WEBVTT - Chronic Issues: Dr. Dre vs. Eazy-E 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:14.760 Rivals as a production of I Heart Radio. Hello everyone, 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:17.280 and welcome to Rivals, the show about music beefs and 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:21.279 feuds and long simmering resentments between musicians. I'm Steve and 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:23.560 I'm Jordan's and today we're gonna talk about the defining 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:26.760 feud of West Coast hip hop dr dre versus Easy. 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:29.360 It's the battle but tore apart n w A one 0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:32.080 of the most influential ratbacks in history, and sparked a 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:35.680 distract battle that only ended with easyes tragic AIDS related death. 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:40.360 But did it ever really end? As Dre goes to 0:00:40.400 --> 0:00:42.600 sleep each night on his pillow stuffed with hundreds, I 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:44.800 wonder how he really feels about his ex bandmate. And 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:47.000 this is a fascinating feud to me because at its 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:49.400 height it really was one of the pettiest and most 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:52.159 vicious beefs and hip hop history. I mean, you had 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:55.240 Dre and Easy, these former bandmates who were just terrible 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:58.760 to each other in public, and then Easy died and 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:01.560 you could see how remorseful Drey was about all of 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:04.040 these terrible things that he had said about Easy, and 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:07.000 also how Drey over the years went on to try 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:10.280 to essentially rewrite history and make it seem almost like 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:12.800 there really wasn't ever a few at all, but there 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:15.480 was Jordan's and we're here to rehash it all. So 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:21.440 without further ado, let's get into this mess. The story 0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:24.800 of benb really begins with Eric Wright a k A. Easy, 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:27.679 the so called godfather of gangster Wrap, and he very 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:30.240 famously grew up in the rough l a neighborhood of Compton, 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:32.760 and as one of his associates would later say, you 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:35.120 have to have a role play to stay safe in 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:37.960 those streets, and you were either a thug, a player, 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:41.560 an athlete, a gangster, or a dope man. Otherwise, according 0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:44.680 to Easy associate, there was only one role left to you, 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:46.960 the role of victims. And Easy he was a small 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:49.040 guy and he had to keep himself safe, so we 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:52.160 chose dopeman for a time dealing drugs, but after his 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:54.240 cousin was shot and killed, he decided that he could 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:56.560 make a better living in the emerging l A hip 0:01:56.600 --> 0:01:59.720 hop scene, which was really growing in popularity at that point. 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:02.160 And it was around this time in that that he 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:04.640 met Andre Young a k A. Dr Dre, who soon 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:06.840 became his best friend. Yeah, I think it's pretty well 0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:10.200 documented at this point that like Easy was not really 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:12.959 a good rapper. I mean it's my understanding that he 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:15.720 pretty much had to be coached line by line in 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:19.680 the studio and ice Cube I think wrote almost all 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:23.040 of his lyrics, like on those classic and debut records. 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:26.360 But what Easy he had was this authenticity, you know, 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:29.720 of having a legitimate crime background. I also have to 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:31.320 say too that I think Easy he has like a 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:35.760 really cool sounding voice. Like there's something about Easy, like 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:38.640 when you hear him on a record, like it doesn't 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:40.880 seem like there's any artifice there, Like he just sounds 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:43.200 like a dude from the main streets of Los Angeles 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:45.959 talking about his life, even like when the stuff he's 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:48.880 talking about is like pretty outlandish. Because I feel like 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:52.320 n w A, as their career progressed, like their records 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:55.240 kind of got pretty far out there, you know, from reality, 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:57.240 but like Easy, he kind of kept it grounded just 0:02:57.280 --> 0:02:59.880 by force of his persona yeah, and just his path 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:01.880 like as Easy he would later point out on dis 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:04.960 tracks to Dr Dre. Dre came from the same neighborhood, 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:06.680 but he never had the same street cred that Easy 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:10.400 E did. Uh and Dre since hearing Grand Master Flash, 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:12.160 he wanted to be a DJ. He hung out at 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:14.799 a club called Eve after Dark, which is where many 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:17.440 of the West Coast mcs would would would rhyme and perform, 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:19.040 and it was here that he met Future in w 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:21.960 