back when another album. So they got a hold of them old masters and put it together and made ends.

It went gold. Ain't mad, but that was. And I was talking to the people at the Rock and Roll I said, you know, we only made two albums. They looked at me like.

We made two albums in an EP that's it. People think we made a whole bunch.

Of albums, Well, it was that impactful. You didn't have to make a whole bunch of it was just that impactful.

Yeah, it was just at that critical time for a lot of people who were coming.

Of age in that era of you know, gangs being recognized and.

Uh, you know, like I said, a lot of shit was focused on the East Coast, you know, warrior movies, and.

Oh yeah, it was a difference.

It wasn't a lot being being shown and represented as far as California was concerned. So for us to be able to come out at that time, like I said, and follow movies like Colors and shit like that with with music that depicted what niggas had seen on screen a couple of years before, and like, wait a minute, the niggas out there with the red and blue and

So It fascinated motherfucker.

So that's why at the time it was just like it was just different from regular rap music.

It definitely fascinated the suburbs, definitely.

It just it fascinated the world because motherfuckers wanted to know. Like I said, we never got the spotlight put on us as far as California was concerned. When you talked about, you know, gangs or you talked about fucked up living, it was always the Bronx and Brooklyn in New York, and.

You know, it was always that.

You know, it was never like, well, let's go over here and see what the you know, we wasn't respected as far as rap music was.

We weren't too more like them because we had grass in the front yard.

I think with the you know, the.

Making what niggas was going through as far as like I said, with the once niggas saw colors, it was like whoa, you get me? And once they heard ice tea with colors, and then it was the gang shit and the niggas saw that little clip where niggas was in the jail, everybody throwing up their hoods and you got crips on one side, and that fascinated the world, and now you got niggas putting out record.

You know what I'm saying. The movie is something different.

Nigga, I get to ride around in my car every day bumping some ship with niggas was talking about fuck the police and nigga, we sold dope last night and the strawberry was sucking on dicks and shit like that. Niggas didn't hear shit like that.

It was different.

It was unheard of to hear that type of ship, especially when it's not seen on the screen of a movie like these niggas is actually talking about they was selling crack last night and somebody got shot and niggas had a.

Band Damna and Niggas was gang.

Niggas was fascinating, speaking of fascinating, speaking of forbidding shit. We can't leave man for ash. You boy, you was gonna go into it. Then somebody said something. You decided to leave. NWA. You said you was done with music. The last thing why did leave is zof it is all, but you were still on. You were still technically on. You know, you put out the one last project.

Yeah, well it dissolved when that dirt went on top of his casket. N W a was done, it was dissolved. It didn't break up. People say that broke up. No, it just people fell off. Pieces fell off, one out of.

Time, one at a time.

So we went and I went to, well, I was doing that before the end of music.

So you was putting out those movies before then, yeah, but I wasn't putting it was. Yeah, it was a lot of money that that back then.

You think I did it for fifteen years, three hundred and fifty.

Movies, probably because you had a physical back then, I.

Was cameraman, photographer.

Everybody added.

Music because everything when.

It started going around, motherfuckers was like Yellow is doing motherfucking And I'm like, what do you mean doing it?

Like like the nigga actually in't it? Like he he like dog Man is his shit.

So we peeped out a couple and I'm like, ohigg, I was smart.

And the way you was moving around to is I remember when they was out, they would be in all the liquor stores. I think you hit a lick back there. Man, them VHS, tapes and DVDs want to.

More, Well, I did liking music, I wan shot have known to own them. See the company would pay me to go make them, make them, and I bring it back and they get it in all the stores. You know, I'm making twenty grand a month, twenty rand boom, just turning them over like flapjacks.

Life looking now. Who went out and recruited the girls?

They came to us because we was known as we paid the cheapest, but we shoot fast.

I have you if I do a thing twenty two minutes, that's all I need and I don't push Paul.

I rolled whatever happened, let it happen. So I might tell them, okay, do this, but that's it. It's freestyle.

I started. That was nobody else was doing it that way.

Yeah, because I saw one time man for you to say it was peeping them out. One time I was over a friend's house, the rest of friend because you know the thing. Listen, bro let me get this all Maria, watch him clean it up. Whatever was just bro you DJ yell. Of course one Oni say, man do for n W as making porns? Right, So we look at it and you had an old ass woman on there. Man, that old ass woman hits you up and said she want to do some form.

