DJ YELLA
You are probably the least profiled member of the group NWA, and it's typical of Hip Hop to have their DJ's play the back, so tell us about yourself.
DJ Yella: I'm not married, ain't got no kids. I was born and raised in Compton. I'm an original member of NWA and I was here until the end. I'm a producer. I don't play any music instruments except for drums.
When I was growing up, there was no Hip Hop, just funk like George Clinton. I used to DJ in a club in LA as a teenager. Then Dre came along and we hit it off from the beginning. We deejayed together for years before we even got into the music industry. Hip Hop was like Grandmaster Flash back then. Rap was something from the east coast. We almost originally started west coast Hip Hop when we were in the World Class Wrecking Cru. We were broke but we stuck together.
We'd seen a show with Run DMC for the first time. It was their first time in California. We sat back and looked at the show and it wasn't nothin'! It was two people rapping and a DJ! We said, 'That's it! We can do that!' That's when we started trying to make records. That's when we put out Surgery. It did okay and we sold a few but me and Dre were getting tired of the Wrecking Cru cuz the money situation wasn't right and we were always broke. Dre knew Eazy from his old neighborhood.
As you know, the first song from NWA was Boyz In The Hood but it was originally written for two other guys from New York who were rappers. They felt they couldn't rap that way so Dre convinced Eazy into rapping it. It wasn't meant for him because Eazy wasn't a rapper! That's when I met Eazy. Right then, we all clicked and then Ren came into the picture. Of course, Cube was around because he was in another group which was a subsidary of the Wrecking Cru called CIA.
If Eazy was around at this time and he accepted his friend Dre when he wore flashy clothes and cosmetics for the World Class Wrecking Cru, why did he use it as a point to dis Dre on the 'It's On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa' album?
DJ Yella: He only did it because Dre came at him first. But deep down, he was kinda hurt when Dre first left and the true animosity had worn off by the time that record came out. Dre put out Nuttin' But A G Thang so Eazy had to come back. That was just for show. I think deep down, they didn't really want to do it but he just had to do it. They did have real beef, but over the years, it just wore out.
What it was like to be in the group during itís heyday?
DJ Yella: On the first maxi-single, before the Straight Outta Compton album, Cube was in school in Arizona for a year. So me, Ren, Dre, and Eric worked the whole single promotion-wise for a whole year. Cube had a scholarship or something so he was gone. The four of us put in a lot of free hours before we made the actual album. Cube was writing a lot of Eazy's stuff that Eazy didn't like because it wasn't him, he wasn't a rapper! We liked Eazy because originally, he had the money, but also because the sound of his voice sold. He sounded and looked like a little kid. That's why we pushed him out front; he was the image. When you thought of NWA, you thought of Eazy-E first. It was just a look. I was always in the background through all the production and everything. But the real problems came when we started making money.
What about what Ice-T said about starting gangsta rap?
DJ Yella: Ice-T was rapping but some people didn't know where he was from. Some people thought he was from New York. He had a different style from us. We were almost the first ones to cuss on a rap record, because that's how we talk so I think we started 'street music' first. We were just different from him. NWA started a legend and that legend has now opened the doors for all these gangsta rappers or whatever you want to call them. We didn't think of it as gangsta rap. To us, it was just street music. We rapped about what we knew. We couldn't rap about New York because we didn't know nothing about it.
When Cube and Dre left claiming that they were not being compensated properly by Eazy, what really happened?
DJ Yella: Everybody was getting paid. It was really about more personal stuff. Cube, for example, wanted to do a solo album but we told him 'Not now, we're going to work on Eazy's album '. He wanted to do his first. Plus, somebody was in his ear at the time telling him this and that. That was his major problem.
As for Dre, it was the same thing. He was getting paid, he was living in a million-dollar house so money was coming from somewhere! We weren't being ripped off. I think the reason they left is because they were listening to other people. Thatís the real issue. Me, I just stayed neutral. I was down with Eazy, but I wasn't in any of his videos when he was dissing Dre.