a member DJ Yella, and he became a DJ there 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:24.680 himself under the name Dr j at first after his 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:28.440 favorite basketball player, Julius Irving, and that gradually morphed into 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:32.000 Dr Dre the Master of Mixology, which sounds like someone 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:34.079 who would make like a mean old fashioned or something 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:36.320 about I guess master of mixology had a very different 0:03:36.320 --> 0:03:38.680 meaning at that time. And this club had a small 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:40.760 four track studio in the back room, and that's where 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:42.920 Drey and his friends would make early demos. Yeah, you know, 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:44.640 like when you look at Dre and Easy early on, 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:46.560 I mean they almost seemed like opposites of each other 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:49.080 in terms of like what their attributes were. Like, you know, 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:53.160 Easy had this authentic background for against rapper, but he 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:56.360 wasn't really like that great in terms of being a rapper, 0:03:56.600 --> 0:04:00.160 whereas Drey was really like, I think, already becoming a 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:02.760 musical mastermind, but he was also I mean, it's it 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:04.760 fair to say that he was a dork at this time, 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:07.160 Like he's kind of like a nerdy guy. Like you 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.600 can google Dr Dre and find pictures of him in 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:13.000 the group that he was in at this time called 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:15.200 the World Class Wrecking Crew. I don't have you ever 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:18.760 seen these photos, Like they're wearring, like these goldle mace suits. 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:22.520 They're playing like key tars. They're like worrying key tars 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:25.440 are very prevalent, and they're worrying makeup. I mean, it's 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:28.000 not the image that we associate with Dr Dre or 0:04:28.120 --> 0:04:31.039 n Way. It's pretty corny when you're looking at it now. 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:33.760 And of course it's like Electro a little Richard exactly. 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:35.560 I feel like easy he had a lot to do 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:40.039 with people seeing these photos eventually, because like he would eventually, 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:42.240 you know, kind of bring these photos out as a 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:44.760 way to make fun of Dre, like when they were 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:47.840 deep into their feuds. But this was a pivotal moment 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:50.400 in Tray's career. Not only was he working with I 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:52.960 think Yellow was in World Class Wrecking Crew with him, 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:56.640 he also ended up hooking up with this really talented 0:04:56.720 --> 0:04:59.600 rapper and writer named ice Cube when ice Cube was 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:01.400 only Sick Team, and then he worked on a song 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:04.720 together called Cabbage, and that was the beginning of their collaboration. 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:07.840 Did you hear the story about like how Dre Easy 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:10.320 kind of got together. Apparently like Dre had like a 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:13.120 parking ticket and he needed Easy to like help him 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:15.320 get out of it. And then just it's sort of 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:17.600 like to repay the favors, like all right, fine, I'll 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:20.320 help produce some songs for that little label that you're developing. 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:22.919 And and that little label that Easy was developing became 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:25.760 Ruthless Records, which was home to n w A and 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:28.840 became a really pivotal label in the hip hop scene, 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:32.080 especially for West Coast. When she said, oh, yeah, absolutely, 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:34.599 I mean this really was the beginning I think of 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:37.320 like the West Coast having a real presence in hip hop. 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:39.800 I mean before then, you know, like in the early eighties, 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:41.960 it was very much based on the East. But as 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:44.000 we get to the end of the eighties and into 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:46.200 the nineties, the West Coast is going to really make 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:48.480 their presence felt. So one's Easy. He decides to get 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:50.919 out of drug dealing and go into music full time. 0:05:51.160 --> 0:05:54.000 He took his profits and formed Ruthless Records, and to 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:56.360 help him run it he asked this guy, Jerry Heller, 0:05:56.600 --> 0:05:58.720 and Jerry Heller is kind of like generally viewed as 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:01.720 the snake in this story. He's like a really polarizing figure, 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:04.560 usually cast as the villain, but also cited as a 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:07.359 really crucial figure in the band's development. And you know, 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:10.159 both of these are probably true. I think he's probably 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:13.240 mostly responsible for getting the bands to break outside of 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:16.600 the West Coast and certainly outside of their neighborhood, but 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:19.320 I think he also tore the band apart. When he 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:21.880 first started managing m w A, he was like something 