You know, it depends on what the company wants. They want the older ones. Do they want the do they want the big but did they want the big chest?

It was just stroke and steel.

I didn't like.

I didn't like.

Only shot maybe a few, but I usually the young.

Ones is all.

I shot fresh.

And you know, answer me this question. Did you watch it with the old lady? And did you watch it? How long did you watch it?

Man?

Probably for two or three minutes?

Only take three minutes up.

It was intriguing, man, I said, Damn, she.

Old as fuck, but you were she had boozz? What was she doing still?

Man?

I know, I just remember her going, what colors she have on?

I don't remember all that, man, I just remember her grin.

That was her tattoos.

She was going, he heard was her she was going.

She was just grin. When did you decide to leave that alone? You just because you had? You just decided you was done.

With for fifteen years?

If like I say one thing, Oh, I remember I did the interview with you for Double Xlger Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah overall Latierra. And I remember when I did the article and you would give me like a gang of tapes and I just was, like I told the people at double XL.

I was like, Yo, you know Yello's doing.

These movies, right, They're like, no, we didn't know that. So I put that all in the article. But they were very excited that that was the first time it was known in a rap magazine. Oh really when we did the article for double X yeah, I did it.

Just like just like music. It got to that point when the internet start coming in. Then ain't getting it for free? So okay, this ain't. We're either you come over the site and you'd be the first to do it. You'd be a billionaire bright now. But of course you know us, you know, would have just owned them. Oh yeah, y'all.

You know something I did started, I did started owning them, but I waited too late.

I wait till the fourteenth year to start doing it, and then I hook up with one of the biggest companies.

It didn't pay me, so we had to go in there and tear up the office and I got I went home with five thousand brand new DVDs.

If my car, I'm like, I didn't know y'all was going out of business. I would have never shot made movies for you if I'd been known you had problems. So by the time I start that they could own them because they was called you know, so crazy.

The first two of them made owner.

It was called straight out of Compton, And when the movie came out that that name got vanished for some reason.

And then I just did it like music, I'm done.

I'm just okay.

I did it. It was fun, it was cool.

Seems like you had a good run. Fifteen years a long time doing anything. Yeah, I mean, man, fifteen years. Man, bring yourself out on certain shit. So just to be able to, you know, transition. You know, a lot of niggas it's hard to transition from shit they've done so long, or they might just be scared to transition.

Yeah.

You know when you be able to do something and then get ahold of it, fuck it. I get a good run out of it.

It's good.

Yeah, because I did it like I did the movies like records. Every movie was like a record. I did four records of month, four or five records of month.

I just did it.

I just look, okay, five girls, that's five songs. Damn do it? Edit it?

See, I would have a complete package edited music, everything down, film steals everything.

I thought like a producer. I'm doing everything. I don't need nobody for nothing. Gotta be two bags him one stop shot, I got the lights, I got everything is cracking. Everything I did it just like music, and I quit just like music, just like I'm good.

That's crazy. Man. Are you being married now and everything? Man?

I assume life is drastically different now. Man, do you ever talk to your wife about your former escapades? Nah?

She don't, She don't know.

She in the beginning was hard because we go somewhere and somebody wants gonna take a picture, and she just.

Like why they want to take a picture?

Yeah, just like what? And then she get mad because I can't help. You know. We go to the ram football game.

At the Coliseum when they first came back, and we happened to go through all the crowded I'm getting stopped every man, and she just walked off her.

Yeah, she don't understand it. Now she knows now, she understands it, just like if I'm eating dinners people.

Okay, no proble have no child when it come to that either.

Yeah, but you know, without them, without the fans week.

Yeah, so you have to be able to accept that because you know that it just happened you know, ship, it just comes with the territory. Some people don't go to the grocery store. You go, you know, kids football games. Ever, it's gonna be somebody who is excited. Ye your like this motherfucker was like, I mean.

I don't care where I'm on the plane, airport, post office.

Gladly I'm not coming out of crazy weird places when I had to doing the mask, I.

Have my master.

You're still gonna always.

Or you know, so like in tune to you know the era of n W A and and they don't seen the movie a few times, so it's just it's just in their head. And it fascinates people not to say everybody be on some nuts swinging ship, but you know, fans of what you fans and like I said, without them, yeah, you know, just like motherfuckers who watch us every week. You know without that, without them, you wouldn't be in. And that's what people tell you. You know all the time.

So where are you at in life right now you know something.

