It's never about the money, it's always been fun, and the money ruins everything.
Adapted from the HBO documentary "The Defiant Ones", part of the image is from "Rushing Out of Compton"
Black buddies with attitudes
Eazy-z dropped out of high school to make a living from a "street business," and by the time Dre pulled him in at the age of 23, he had made $250,000. Eazy-z had only intended to fund label Ruthless, but Dre, bent on getting him to speak, spent two hours coaxing him into the microphone to record "Boyz n the hood."
The success of the song opened the door for Ruthless, who wanted to hit the iron while it was hot, but needed more lyricists, Dre brought in dallas friends D.O.c, Eazy-e got Ren. After the people were ready, Eazy-z began to record his debut album "Eazy-duz-it".
In Ice Cube's eyes, Eazy-z is the godfather of gangster rap, "but without dre, there is no eazy-e," Ice Cube summed it up.
According to Dj Yella, eazy-e learned rap, all by dre's patience, taught word by word, and Radio was recorded at least 73 times. Eazy-e can record so that ice cube can't stand it, can't bear to hear the lyrics he wrote being ruined by eazy-e, so flash people. It was also in the recordings over and over again that Ice Cube witnessed Dre turn eazy-e into a superstar, "like watching Dr. Frankenstein make Frankenstein."
In Dre's eyes, they are the perfect combination — Eazy-e has a deep "street business" perspective, Ice Cube brings malcolm x political voices, Dre blends street and business, and D.O .c writes a lot of good lyrics for Eazy-e.
ice cube
So dre/eazy-e/ice cube/ren/dj yella decided to create a group. What kind of group is this?
"We want to be a little shocked so you can listen to what we want to say." ——dre。
"We just want to make Compton fire." ——ren。
"We're just journalists in the black zone." ——dj yella。
"We want the world to see our world. Gang activity, cocaine, the Los Angeles Police Department, Reagan Economic Policy, that's our formula. ”——ice cube。
One day Dre and Eazy-z drove over, "We gave the group a name. "What name?" Ice Cube asked. “n.w.a。” "What the hell?" That's just the first letter, what does that mean? "Niggaz wit attitude." "Sleeper, bullshit!" Ice Cube is happy with the name.
fuck tha police
In 1987, after the release of the collection N.W.A. and the Posse, N.W.A. embarked on a "boyz in the hood" tour, and on the way, Eazy-z approached Dre, saying that the girl group J.J. Fad wanted Dre to help produce, "Are you crazy? Let me pause the tour to do this? ”
Dre was actually quite happy when he recorded the album "Supersonic" for J.J.Fad, and this gold record (sold 500,000+) also made Ruthless earn more money and spent the money on the later N.W.A album. The success of this album has made the radio stations look forward to Ruthless's next record.
"n.w.a. and the posse" has a song called "dopeman", the lyrics are very explicit, "A deep quagmire addict said, sell medicine, please give me another injection, the drug seller said, take drugs, I don't care, as long as your girlfriend gives me a kneeling lick." ”
dopemann.w.a. - straight outta compton (music from the motion picture)
After the MTV host listened, he was shocked, "I can't believe they dare to talk like this, this kind of music is simply unbelievable, MTV will not broadcast." Dre's mother was also shocked and asked her son, "Why do you have to say such a thing?" "If they sang something ordinary, they wouldn't want to hear it."
Dee Barnes, the host of the hip-hop show Pump it up, also found it strange, "When I'm with them, they don't talk like that. It's all eazy-e's idea, and he says any publicity is good publicity. ”
In 1988, at "Rhythm Rock Live," the host asked, "How much difference is between your life and the content of your songs?" Eazy-e picked up the gun, "We're as real as this gun, see this chamber?" This is no joke. What you hear on our records is true. ”
The gun was a paintball gun, and Alonzo, Dre, and Dj Yella liked to play with it, driving to Malibu Beach to play with guns, and taking a team name "just us." Eazy-e also bought one, and dre drove along the harbor highway, pulling the gun out of the window, "Bang! "------------------------------------
The high-speed policemen sniffed the wind, pulled out their guns, pulled them out of the car, and made them lie face down. Back at Alonzo's house, they were shaking like dogs, "Fuck that bunch of cops!" They grabbed us and held us in the head with guns! What the did you do? Alonzo asked. "We just drove down the street, took that paintball gun, and shot two shots at someone's car." This left Alonzo stunned and speechless.
Eazy-e and Dre didn't stop there, but instead intensified, causing sabotage everywhere, causing Dre to spend every weekend in jail. Going to the club on the weekend with dre was a great pleasure for ice cube at that time, since the dre weekend was spent in prison, ice cube's weekend has nothing to do, and can only drive around the block, so ice cube decided to write "fuck tha police".