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:24.039 like a forty year veteran of the music industry and 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:27.840 he represented all kinds of people. Van Morrison CSN y 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:30.960 otis reading the Who Black Sabbath, the list is like 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:34.480 really extensive and um. In later years, the story was 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:37.720 put around that Heller sought out in w A specifically 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:40.640 to like take advantage of these inexperienced man and try 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:43.560 to rip them off basically with industry contracts that he 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:45.839 knew a lot about and they didn't. But he would 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:48.120 say in his in his memoir that it was actually 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:50.600 Easy who sought him out, and not the other way around, 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:52.800 and that Easy actually paid somebody I think like seven 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:55.400 hundred and fifty dollars to make an introduction to him, 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:58.400 because he knew Jerry Heller had all these contacts into 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:00.719 the you know, the Hollywood music and just reseen and 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:02.560 he wanted to make this band big, and he was 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:05.200 he was first and foremost a businessman. I would read 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:08.160 later on that he was generally described Easy was as 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:11.680 like a businessman who happened to wrap and so seeking 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:13.560 out Heller was his way to bring the band to 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:16.200 the next level. So Hellard becomes n W as manager. 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:19.560 And look, if you listen to our show, you know 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:22.760 that like artists having managers that they don't trust. It's 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:26.080 got common story in music history, like n W as 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:28.160 far from the first group to have this. But I 0:07:28.240 --> 0:07:30.440 think the reason why this ended up being such a 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:34.440 divisive moment in the group's history is that from Drey's perspective, 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:37.320 he really looked at Jerry Heller as being Easy's guy, 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:40.000 and if Jerry had any loyalties at all, it wasn't 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:42.120 to the group overall. It was always going to be 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:45.520 too easy and he really felt, and I think with justification, 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:49.480 like as the group's career progressed, that oftentimes, Drey was 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:52.240 getting the short end of the stick financially, while Easy 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:55.600 was making out really well with his good friend Jerry Heller. 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:58.000 And you know, Drey said later on that he felt 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:01.520 that Heller's strategy in the group was basically divide and conquer, 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:04.000 that he could split up the group's loyalties and in 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:06.360 that way he could weaken the other members and it 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:09.680 could just consolidate the power with Easy and Jerry. And 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:11.320 it seems like, in a way that's what is going 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:14.880 to happen as we move forward here. The first nw 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:17.920 A recordings were born out of a song called Boys 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:20.240 in the Hood that he tried to give to his 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:24.880 Ruthless record signing HBO, who turned it down. So Cube 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:27.880 dre E formed the first version of NWA to record 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:31.240 it themselves, and this was followed up by Panic Zone, 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:34.520 which was included in the seven compilation n w A 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:37.040 and the Posse, which is kind of like a compilation 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:39.959 party oriented jam record kind of thing. And n w 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:42.800 A was still in just developing stages and they're only 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:45.080 on I think like three of the tracks on the album. 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:48.320 The songs are Panic Zone, eight Ball, and Dopeman. But 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:51.360 it was the first collaboration with Arabian Prince, DJ, Yellow 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:53.559 Dr Dre and Ice Cube, and it was the first 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:55.760 time they were all together. The thing about that record though, 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:58.319 is that I feel like most people didn't hear about 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:01.480 that album until the net w A record, which of 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:04.400 course is Straight Out of Content, which drops in August. 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:07.800 This is really, I think, not the official first record, 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:09.800 but it's like the true first record for an n 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:12.640 w A. It's where they really become the band that 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:16.120 we know, like this dangerous, innovative hip hop group that 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:18.560 is going to just change really like the face of 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.680 music at that time. This is a really crucial summer 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:23.720 in hip hop history because you know, you have Straight 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:25.640 Out of Content that comes out in August, and then 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:28.280 two months before that you have Public Enemy putting out 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:30.959 what I think many people consider to be their classic record. 