I'm at a part of life where I have peace and joy.

I never had that in my life, not even with half million dollars in my pocket. Which car you want, what yacht you want? I have peace and joy and I just got satisfication just maybe a month or two ago.

And it has nothing doing money.

It's just.

Well, you know, I got saved and you know, turned to.

God, and oh so you gave your life over the girl.

Yeah, eleven years ago.

I was gonna say that was a while ago. In the last month or two.

It's just.

That's just what God does. Like peace and joy. You can't you can be a billionaire and you want peace and joy, but you can't buy it. You can't steal it, you can't borrow it. Ain't nobody gonna loan it to you. It only comes from God, and he gave it to me. And I'm just like and I was just sitting in the chair looking down the hall one day and I said, this is peace and joy.

I'm not thinking about a bill. I look at bills like this, Either you got it or you don't. I tell people the same because stress it.

The fuck you call a thousand times a day it's gonna be the same answer when you call, I ain't got it. If you're gonna cut the ship off, man, go cut it off, because either we gonna work something mount let me.

Let me do what I gotta do.

All that because I haven't heard.

I haven't heard some other fucking caddles and ship because my lights would be off later. I mean, you know what I'm saying. I got to figure it out. Man, to sit here and get a headache and stomach be fucked up and you be just like worried about ship at the end of the day.

That worrying ain't fin to pay the mother.

But I have not heard one successful stress story yet. I'm waiting to hear it. Oh I stressed so much.

And kicked my leg up and roll me a blunt and be like, if we get some light off of this blood the hall this ship, because I ain't finna get mad because the lights is off. Fuck, it'll be six o'clock. The motherfucker son to be up and admit it, so ship, I'll have light a minute somebody else lights on.

It's gonna be some light to bd it. God, and people.

Life is so short, and people rushing life. They missed life. We happen to be blessed in our era of music. I mean they came out right after us. I didn't know that y'all came out.

Right after us.

It was in that perfect time slot that's still being talked about thirty five years later. Thirty five years were talking about hip hop still, and that wasn't supposed to last.

We wasn't even supposed to made that outs back. They're supposed to have been done from the East coast.

But it's still here. But I enjoy now. I enjoy life. I just I learned that not to love nothing but people.

That's it.

You know.

People used to love their car, their money they sell because think about it. I love this house. The house burned down, it's just material. It could be replaced or whatever.

You know.

I just learned. I'm so relax for life now.

It's just when you learn to be content.

Man, its just it's like whatever, man, like, I'm whatever. It is what it is, motherfucking shit. You gotta you got a billion, I got a buck. But I'm still content.

I'm probably more at than you are. Man.

I'm good man. I don't want nothing you got. I don't want nothing you want. I'm fine, I'm perfect, I'm straight and nothing. Like you said, you can't stress about it. And I think that comes with with just real maturity, is you know, it just comes with not worried about what the next man think of you either, feel me.

Like man, whatever, yeah whatever, Like.

Yeah, cool, fuck it, I ain't got ten triple platinum albums.

Yeah, by now, I don't give a fuck. Cool. Yeah, been there, done that, did it. I'm cool.

I wake up every morning and nigga, you put your shoe on just like me, your pints and everything.

Take a shower and wash your ass just like me.

Your shower might be fancy and water might come out a little diff you were five bathing in some avy yards and some shit it tap water. Working and cleaning the ass is good too, ship, So you.

Giving yourself over to God? No, right, yeah, do you ever look at stuff from your past on the more spiritual living? Now?

I could see, how was the damn food that I know? But that's just because I didn't know nothing.

That just thinking money, you know, money was the rules and what money was it? You're nothing without money. It's just it's a whole different level now. Now I could just sit back like.

And you talk about a lot of that in your book, too Yellow. Everybody should pick it up if they haven't got it yet.

Yeah, I mean, I just was the book was really because I never read a book in my life. I never opened a book never, and it just God gave it to me and I wrote it, what ninety three thousand words?

It's a long book.

Yeah, I know. All that's a three hundred and twenty something pages.

I should have brought mine to get an autograph.

Yeah you should, But I've just learned, man, life is beautiful.

We don't see it because we saw in the busy Russian and trying to come up and trying to do it.

Ain't about that.

It's just, man, you better enjoy life because life is short. Yes it is, I mean very sure. Yeah we might live to one hundred, but that's short is in.

