N.W.A: The Aftermath: Behind The Music Tales, #4
By Harris Rosen
()
About this ebook
The only N.W.A book with 7 exclusive interviews, and links to 16 critical background interviews and 26 songs.
DR. DRE: Tupac never knew me.
ICE CUBE: I just do shit for Ice Cube fans, not for Hip-Hop fans.
YELLA: Me and Dre produced all Eazy, N.W.A. All of that. Me and him did that together.
JERRY HELLER: There are people that think that I am the white Devil
Exclusive 1996 and 1999 interviews with Dr. Dre.
Exclusive 2001 and 2006 interviews with Ice Cube.
Exclusive 1996 interview with Yella.
Exclusive 2003 interview with Westside Connection, and distinctive invite-only 1996 Bow Down press conference at Priority Records HQ.
Exclusive 2006 interview with Jerry Heller
N.W.A: The Aftermath is the fourth book from the Behind the Music Tales series. These exclusive behind the scenes interviews deliver N.W.A as you have never heard them before.
Combined the interviews provide a first-hand history of N.W.A with a view to the future. A key look into the state of mind of these legendary figures who existed within the heart of arguably the most infamous and dark period in modern contemporary music history, in which lives were tragically lost.
Each chapter will unravel the truth and give you new insight. Don't miss out on the opportunity to learn what really happened.
What was Eazy-E's all consuming desire?
How did Jerry Heller feel after listening to "No Vaseline"?
When did Yella find out Eazy-E had AIDS?
What really happened in the Ice Cube Vs Cypress Hill war?
What really went on behind the scenes at Death Row?
What did Dr. Dre think of Snoop Doggy Dogg's Tha Doggfather album?
Why did people say Dr. Dre fell off?
Who had the money lined up to produce an N.W.A movie in 2006?
How did Ice Cube go from burning to turning Hollywood?
And much more!
Much of what you will read here has been sensationalized by others. N.W.A: The Aftermath is as close to the truth as one can get. It delivers raw thoughts by real people and is manifested directly in the voice and words of who made it happen. Alternately triumphant and tragic, lively, uplifting and resentful, each tells a distinct story, creating an intimate portrait as fearless as its subjects.
SCROLL UP & BUY!
Read more from Harris Rosen
The Real Daft Punk Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Real Eminem: Revelations of an American Original Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to N.W.A
Titles in the series (8)
N.W.A: The Aftermath: Behind The Music Tales, #4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Real Destiny's Child: Behind The Music Tales, #6 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Reasonings of Buju Banton, Bounty Killer & Sizzla: Behind The Music Tales, #8 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNew York State of Mind 1.0: Behind The Music Tales, #7 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Real 213: Behind The Music Tales, #10 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMagnolia: Home of tha Soldiers: Behind The Music Tales, #9 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Real MC Eiht: Geah!: Behind The Music Tales, #11 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Real Diddy: Behind The Music Tales, #12 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related ebooks
Ruthless: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Parental Discretion Is Advised: The Rise of N.W.A and the Dawn of Gangsta Rap Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5N.W.A: The Aftermath: Exclusive Interviews with Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Jerry Heller, Yella & Westside Connection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dirty Version: On Stage, in the Studio, and in the Streets with Ol' Dirty Bastard Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hip Hop in Houston: The Origin and the Legacy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Hustler's Dream I Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJay-Z: The King of America Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Dirty & Stinkin': Memories of The Ol' Dirty Bastard Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Real Diddy: Behind The Music Tales, #12 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFight The Power: Rap, Race and Reality Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAaliyah Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnd It Don't Stop: The Best American Hip-Hop Journalism of the Last 25 Years Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5DJ Screw: A Life in Slow Revolution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLove, Peace and Soul: Behind the Scenes of America's Favorite Dance Show Soul Train: Classic Moments Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Divided Soul: The Life Of Marvin Gaye Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5New York State of Mind 1.0: Behind The Music Tales, #7 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Real 213: Behind The Music Tales, #10 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRollin With Dre Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dirty South: OutKast, Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy, and the Southern Rappers Who Reinvented Hip-Hop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Young, Rich, and Dangerous: The Making of a Music Mogul Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tupac: A Thug Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unbelievable: The Life, Death, and Afterlife of the Notorious B.I.G. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRuffhouse: From the Streets of Philly to the Top of the '90s Hip-Hop Charts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMagic City: Trials of a Native Son Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Infamous Life: The Autobiography of Mobb Deep's Prodigy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Changes: An Oral History of Tupac Shakur Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNuthin' but a "G" Thang: The Culture and Commerce of Gangsta Rap Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTUPAC SHAKUR (2PAC) In the STUDIO: The Studio Years (1989-1996) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Real MC Eiht: Geah!: Behind The Music Tales, #11 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Music For You
Songwriting: Essential Guide to Lyric Form and Structure: Tools and Techniques for Writing Better Lyrics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Me: Elton John Official Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Weird Scenes Inside The Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops & The Dark Heart Of The Hippie Dream Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Music Theory For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Strange Loop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Easyway to Play Piano: A Beginner's Best Piano Primer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Circle of Fifths: Visual Tools for Musicians, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Learn Jazz Piano: book 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/588 Piano Classics for Beginners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming a Great Sight-Reader–or Not! Learn From My Quest for Piano Sight-Reading Nirvana Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, and Drums, Drums, Drums Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Meaning of Mariah Carey Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Everything Songwriting Book: All You Need to Create and Market Hit Songs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Open Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bowie: An Illustrated Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Making Rumours: The Inside Story of the Classic Fleetwood Mac Album Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Learn Guitar A Beginner's Course Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learn Your Fretboard: The Essential Memorization Guide for Guitar (Book + Online Bonus) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Singing For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Big Keyboard and Piano Chord Book: 500+ Keyboard and Piano Chords in a Unique Visual Format Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Read Music Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for N.W.A
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
N.W.A - Harris Rosen
AN EXCERPT OF N.W.A: THE AFTERMATH
I left Death Row. Now, everybody there is mad at me. So, Okay, fuck Dre! Let’s talk some shit about him!
For one, Tupac did a whole song dissing me, right. One, Tupac never knew me. He never knew me! Tupac had never been to my house before. He doesn’t even know where I live. We never even been in the same car together. The only thing we did was went in the studio together, made a song, went to the video shoot, did the video. That’s it. So, how can he fucking diss me saying anything about me?! That’s all fucking hype. That’s hype! Straight up.
- - DR. DRE
Behind The Music Tales Books
N.W.A: The Aftermath
The Real Eminem: Broke City Trash Rapper
The Real Destiny’s Child: The Writing’s On The Wall
New York State of Mind 1.0
The Reasonings of Buju Banton, Bounty Killer & Sizzla
Magnolia: Home of tha Soldiers (Behind the Scenes with the Cash Money Millionaires)
The Real 213
The Real MC Eiht: Geah!
The Real Diddy
COMING SOON
The Real Daft Punk
This guy! I plead the fifth. This guy is nuts.
- Eminem
Dope questions, man. Very insightful, very thoughtful.
- GURU (GangStarr)
You like a Psychiatrist or some shit? This shit is just coming out but go ahead.
- Mary J. Blige
Definitely a real interview! Digging deep up in there, man. Not afraid to ask questions!
- K-CI Hailey (Jodeci)
The Wizard asked me for a copy of your magazine.
- Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (Daft Punk)
You didn’t wear your glasses, and you haven’t carried your hearing aid. What else is wrong with you?
- Bushwick Bill (Geto Boys)
Peace and blessing, Brother Harris. Thank you for inspiring my words. Keep ‘yo balance.
- Erykah Badu
Can I see that pen?
- Bobby Brown
What else do you want to know? Talk to me.
- Aaliyah
N.W.A:
THE AFTERMATH
Exclusive Interviews
with Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Yella, Jerry Heller & Westside Connection
HARRIS ROSEN
ART BY BEN KINKEAD
N.W.A: THE AFTERMATH
© 2015, 2017 by Harris Rosen. All rights reserved.