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:33.040 It takes a nation of millions to hold us back, 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:35.400 and it really is the peak of like this sort 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:38.600 of angry, provocative and very political type of hip hop 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:40.800 and w A. Of course, the signature song ends up 0:09:40.840 --> 0:09:43.440 being Fucked the Police, which is I think still an 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:47.000 anthem for people. That's still probably the best known protest 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:49.960 song about police brutality that hip hop has ever spawned. 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:52.960 That song actually resulted in a letter sent to the 0:09:52.960 --> 0:09:55.840 group from the FBI. I mean, what is the implication 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:57.400 of that letter. It was like basically like a warning 0:09:57.480 --> 0:09:58.920 letter to them, right, I mean, like what were they 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:02.520 warning them about exact basically? I mean what I had 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:05.440 heard was that it was basically a rogue member of 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:08.559 the FBI. That it wasn't like a formal thing from 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:10.280 sent on high from them. It was just like one 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:12.240 member who happened to work for the FBI put it 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:15.840 on FBI stationary basically, and he was kind of warning 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:19.080 them to stop releasing these inflammatory songs because it was 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:22.400 basically like a notch below like excitement to riot. And 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:24.720 I think the song like they got in legal trouble 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:26.600 from performing in a lot of gigs too for the 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:28.640 same reason. It was almost like a Lenny Bruce kind 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:31.880 of thing where they there would be police in the 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:35.920 wings and stuff. Um, yeah, that was really strange, and 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:38.439 it's on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:40.480 and yeah it was. It was more like a low 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:43.400 level bureaucrat I think who actually sent that. But still 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:46.480 the impact was I mean, the press value of that 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:49.040 alone was pretty impressive. It was sent to their label, 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:51.160 and I think the band members themselves, well, I was 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:53.319 gonna say, like, I mean, could you ask for better 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:57.160 publicity than giving a letter from the FBI. I wonder, like, 0:10:57.320 --> 0:11:00.079 you know, if this rogue Agent was like a and 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:02.840 of the world class Wrecking Crew and he was just 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:06.160 upset at this like more sort of like you know, 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:08.880 they to turn. Yeah, it's like where the key tars Man, 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:12.040 Like I miss I missed the gold le may suits. 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:14.320 I'm not sure about this new image. That's my theory 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:17.720 anyway about that rogue Agent. If like Public Enemy was 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:19.840 like the Clash, I feel like n w A was 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:22.520 like Guns and Roses at this time, you know, n 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:25.920 w AY they called their music reality rap. But I 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:28.280 do think that there was this kind of like over 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:30.880 the top element to like what they did, like where 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:33.520 they took the reality of like street violence in Los 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:35.800 Angeles and they just like blew it up to like 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:38.720 a grand scale. So like kids in the suburbs that 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:41.280 were like just totally attracted to n w A. They 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:43.480 loved the danger of this group. They were just sucked 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:46.080 into some of the reality and also like some of 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:49.200 the fantasy of those records. And if I can continue 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:51.240 this analogy, I would say that like easy E was 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:54.080 like the Axl Rose of n w A because he 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:56.720 was like the most colorful and the most charismatic and 0:11:56.760 --> 0:11:58.559 like really like I think, kind of the most dangerous 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:01.439 one in the band, you know, like ice Cube. Again, 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:03.200 he was doing a lot of the writing, Dre was 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:05.640 handling the music. But I think Easy along with being 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:08.400 the businessman, he just felt the most like he could 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:11.000 have actually been one of the characters that they were 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:13.640 like talking about in their songs. He felt like he 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:15.840 was actually from the streets in a way that maybe 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:18.240 those other guys weren't. And I remember at the time 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:21.000 it seemed like Easy almost from like the jump of 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:24.560 that record was being set aside as a standalone star. 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:27.559 Like just three months after Straight Out of Comptent comes out, 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:30.520 he puts out his first solo record, and it's really 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:33.720 the only solo record that he completed during his lifetime. 