When Ice Cube told Dre about the idea, Dre prodded, "We can't write this, I'll have to go to jail on Friday and they'll beat me up." So Ice Cube tore the written lyrics, kneaded them into a ball, and threw them in the trash, and then his friend Phoenix Phil turned the paper out, "Throw what, this is so well written!" Spread out the paper and put it back in ice cube's notebook, "You can't throw this song away." ”
While preparing for the album Straight Outta Compton, Ice Cube said: "I wrote a song called Fuck Tha Police. D.o.c super excited: "The person who came up with this idea is a genius!" "Sing, come, I'll hear." Eazy-e couldn't wait.
After the ice cube finished singing, dj yella was confused, "Do we really have to say that about the police?" ”。 Dre knew very well that the song was a dangerous thing that would probably get them into trouble. But everyone was very excited about this song, because the courtroom that began to mock up — Dre played the judge, D.O .c played the lawyer, eazy-e, ice cube, ren played the prosecutor.
Under pressure from the Family Concern Association, FBI Assistant Administrator Milt Ahlerich wrote a letter to N.W.A., "It is wrong to advocate violence and conflict, that music occupies a pivotal place in society, and that our law enforcement agencies may take special action on it." (The letter is in the collection of Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.)
After the content of the letter was announced, it caused an uproar, "We are just going to do it, we are going to make this album." Marketing genius Eazy-e thought controversial topics could make the album a big hit. The $8,000-cost album sold 2 million copies. (Rolling Stones statistics, actually more than that)
When these forces started to oppose N.W.A, things became politicized, which made N.W.A realize that they were not just a rap group, but a political manifesto.
tragic
In 1989, on a tour, the bus was driving to a deserted place, dj yella woke up, heard crying, he walked to the tail of the bus and found that it was dre. "I got a call about my brother Tyree."
Dre is Tyree's idol, Tyree is also doing rap, originally wanted to join the tour, Dre did not agree, which made Dre regret it. If Tyree had followed on the tour, tragedy would not have happened. While participating in a tour of Crenshaw Avenue, Tyree clashed with a large man, his neck was broken, and he failed to wake up.
Dre and younger brother Tyree
Dre leaves the tour to attend his brother's funeral. According to Dre's mother, it was the first time dre had seen him cry since he was a long time ago. Ren thought dre would collapse, but dre came back as if nothing had happened and went on to work. But his brother's death changed dre, and he began to drink heavily, from carefree to full of heart, and although he was famous, he did not look happy.
In 1995, Eazy-e died. In 2008, Dre's 20-year-old son died. The deaths of these people have kept Dre out of the trough, "I can only find a way to resist it, because there are still people who need me, I have to survive and regain my strength." 」 "Music, which becomes an outlet for dre to vent, allows him to find belonging, and frees his mind from darkness."
Tragedy also happened to D.O.c. D.o.c mixed with dre, like the big brother with the little brother, "I will become a big star one day, brother, when the time comes, I will ask you for a drink." "D.O.c said to dre.
Dre is happy with D.O.c's performance in the studio, "if not the best, but one of them." D.o.c not swearing like n.w.a," I'm a real rapper, and I don't want to be compared to n.w.a." ”
From left: dj yella, dre, d.o.c
At that time, ruthless was in the ascendant, and tragedy was quietly happening. D.o.c and a girl sniffing drugs, turning clouds and rain, after the end of the d.o .c drive home, the effect of the medicine has not yet passed, so that he fell asleep on the highway - the car overturned, was thrown out of the window, was found lying outside the railing, four front teeth crashed into the tree.
Dre got a call from producer Mike Concepcion, "Listen to me, bro, your buddy had a very serious car accident, he's in Caesar Hospital, you should go see him." Dre walked into the ward and almost didn't recognize it—D.O.c underwent a 14-hour cosmetic surgery.
d.o.c facial features were put back in place, but the vocal cords were torn permanently. This allowed him to no longer be a rapper and only as a producer, and later worked on the dre album The Chronic and the snoop Dogg album Doggystyle.
The speaker played D.o.c the song "it's funky enough" of that year, he frowned and smiled bitterly, and after the broadcast, D.o .c let out a long breath, "I used to be really good, right, in that moment." But my job is to help N.W.A create artwork, and I don't think anyone in the studio does more than I do, except dre, he goes into the studio and I follow him in, and he comes home and I come home. ”
But whenever D.O..c is always off camera, listening to N.W.A talk about the lyrics he wrote, which makes D.O.c miserable. "But my own album is really great, and it makes me feel recognized." When others told D.O.c he was the best, he began to inflate himself and go to extremes. D.o.c pointed to his palm, "I had everything, it was here, right in the palm of the hand, but in the blink of an eye, nothing was there." ”
beef
In 1990, Ice Cube was being interviewed by hip-hop show Pump it up host Dee Barnes. "Now, it's time for trouble to start, and in a heated argument ice cube is gone." "I don't like the manager because he doesn't pay me my money." The manager in the mouth of ice cube refers to Ruthless general manager, n.w.a broker Jerry Heller.