Published by Peace! Carving
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of Peace! Carving, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
behindthemusictales.com
4th edition
This edition first published in July 2015
4th edition published in December 2017
Heller HQ
QB
Spading-Fort York
Toronto, ON M5V 2B3
Canada
ISBN: 978-1-988956-06-0
ISBN: 978-1-988956-06-0 (ePub)
PREFACE
image3.jpegDR. DRE: Tupac never knew me.
ICE CUBE: I just do shit for Ice Cube fans, not for Hip-Hop fans.
YELLA: Me and Dre produced all Eazy, N.W.A. All of that. Me and him did that together.
JERRY HELLER: There are people that think that I am the White Devil.
N.W.A: The Aftermath is composed of direct quotes from two exclusive Dr Dre interviews, three exclusive Ice Cube interviews, one exclusive Yella interview, one exclusive Jerry Heller interview, one exclusive Westside Connection interview, and the press conference for Bow Down at Priority Records HQ.
They had all moved in different directions since N.W.A. Some were in various groups or running their crew, while others had embarked on solo careers. They were all still tied in some way to the West Coast Hip-Hop legacy of N.W.A and that meant, they were inevitably always linked to the controversy.
In a rare and vintage interview from 1996, Dr Dre relayed deep unfiltered thoughts in the midst of his war with Death Row Records, shortly after the murder of Tupac Shakur. He spoke on his departure from N.W.A and Ruthless Records, Death Row Records, the beginning of Aftermath Entertainment, and laid out plans. He went in on Snoop Doggy Dogg's Tha Doggfather and responded to personal rumors.
In an exclusive 1999 interview before the release of Chronic 2001, a focused and balanced Dr Dre marked his return to the top, while discussing his state of mind, karma, and spirituality, and explained why he said, Fuck Rap
.
In 2001, 2003, and 2006 exclusive interviews, and a 1996 press conference. Ice Cube spoke on hardcore Hip-Hop, New York City media, his battles with B-Real and Cypress Hill and Common, the explosive diss song No Vaseline.
Both his film and music career while on the set of Friday After Next, and his passion for the Los Angeles Lakers and Oakland Raiders.
In a rare and vintage exclusive 1996 interview with Yella, the most misunderstood member of N.W.A, he spoke about the magic of the group and what led them to part ways. The mysterious death of his close friend Eazy-E, his relationships with Dr Dre, Ice Cube and Ren, Ruthless Records, and the legacy of N.W.A.
In an exclusive 2006 interview inside his home, Jerry Heller, the most disrespected Manager in the history of the music business, responded to all questions and held nothing back. Putting his record up against anyone, he addressed his reputation as a crook, people who sent diss songs in his direction, and what happened when he came to face The Game. He spoke at length on what led him to meet up with Eazy-E, the rise and fall of Ruthless Records, and the final days of Eazy-E. And he named his selections to star in the film that has now become Straight Outta Compton.
The interviews provide a firsthand history of N.W.A to the future and a critical look into the state of mind of these legendary figures, who existed within the heart of arguably the most infamous and dark period in modern contemporary music history, in which lives tragically lost.
Much of what you will read here has been sensationalized by others in a manner of journalistic psycho-speak. N.W.A: The Aftermath is as close to the truth as one can get. It delivers raw thoughts of real people and is manifested directly in the voice and words of the artists who made it happen.
Each chapter will unravel tall tales and give you new insight. Don't miss out on the opportunity to learn what happened.
DISCLAIMER
Opinions expressed in the hyperlinked interviews are not necessarily those of the Author.