How did you get the name 'Yella'?
DJ Yella: When I was just deejayin', there was a song by the Tom Tom Club called Mr. Yellow. The Unknown DJ heard it and said 'that's what your name should be!' and from that day on, that was my name! You'd be amazed at how much West Coast Hip Hop today has been derived from us in that era. Just from that time, 61 million records have been sold as a result. There was a core group of people including Ice-T, MC Eiht, who all started at the same time as us. From that era, a lot of the west coast acts have been derived.
Why did you name your new album 'One Mo Nigga To Go'?
DJ Yella: It means Iím the last NWA member to come out solo. I'm the last of the real niggaz. I'm dedicating my album to Eazy because I was down with him from day one and I never turned my back on him, even when times weren't so good, I was always there. I was there for friendship, not money. Even when things were slow, I was still there.
I think a lot of people may compare you to Quincy Jones and the way he's done his last two albums. How do you feel about that?
DJ Yella: Good, 'cuz if you really think about it, thatís how Quincy Jones has always been. I used to think Quincy was a singer, but he's a producer and that's what I am. I'm not going to embarrass myself trying to rap because that would be wack. I don't rap. I put things together, like the last Eazy album. On the album, I'm working with BG Knocc Out, Dresta, Tracy Nelson, Dirty Red, Kokane, and Leicy Loc. I wanted to have people that Iíve worked with before who are down and these people have been down since Eazy was around.
Who are the people who speak about Eazy on the interludes of your album?
DJ Yella: A buddy of mine named Big Man, his wife, and his kids. They knew Eric pretty well so I wanted them to talk for real. It wasn't rehearsed or nothing. I had a little camera and asked them questions and captured what they said. People say so much about Eazy that I wanted them to hear about the good side of him, the normal side of Eric Wright. They knew him before NWA started.
One of the ladies talking on an interlude said that Eazy-E was originally known as Casual! Tell us about that.
DJ Yella: That was a shock to me! He probably had a little name in the neighborhood and he was called Casual. I didn't know it until I heard that interview myself.
So much of your album is about Eazy-E. Would your album exist at all if not for Eazyís passing?
DJ Yella: Eazy and I were going to put a record out together, but he got so caught up in other stuff that he never got around to it. I put this out because other people have said a lot of things about Eazy-E, but nobody really did anything nice for him. The first video out, For Tha E shows the way he should have went out, not the way it was with court and the crazy stuff. Some of the money I'll make, I'll give to his kids because they're not getting taken care of.
Tell us what went on behind the scenes after Eazy passed away in terms of the legal battles.
DJ Yella:A lot of it is still in court. By the time they finish, I think the company will be broke. The only people who will be making money will be the lawyers. That's why the last thing I did over there at Ruthless was his album. I didn't want nobody else to put it together.
When was Eazy's album, 'Straight Off The Streets of Muthaphukkin' Compton' actually completed?
DJ Yella: The last song he made was with me, him, and Ren. That was The Muthaphukkin' Real done in December of 1994, just three months before he died. Was it was eerie to hear him say 'when I die, niggaz bury me, make sure my shit reads Eazy ëmuthaphukkin' E. And it's a fact, to be exact, my tombstone should read 'he put Compton on that map'...' in that song?
When we did the song, I never paid attention to his words. I didnít hear the actual words until months after he had died. Ain't that crazy? I remember, though, that he just came up with the words right then off the top of his head. I don't know if those words were significant at the time.
Did you leave Ruthless because you don't think they'll survive the legal battles?
DJ Yella: My contract ran out in early 1994, but I was still around him because we were down, not because of the money. I didn't care. That contract was signed way back in 1989. But when he died, to me, Ruthless died. All Ruthless Records is now is just a name. The real ruthless person is not here so I'd rather not be stuck up with a bunch of court-appointed people, I'd rather be on my own and do my own thing.