RUTLESS RECORDS JERRY HELLER INTERVIEW
Hawkeye
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This is a great interview by Davey D with Jerry Heller, the guy who helped Easy E to start Ruthless Records. PeaceHawkeyePART 1powered by ODEOIn the 2nd Part Heller breaks down all the sorted details about Ice Cube leaving NWA and then doing songs where he depicts Heller as a devil. We also talk about eazy E???s relkationship with the JDL (Jewish Defense League), his trip to the white house and his hate for the police.PART 2powered by ODEOStill Ruthless An Interview w/ Jerry Heller pt 1by Davey DIn this interview segment we sat down and chop it up with lthe ate Eazy E???s business partner and former NWA manager Jerry Heller who just released a book of his memoirs called ???Ruthless???.Not only does Heller meticulously detail the inner workings and all the behind the scenes dirt that went on with NWA, he also goes into great detail about the seedy music world of Rock-N-Roll???s hey day in the 60s and 70s where he played a key role. Make no mistake the music biz is definitely grimey.In this segment we talk to Heller about the music biz in the hey days of Rock-N-Roll. Heller talks about all the key players that he came up with and rolled with including people like the late Bill Graham, David Geffen, Clive Davis and many more. He talks about how he actually was responsible for bringing Elton John to the US and giving him his first break.Heller breaks down the rough and tumble tactics of old time music guys and explains that while much of it was mob controlled and sometimes seedy it was fair and that there were fast and hard rules that everyone played by. He noted that all that changed and went out the windy when Suge Knight came in the game.Heller talked to us about the importance of negotiating and striking good deals. It???s a key highlight in his book and during the interview he explained how and why Ruthless stayed successful while other small labels which actually sold more records like Delicious Vinyl wound up folding because of bad deals.He explains the type of relationship he and Eazy E had and how each of them brought a certain style, flare and business insight to the table that allowed Ruthless to be one of the music industry???s most successful record labels. He explained the decision behind rejecting Eazy E???s initial offer to go into business 50/50. He felt that Ruthless should 100% Black owned and that he would work for Eazy. He described Eazy as his best friend and one of the smartest men he had ever met.He also recounted how the pair first met. heller said that eazy offered up Alonzo Williams of the World Class Wrecking Crew 750 dollars to introduce him. It was at this meeting that Eazy played a rough cut of the now classic record ???Boyz in the Hood???. He described the song as Gill Scott heron, the Last Poets, The Black Panthers and the Rollingstones all rolled into one.In this segment Heller talks at length about the early rap scene in LA and how he got involved via Macola Records which housed West Coast pioneering acts like Egyptian Lover, LA Dream Team, World Class Wrecking Crew, Rodney O & Joe Coooley, Ice T and JJ Fad to name a few.In this segement Heller talks about why he called NWA the Black Beatles which each player MC Ren, Ice Cube, DJ Yella, Dr Dre and Eazy E all holding down key roles. Cube was the chief lyricists, Dr was the beatmaker, Eazy was the conceptualizer while Heller was the financier.Lastly we talked at length about the crack game and the type of impact it had in the community and how it was reflected in NWA???s music.In part 2 Hellar opens up and airs it out about Ice Cube and refutes Cube???s claims about him not getting paid. In this interview Heller breaks out some solid numbers and contractual breakdowns to illustrate his point. He also touches upon the situation he had with Dr Dre and Suge Knight when they formed Death Row Records.Hellar also detailed the situations that lead up to the group doing the song F???Tha Police and the reaction to it including the infamous letter from the FBI. Heller noted that they recently discovered that Al Gore???s wife Tipper Gore may have been a key reason that ominous letter was sent out.We also talked about Eazy E???s visit to the White House where he sat down and met George Bush Sr in the aftermath of the FBI/ Police backlash. For Eazy it was brilliant marketing ploy.Hellar also layed out the circumstances behind the death threats Eazy E recieved and how it was discovered that he was on hit list by some Neo-Nazi-Skinheads. The FBI never bothered to inform Eazy that his life was in danger. Hellar speculates that it may have been because of the F Tha Police song.Hellar talked about the relationship Eazy E had with the now defunct Jewish Defense League (JDL) and how he admired the group for their slogan ???Never Again???. In fact Eazy had plans to do a movie about the group.We talked about the recent revelations of JDL members supposedly extorting money from rap artists including the late 2Pac. heller claims he had no knowledge of that, but it was no secret that in the aftermath of the Suge Knight shake down incident where Eazy was forced to sign over Dr Dre, Michele and DOC, that Ruthless was protected by Isreali trained/ connected security forces.Our conversation later turned to a brief discussuion of Black-Jewish relationships in the music industry. Heller felt that the partnership him and Eazy formed was model one and that it helped build lots of bridges.We concluded our interview with hellar talking about some of his upcoming projects including starting a new record