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:36.480 That of course is Easy does it. That album goes 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:39.240 undergo double platinum, So that record is a big hit 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:41.360 on its own. So not only is Easy you know 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:43.120 a star in n w A, but he's already kind 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:46.000 of establishing his own career on the side now. As 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:49.480 we see so often on this show, relatively instant success 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:52.360 is almost never a good thing for a young band, 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:54.920 and the success of Straight Out of Compton underscored the 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:56.880 fact that the bandmates weren't getting the money that they 0:12:56.880 --> 0:12:59.640 felt they'd been owned. And it's what we were talking earlier. 0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:03.280 The contracts that Jerry Heller put together vastly favored E 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:05.880 as the head of the record label rather than the 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:07.880 rest of the group. And it was a pretty large 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:11.079 group too, So ice Cube in particular is the one 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:13.320 who really has a problem with the way that the 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:15.600 money is being arranged because he's the chief writer of 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:18.480 this huge album. Plus he wrote most of Easy Ease 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:20.960 debut album too, and he's still living at home with 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:24.280 his parents and doing the dishes and stuff. Meanwhile, Jerry 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:27.480 Heller and E are living in huge mansions and driving 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:30.160 luxury cars, and it looked awful lot like they were 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:33.160 all getting rich off of his work, which they were, 0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:36.640 so by the middle of Ice Cube had received thirty 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:40.360 two thousand dollars in album royalties and a little bit 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:42.240 less than that. I'm out for performing on the n 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:45.679 w AS first National Tour, which is I mean laughable 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:48.319 to Pittans for you know, multi platinum record. Yeah, I 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:50.400 mean he's basically being paid like what you would be 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:53.040 paid to like manage like a fast food restaurant, you know, 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:55.480 I mean, not the kind of money that you would 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:58.200 expect from the writer of like you know, a couple 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:00.959 of like platinum records. So, like ice Cube actually ends 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:04.240 up leaving the group pretty early on, and initially, like 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:07.520 Dre is kind of lashing out a Cube about this, 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:09.640 he has loyalty to n w A. But then Drey 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:12.640 starts to realize that he also is not making the 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:15.280 kind of money that he should be making because along 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:18.200 with you know, producing a way, he's also like working 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:20.600 on like the Easy record, He's like producing like the 0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:24.400 d O C. Michelle A, like all these hit records 0:14:24.560 --> 0:14:27.080 and not making a lot of money. Like Jerry Holler 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:30.600 bizorted mission like in an article of that Rolling Stone 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:32.280 did on this, he said that like Drey only made 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:35.440 like eighty six thousand dollars from all of the production 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:38.600 work that he was doing for Ruthless Records. And the 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:41.040 thing here, I mean it's interesting because like Drey, of 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:43.760 course he would accuse Jerry Heller of ripping him off. 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:46.640 But it's like, if you sign a bad deal, are 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:49.560 you being ripped off? Or have you just not taking 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:51.640 care of your own business. I mean, that seems like 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:54.080 the issue here, and it it's kind of like a 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:58.480 hazy distinction to make because obviously, when musicians first get 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:00.960 into the business, many times they don't know much about 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:03.960 contracts or like how to negotiate like the best deals 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:06.960 for themselves. And you know, people like Jerry Howard take 0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:10.680 advantage of that. They heavily tilt the scales so that 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:13.280 they make way more money than the artists who was 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:16.760 actually doing the work. And I think, again from Drey's perspective, 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:19.120 he was angry at Jerry Heller about this, but I 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:21.920 think he also felt betrayed by Easy because he felt 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:25.640 that Easy was essentially working in concert with with Jerry Howard. 