The grand scheme of things. Let me ask you one more quick before we get out of here. You being where you at spiritually, now, do you think that the industry to recording industry industry promotes a certain type of artists right now? Think it's an exender right now being forced to punt as nowadays?

It's, man, you know something, It's a whole bunch going on, not just music, movies, commercial.

I mean, just like, man, what are they trying to make here? It's and all that. And you know, because I say something, they're gonna ban me.

We can't.

We can't talk about that.

But it's just still knowing of highly against speaking on.

That set.

Well that man, they the gag set letters and everything. Man, don't mess with their people.

Oh yeah, they got power, they running, they running things. I mean, it's nothing wrong. I ain't got nothing against nobody.

But I'm glad I'm not young in the dating world or kid, because the kid almost don't have a choice putting all this in front of them. Man, I'm I'm like this until the kid is eighteen. Your kid, this is what you are, he or she, That's what you ain't nothing else. This is what you're born is what you are. You ain't got a choice until you get eighteen, you start paying your own building.

You got your choice. If they was my kids, yeah, I mean come on, I mean yeah, that's something else.

As far as music is concerned, was being forced on. This is just like you said, the ability to.

The ability to have access to music is so wide open nowadays, and it's unfortunate that I think with labels and people behind these like because who's really behind you know, the music?

Is it? The universals, the deaf jams, the you know a little bit, all of them.

It's so many side you know, deals in side teams and you know, like fuck it. It's it's like still, this would be perfect. Like seven on seventeen. Everybody can have a seven on seventeen. All you gotta dudes, pay your fee and you can enter the tournament. Right Yeah, you don't have to be you know, skilled, qualified, whatever. You can go, put twelve niggas together, get your five hundred dollars and say, nigga, we want to enter.

And that's to me what the music is right now. It's like.

Nigga, I got a program at home in a microphone in a video let me in and then and the simplicity of dumbing down the music you get me. I took pride in what I wrote about back then. Yeah, I took pride in the music that slipped would find on records and sample and cut up and chop it. We took pride in that. It's like now, it's like what niggas like. Fucking niggas like. Niggas like pussy and ass and fucking weeds smoking. So fucking I'm gonna just

What a sad part about it is, man, ain't nobody checking for that type of stuff nowadays.

Man, And the sad part is the younger generation don't know. There's nothing else besides what they listening to. What they're saying, if you get it, they go back to if you get it, because I know, I travel our DJ around the world now.

They love our.

Hip hop from our era out of any music. That's how I go to Vietnam, Korea, Indonesia, Bali, Sri Lanka.

Places that even heard of us.

And the crazy shit is them countries ain't gonna allow that type of ship. Oh yeah, and be over here playing no get up in my booty whole records and all that type of ship. Motherfucker gets your ass hung but fucking head chopped off a listens. I mean, people take different different it's just the way people look at our culture. It is sense, you know, because people don't

It's never allowed over here.

If I'm driving down my street playing some ship like that, I'm liable to get stole or cave and ship listening to some ship smoking wh over there. So it's just the level of acceptance is what I think is allowed. And like I said, we the land of the free and you can do what you want and ship. But I just thing, but what's what you say that when you do it? I just say that coming from our era, and it's gonna be the last thing coming from our era.

You didn't get no radio play. No, you didn't even get a.

Deal anything your record, Like you had an A and R sitting in the office and you walked in there and played your tape and that ship was whack. You weren't getting no deal. It just wasn't happening. So nigga, I'll be at the motherfucker studio. Man, I got the nigga you heard what Cube saying you heard with too short said or LLL or what man. I petition was got to get on that ship. So competition was, Yes it did. We're gonna leave it on that note.

Yeah, Man, we appreciate having you on The show Man to hang out with us The show Man for sure. Man, Instagram page, website, anything.

Man, DJ yell up and w a Instagram Facebook And I'm actually on it so I don't have it.

Stop running strange. Yes, you over there, so so hit him up man right now. Man, Jill, my man gave his life over to God. That's a beautiful thing. Man, Like I said, we done been in the lives and peace now, been.

Through a lot of hell and a lot of motherfucking roller coasters and ship. So for a nigga to be able to sit in that motherfucker's seat and no bumpy ride Nigga's It's a beautiful thing.

At the end of the roller coaster, you feel me real, Hey, we out of here, jill.

Man.

That was can We was on here a while.

It didn't bother me.

Oh yeah, that's why I want to get a picture.