label that focuses on Latino Rap and Music with a messageBelow is a recent interview with HellerMusic Jerry Heller Q&ABy JESSE WASHINGTON, AP Entertainment WriterWhen Jerry Heller met Eric ???Eazy-E??? Wright on March 3, 1987, he knew right away that the diminutive, Jheri-curled dude with a roll of cash stuffed into his sock would change the music world.Eazy was the founder of Ruthless Records and creator of the prototype gangsta rap group N.W.A. Heller was a music industry veteran who had represented artists from Elton John to Van Morrison to Marvin Gaye. With Eazy running the ???show??? and Heller handling the ???business,??? N.W.A. ??? and gangsta rap ??? exploded into a global force.Now, 11 years after Eazy died of AIDS, Heller has written ???Ruthless,??? a memoir detailing how Eazy, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and MC Ren formed N.W.A. and how an ambitious security guard named Suge Knight broke up the platinum-selling crew.Heller, 65,
spoke by phone with The Associated Press from his Los Angeles office about ???the most important music since the beginning of rock ???n??? roll.???AP: What kind of person was Eazy-E?Heller: Eazy was an exceptional human being. He was a visionary. He was very Machiavellian, he understood power and how to use it. He was a good-hearted guy, a good father, just an exemplary human being. I couldn???t be any prouder of him than if he had been my blood son. It???s amazing that we could have this relationship because we???re so different. He told me I was the first white person he ever met not in a police uniform or collecting rent. I miss him very much.AP: With all the bad stuff Eazy boasted about in his music, how can you say he was a good person?Heller: I have no proof that he was ever a drug dealer. I???m not sure if he was or he wasn???t. I know that it was good for the Ruthless image, the Ruthless persona, so maybe that???s why he adopted that.AP: C???mon, man ???Heller: He certainly never (dealt drugs) at Ruthless. It wasn???t a part of our lives. Now, if you want to talk about how somebody who espoused this kind of brutal misogynistic music could be a good person, well, this was the voice of our inner cities that most white people had never come across. To the guys in Ruthless, this was the reality of their way of life. This is the way they grew up, the way things were.AP: You have a lot to say in your book about Ice Cube, who talked real bad about you after he left N.W.A.Heller: He insulted me as a man, as a person, as a Jewish person. ... (yet) he is probably the most important African-American indie filmmaker in the business today. His movies are incredible. Certainly ???Friday??? and ???Barbershop??? are important movies, he???s an important guy, yet until recently, this year, I never saw an interview where he didn???t talk bad about me.AP: How did Suge Knight enter the picture?Heller: Suge was a part-time security guard at Ruthless. He can be a very charming guy, and my initial instincts were to help him. Eazy was more perceptive, he always thought he was going to be problem. I remember walking into my office one day, and Suge was standing there staring at my chair. He didn???t see me. I said to him, ???What you doing, man, you think that???s gonna be your chair???? I never thought anyone could come between Dre and Eazy, they were childhood friends and as close as brothers. I didn???t take Suge as seriously as I should have.AP: How do you feel today, looking at what gangsta rap has become?Heller: Imagine me walking into Joe Smith???s office, he???s chairman of Capitol Records, I play him the record. ... He said, ???You???re trying to tell me somebody???s gonna listen to this, or play it, or buy it? The day that happens I???ll retire.??? Joe Smith remains one of the giants of the music business and I love him dearly. I said, ???Joe, I remember when radio wouldn???t play the Rolling Stones singing `Let???s Spend the Night Together.??? Times change. This is the music of the future.??? He says, ???I love the name Ruthless. I???ll give you a million dollars for the name. But as far as this other stuff, you better stop getting high.???AP: What did you think that day you first met Eazy and he played you his song ???Boyz-n-the-Hood????Heller: It just totally blew me away. It was a combination of The Last Poets, Black Panthers, Gil Scott Heron and the Rolling Stones. If I wasn???t so old I would have been able to relate to it. I thought: This is the most important music I???ve heard since the beginning of rock ???n??? roll.AP: You were right, although some people would still argue with you.Heller: This was the first time that the voices of our inner city were heard. The only question in my mind was how could we water it down so white people would buy it.AP: It turns out white folks took it straight up.Heller: We did one thing. Who were the biggest acts in the world in 1987? Guns N??? Roses and Metallica. Everybody who buys Guns N??? Roses and Metallica. I shamelessly pandered to surfers and skateboarders, and in pictures from then you???ll see Slash and those guys wearing N.W.A. stuff. If they thought it was cool, people in Kansas and Wyoming would buy it. That???s how we broached the subject. Because no question this was the most important music of the second half of the 20th century.AP: What???s next for you?Heller: We???re putting together the movie version of the book. To play Eazy, I hope we get Larenz Tate. When I look in his eyes, I see Eazy inside there. I have talked to Game about playing Suge Knight. And these are just talks right now, but I???ve talked to Bruce Willis about playing me.