IN THE BEGINNING
photo by Harris Rosen
Jerry Heller’s home, Calabasas, Ca, October 22, 2006
A LOT HAS BEEN SAID and written about Jerry Heller since he first became known as the man behind the grand vision of the late Eazy-E and the Ruthless Records empire. His name and character assailed more than any other single person or entity ever since he first parted ways with Ice Cube, then Dr Dre, and eventually Eazy-E in the final days of his life. If you believe the infamous personal and spiritual diss songs and public comments directed his way, Jerry Heller is the biggest crook of all time. According to them, he and Eazy shaved points – and millions of dollars – off royalties they were owed from the multi-platinum sales of N.W.A.
Relaxing at his home on a sunny afternoon in Calabasas, California, where he lived at the time with his ex-wife and former Baywatch actress, Gayle Steiner, the then 66 year old veteran mogul of the American music industry said he couldn't care less. Maybe that's because he has thick skin, especially when it comes to the often cutthroat business of the music industry.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Heller was one of the top agents in the game. As well as being responsible for bringing Elton John and Pink Floyd to America, his roster of clients read like a who's who of the classic era. War, Average White Band, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Boz Scaggs, The Grass Roots, The Standells, The Guess Who, Joan Armatrading, Credence Clearwater Revival, Ike & Tina Turner, Van Morrison. He knows how to work records and the people who record them.
That track record led Eric Wright, aka Eazy-E, to meet him one day in 1987. And the rest, as they say, is history: Ruthless Records was formed; N.W.A blew up Rap like never before; everybody became famous; some struck it rich; there were accusations of financial trickery; Cube left; Dr. Dre left, and the group split up; Cube and Dre recorded diss songs; Eazy-E died of AIDS related complications in 1995; and Heller went on to Hispanic Rap at Hit-a-Lick Records.
Is it history? In Ruthless: A Memoir, the book written with Gil Reavill and published by Simon & Schuster, Jerry Heller finally decided to speak up and out about life and business among Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and the rest of the Ruthless family in the late 1980s. Not one to put a mic in his hand, it served as his late-response record.
image5.pngJERRY HELLER: Let’s go back to Sgt. Pepper and The Beatles. So, the album that I consider one of the two most important albums of the second half of the twentieth century; Sgt. Pepper and Straight Outta Compton. Sgt. Pepper set the bar so impossibly high for everybody else in the world that it because impossible to do an album that was competitive or that people thought was competitive, without spending so much money that people’s jobs depended upon albums being successful. So it took the fact that people should be in the music business because they love music and what it put into it was an element of putting out records and promoting them just because they cost a lot of money rather than because you love music. So I just feel it’s ironic that Sgt. Pepper, this great work of art was responsible for all that. So we now go through the new wave age of the 70s, the funk of the early 80s of which, of course, I was involved in.
The music business is the only win-win business that I have ever seen. It’s the only business where - Normally in a business when you make more somebody else makes less. That’s not true in the music business. In the music business, the more the artist makes, the more everybody makes. And that’s a wonderful thing and I call that the economic integrity of the music business because everybody gets rich off an Alanis Morissette record, not just Alanis Morissette. Everybody does; the Publisher, the writers, the Producer, the record company. I mean, everybody’s career was built on Jagged Little Pill and so obviously, that’s a wonderful thing.
So when we did Straight Out Compton, well, first let me just set the stage here. I heard about a little scene that was happening at a pressing plant in Hollywood called Macola Records and it took me a couple of months to get over there. A friend of mine that I had done business with over the years, he had brought me Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba and Charlie Musselwhite. He’s an old Blues guy and I trusted what he said. He said, Look, there’s a scene happening, I don’t like it, I don’t understand it.
Not necessarily that he didn’t like it, he didn’t understand it, but maybe you’ll like it. So I go over there and for a thousand dollars, you could press up 500 records and this guy would send it out to his friends and if by some freak of nature they played it on the one radio station in the world on this planet that played Rap music, which was a 5,000 watt station at the top of Alvarado Street called KDAY with Julio G and Tony G and Greg Mack; The Mix Masters, the record would start to sell.
I went over there and at this little place were the L.A. Dream Team and J. J. Fad and Ice-T and MC Hammer and the World Class