"That's the bottom line." Dee barnes help. "Yes, at this point, don't ask questions about n.w.a."
After leaving N.W.A, Ice Cube came to New York from Los Angeles to develop. Dre calls Ice Cube, who says he's been because of Jerry, and Eazy-e indulges him, Dre, you've got to look at your own finances, brother. ”
Suge Knight then joined Ruthless, D.O.c introduced Suge to Dre, Suge took Dre's contract to Dark Griffey of Solar Records, Dick told Dre how many percentage points each record should get, but only got that now. After Dre returned to the studio, Eazy-z went crazy and kept abusing Ice Cube.
Dre began to question N.W.A.'s brotherhood, "and all of a sudden, it became business, it became pressure." "Without ice cube, Dre soaked in the studio all day, looking for someone to play bass and other instruments, adding more funky elements - Dre had to prove that he was a recording engineer, an artist, a producer, and he was without ice cube.
But dre's efforts can't stop the rumors - the ice cube is the soul of n.w.a, and public opinion believes that without ice cube, n.w.a is nothing, it has become a thing of the past.
"Ice cube makes you feel bad." The reporter asked eazy-z, eazy-z was silent, and Dre blocked the camera with his hand, indicating that he did not want to accept the interview.
Dee Barnes, the host who loves to make the topic, then appeared again and ran to eazy-e's house. Dre greeted her warmly at the door, but after sitting down, the atmosphere was awkward and everyone didn't want to talk. "Are you still in touch with ice cube?" Dee Barnes asked Eazy-e, "Every time we contacted him was when we had an argument with him. ”
After the interview with N.W.A, the show producer wanted to shoot the echo of ice cube and put it into the interview with N.W.A. "This is ice cube, in pump it up, the fools chased me all the way for 100 miles, by the way with d.o .c. Hello, you can't play me."
After the show aired, Ice Cube's choking back hurt Dre's self-esteem, and in the studio, Dre tried to talk to Eazy-e for money, and Eazy-e always used "talk to Jerry" to prevaricate, but Dre didn't want to talk to Jerry, "Either Jerry goes or I go." "I can't live without Jerry." Dre and Eazy-e's relationship has since come to an end, much to The heartache of Dre, who walks out of the studio with a blur in front of his eyes.
Dre has since sought solace in alcohol. On January 27, 1991, on the eve of the American Music Awards, at the def jam record party, Dre was drunk, saw dee barnes, remembered the echo of the ice cube, and the anger and alcohol made Dre lift her up, push her against the wall and slap her, and try to throw her down the stairs, but he failed, so he kicked her ribs and hands, she got up and fled into the women's lounge, Dre followed up, grabbed her hair and slammed the back of the head with his fist.
Afterwards Dre was unrepentant, "People are talking about this bird thing, but you know, a fool is asking me for trouble, I created some trouble for her, it's not a big deal, I just threw her in the door." 」 ”
Thinking back on the incident many years later, Dre admitted his mistake again, "I have done many stupid things in my life, and many things I hope to save." I've also been violent, I've seen my mother violent (father and stepfather) against me, I don't have any excuse to shirk it, no woman should be treated that way, and any man who takes a shot at a woman is a fool. ”
The shadow of the affair has been following Dre, forever tied to him, "It's a huge stain on me as a man, and I've learned my lesson and tried to become a better person, a better man." ”
In May 1991, N.W.A's second album, Niggaz4life, was released, which debuted on billboard and became a gold record within a month (selling 500,000+). Because it was too gangster, it was blocked by MTV, and most of the radio stations also refused to play. But that's not a big deal, the really serious thing is that n.w.a's yell at ice cube on the album led to the beef escalation, and ice cube fought back with "no vaseline". The beef ended with the victory of ice cube, in exchange for its own fame and the dissolution of N.W.A.
"We were planning a tour, and the tour was gone," ren lamented, "it was never about money, it was always fun, money ruined everything." ”
After Dre left, he contacted D.O.c, "Suge Knight and I want to be a label," D.O told .c dre. Then they went to Solar Records, the third floor of the building, a huge rehearsal hall, where Dre met his "first love" in life, the mixer, "and it captured my people and hearts like this." ”
Not finished, to be more.