spoke by phone with The Associated Press from his Los Angeles office about ???the most important music since the beginning of rock ???n??? roll.???AP: What kind of person was Eazy-E?Heller: Eazy was an exceptional human being. He was a visionary. He was very Machiavellian, he understood power and how to use it. He was a good-hearted guy, a good father, just an exemplary human being. I couldn???t be any prouder of him than if he had been my blood son. It???s amazing that we could have this relationship because we???re so different. He told me I was the first white person he ever met not in a police uniform or collecting rent. I miss him very much.AP: With all the bad stuff Eazy boasted about in his music, how can you say he was a good person?Heller: I have no proof that he was ever a drug dealer. I???m not sure if he was or he wasn???t. I know that it was good for the Ruthless image, the Ruthless persona, so maybe that???s why he adopted that.AP: C???mon, man ???Heller: He certainly never (dealt drugs) at Ruthless. It wasn???t a part of our lives. Now, if you want to talk about how somebody who espoused this kind of brutal misogynistic music could be a good person, well, this was the voice of our inner cities that most white people had never come across. To the guys in Ruthless, this was the reality of their way of life. This is the way they grew up, the way things were.AP: You have a lot to say in your book about Ice Cube, who talked real bad about you after he left N.W.A.Heller: He insulted me as a man, as a person, as a Jewish person. ... (yet) he is probably the most important African-American indie filmmaker in the business today. His movies are incredible. Certainly ???Friday??? and ???Barbershop??? are important movies, he???s an important guy, yet until recently, this year, I never saw an interview where he didn???t talk bad about me.AP: How did Suge Knight enter the picture?Heller: Suge was a part-time security guard at Ruthless. He can be a very charming guy, and my initial instincts were to help him. Eazy was more perceptive, he always thought he was going to be problem. I remember walking into my office one day, and Suge was standing there staring at my chair. He didn???t see me. I said to him, ???What you doing, man, you think that???s gonna be your chair???? I never thought anyone could come between Dre and Eazy, they were childhood friends and as close as brothers. I didn???t take Suge as seriously as I should have.AP: How do you feel today, looking at what gangsta rap has become?Heller: Imagine me walking into Joe Smith???s office, he???s chairman of Capitol Records, I play him the record. ... He said, ???You???re trying to tell me somebody???s gonna listen to this, or play it, or buy it? The day that happens I???ll retire.??? Joe Smith remains one of the giants of the music business and I love him dearly. I said, ???Joe, I remember when radio wouldn???t play the Rolling Stones singing `Let???s Spend the Night Together.??? Times change. This is the music of the future.??? He says, ???I love the name Ruthless. I???ll give you a million dollars for the name. But as far as this other stuff, you better stop getting high.???AP: What did you think that day you first met Eazy and he played you his song ???Boyz-n-the-Hood????Heller: It just totally blew me away. It was a combination of The Last Poets, Black Panthers, Gil Scott Heron and the Rolling Stones. If I wasn???t so old I would have been able to relate to it. I thought: This is the most important music I???ve heard since the beginning of rock ???n??? roll.AP: You were right, although some people would still argue with you.Heller: This was the first time that the voices of our inner city were heard. The only question in my mind was how could we water it down so white people would buy it.AP: It turns out white folks took it straight up.Heller: We did one thing. Who were the biggest acts in the world in 1987? Guns N??? Roses and Metallica. Everybody who buys Guns N??? Roses and Metallica. I shamelessly pandered to surfers and skateboarders, and in pictures from then you???ll see Slash and those guys wearing N.W.A. stuff. If they thought it was cool, people in Kansas and Wyoming would buy it. That???s how we broached the subject. Because no question this was the most important music of the second half of the 20th century.AP: What???s next for you?Heller: We???re putting together the movie version of the book. To play Eazy, I hope we get Larenz Tate. When I look in his eyes, I see Eazy inside there. I have talked to Game about playing Suge Knight. And these are just talks right now, but I???ve talked to Bruce Willis about playing me.
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He was supposed to sign my copy of "Straight Out Of Compton" the next day, but he ended up leaving before I got into work, so instead he autographed the back of some memo to the artists on his label for me instead. His message to me was the best part. "Stay Cool My Brother, Jerry Heller". Dude gets a
Have to get the import !!!!!
Peace
Hawkeye