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:28.440 And it's like, you're my friend, you're my bandmate, and 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:31.800 yet you consciously allowed this to happen. You knew that 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:35.000 he was going to basically screw me over with this contract, 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:37.280 and you just let him do it because ultimately you 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:39.520 knew that it was the best thing for your bottom 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:41.360 line exactly. I mean, at the end of the day, 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:44.320 he blamed e for bringing this outsider into their myths, 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:47.000 into their neighborhood. Really, and it's interesting that, you know, 0:15:47.080 --> 0:15:50.200 for all of the frustration that ice Cube and Dre felt, 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:54.960 they never actually sued Heller for financial malfeasance, which means, 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:58.400 like he said, he wasn't legally doing anything wrong. He 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:01.200 just put a deal together of heavily favorite him and 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:03.960 Dre didn't know any better at this time, and and 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:06.040 his associates at this time would say this too, like 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:08.480 he really didn't read contracts. It really wasn't you know, 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:10.920 his thing. He was more of a creative and so, 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:12.960 and that came back to haunt him in this case. 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:15.720 And ice Cube ended up leaving the group right after 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:18.280 Straight out of Compton went global, and he was the 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:20.000 biggest star in the band at this time, and he 0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:23.120 was the best position to go solo. And his first album, 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:27.000 America's Most Wanted, went to number one in just two weeks. 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:30.040 And he didn't mention the bad blood in nw A 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:32.280 directly in this album. I think it's important to note, 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:34.960 but that would that would happen later. Yeah, it's interesting 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:38.720 with Cube because there's this long gestation process that takes 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:41.720 place between him in n W A like after he left, 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:43.240 like where you know we're going to see this at 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:45.320 n w A is going to be much more aggressive 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:49.280 about attacking Cube, and Cube is like really not going 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:53.720 to respond for a long time until he like really responds, 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:56.040 like in the most vicious way possible. But we're getting 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:57.920 a little out of ourselves with that. I just want 0:16:57.920 --> 0:16:59.960 to say for now, like ice Cube is like one 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:03.400 of my favorite rappers of all time, especially of this era. 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:06.000 I mean, he's got a great voice, he's a great writer, 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:08.920 and he was like a genuinely dangerous character, like I 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:11.360 don't know, like if you listen to albums like Death 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:14.560 Certificate or The Predator or America's Most Wanted, I mean 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:16.639 he could be like a really menacing presence on his 0:17:16.720 --> 0:17:19.400 records and in his music videos and it was just riveting. 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:22.360 And I feel like him leading n w A, even 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:24.960 though you still had dre and easy in that group, 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:27.680 it really was like a death blow to that group artistically, 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:30.439 Like I don't think they were ever as good without 0:17:30.560 --> 0:17:32.920 him as they were with him in the band. Oh no, 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:34.680 and I'm not on the mic and not with that 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:38.240 was writing too, especially so n w A do not 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:41.480 afford Cube the same courtesy. The next disc they put 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:44.560 out as an EP, hundred Miles and Running. The title 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:47.479 track includes a disk track of ice Cube we started 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:49.920 with five, but yo one couldn't take it, so now 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:52.000 it's four because the fifth couldn't make it, and the 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:54.240 video for the song depicted the remaining members of n 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:56.800 w A together in a jail cell. On ice Cube 0:17:56.800 --> 0:18:00.679 look Alike is released, which is uh not particular really subtle. 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:03.359 There's another track on the album that refers to him 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:07.359 as Benedict Arnold, Uh, you know, the famous trader of 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:11.560 the revolutionary era. But really Cube gets his revenge on 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:14.600 kill it will. Well not really though, because like I 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:18.159 feel like he's still like fairly passive aggressive on this record, 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:20.800 like he's like a little more deliberate. Like there's that 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:22.640 skit at the end of the record called I Gotta 0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:24.919 Say What Up where ice Cube is doing this like 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:27.439 fake radio interview where he's talking about some of the 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:29.720 great like rap groups of the era, like Public Enemy, 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:32.959 Ghetto Boys, people like that, and then there's a question 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:35.119 where they say, since you went solo, what's up with 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:37.400 the rest of your crew? And then he hangs up, 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:40.560 So like the application being that like you know, someone's 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:42.840 asking about n w A and he's not even gonna 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:46.400