Eric Wright founded the perfect "legion of doom," only to have a number of so-called super-friends fracture the team into separate entities. When Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Michel'le and the D.O.C. departed from Ruthless Records to persue other ventures, their accusations of Wright "pimping" their talents and not distributing the wealth fairly struck Wright at the core of his being. With raised eye-brows, fans and critics alike turned their backs on the 5'5" Compton native and most of his roster.

Yet, only after Wright's death, in regards to the financial feuds between Ice Cube and former associates (Kam, Lench Mob, Torcha Chamber, DJ Pooh and Sir Jinx) and the revelation of all the scandalous dealings that existed during and after the departure of D.O.C. and Dr. Dre from Death Row records, do we find that Wright appeared to be right all along. Right, but not vindicated. Aside from his family and friends, who mourns for Eazy-E? Before being incarcerated and exposed, Hip-Hop periodicals toasted Suge Knight with cotton candy articles, when his "acquisition" of Dre, D.O.C. and Michel'le was an act of villainy, six years removed. Shoulda' spoke up when Eazy got muscled insteada' waitin' till the Negro version of Wilson Fisk got locked up.

This interview, which took place two months before Wright passed away, has never been published. What state of mind and health Wright was in during this interview will become apparent as you continue to read. Wright was bitter because his family was abducted, yet he remained optimistic about a reunion because all parties would soon come to grips with the truth. The publishing of this piece is not intended to attack or belittle anyone. So with this last article, Eric "Eazy-E" Wright, consider yourself vindicated.

With tears,

Allen S. Gordon, some kid you gave $700 cash to help put through college.


RP: Lately, you've talked a lot about jealousy.

Eazy: Those may hate you, but when you hate them…you destroy yourself [he coughs for a while. After a moment, he puts a tape in the deck]. This is some of the producing that I've been doing. I was thinking this would be a good track for me and Ren.

You did this track? I didn't know you produced.

I did a lot of songs on N.W.A. All that old @#%$. I didn't want the credit because I'm the company, I'm an artist myself, I had a solo album before N.W.A. was out, and I'm in the group (coughs). I didn't want the credit because everyone has egos. I'm getting paid for being in a group and (for) owning the company and being a solo artist. Here's what Dre did. Say me and Ren would come up with a whole idea for a song. Dre was good at putting it together. So we might have an idea for a song, lay it down at home on a little four track or 12 track, and (then) Dre would put it together, him and DJ Yella.

Which N.W.A. tracks are you talking about in particular?

"Findum, Fuckem and Flee," "She Swallowed It"…me and Ren did a lot of stuff. "Approach to Danger"… a lot of them. I can't remember all of them. A lot of stuff, you could tell if you knew Dre [and] his style. He was in N.W.A., but Dre came from the Wrecking Crew, but I got him to do this other type of music I wanted to do, the gangsta @#%$, and I got Dre away from what he was doing. Ice Cube was from C.I.A. and the Stereo Crew, and if you knew their style, they were like the Beastie Boys. I put' em together, and we formed N.W.A., and they changed their style. And they started hollering Compton because that's where we were from: me, Ren, and Yella.

You want me to put this in here?

Yeah. Whether I had some fake people with me or not. But when Ice Cube split, he never hollered Compton no more. He started hollering "How to survive in South Central." You haven't heard him holler Compton no more. If you look back in the people's pasts and check their style, you'll where they really came from. Go back to their past and see what they were doing in the beginning. Dre, if you listen to his style of music from N.W.A. to now, it's totally different. Dre stole that style [G-funk] from Cold 187um, Rhythm D and a couple of other people he stole from. Dre stole stuff from that, Above The Law's, Black Mafia Life's "Never Missing a Beat." [He coughs twice, then three times] They're good songs.

So how old are you?

Young. [Coughing] Just young. Nobody knows how old.

People say you got the money together to finance Ruthless Records by selling drugs.

They can say whatever, but whatever it came from, they can't prove it.

What's up with you and Cube these days? Are you working with him on anything?

Me and Cube is cool. That's all I can say. We've sat down an' talked a couple of times. I've got nothing against him.

What do you think are some of the misconceptions people have about Ruthless Records?

Number one…that it's my company. I'm the sole owner. There's no investors, there's no partners. It's my company.

Looking at the number of successful Black-owned record companies and how you were one of the first to…

Even if they're Black-owned, they're being financed by someone else. There's a lot of companies, like Russell (Simmons), Andre Harrell's Uptown Records, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis's label. You had Motown…

Motown is not Black-owned.

It was at one time. I said, "You had Motown." (He laughs) Jermaine Dupris is doing something now. Yeah, I was one of them. Then everyone else who broke off from me, some of them is doing good.

Getting back to misconceptions…

I treat my artists real good. All that, "He @#%$ me"…then why am I still making money off them? If someone @#%$ me, they wouldn't be making a dime off me. Dre went out running his mouth off, and nothing he said was true. Everything was false. I still make money off him; I still got about five more years to go.

So what you're saying is that if you were ripping Dre off, that courts would have ruled on his side? The paperwork…

Yeah, contracts and everything, and I worked out a deal with Interscope. I give my artists fair deals. I start them off at 12 points, with escalation at every 500,000. In the publishing, a 50-50 split. Today, most people take 100% of the artist's publishing. I know a lot of people who have sold 4 million records and ain't even seen a million dollars. That ain't no record deal. Now I'm not trying to give out any big advances because that's recoupable. That's your own money. If you take a big advance, you'll have to pay that back )if you don't sell enough units).

Any other misconceptions?

I don't know. Do you know any?

Mmmm…What's up with Jerry Heller?

Jerry Heller works for me; I don't work for him.

How many groups do you have right now?

About 35.

Are you still looking for artists to sign to your label?

Yeah, as long as they're original and got something different.

Have you had to change distribution because of changes in the industry?

I've had deals with a lot of majors; hey don't understand what you're trying to do. A lot of them didn't understand rap. They was new to rap [coughs]; a lot of them couldn't work the records the way we wanted them worked. [Coughs three times] They just didn't understand. So I switched a lot of labels-jumped from here to there. The deal I have right now (through Relativity) is a lot better than it was before, whether it was Priority or Giant or Epic or Atlantic or MCA or whatever it was.

What kind of numbers do you have now for the label?

They calculate it at 20 million. [He coughs long and hard]

What do you see as the major mistake these wanna-be entreprenur labels make with these fly-by-night labels?

They could spend 2 million, and it could flop. It's about know-how, timing, promotion, marketing, doing it right. They can't even get off the ground. You have these fly-by-night labels that might last for a couple years, but I'm into longevity. I've been doing this since '86.

You have this highly rated radio show, and you give away product and…

I knew it was number one for it's time slot.

How did all that come together?

I went to the radio station and had a little talk with them, with the help of Dominique DiPrima and Michelle Santosuosso. They needed a show because a lot of people that was at the radio was from up North (California). They had a lot of stuff that was probably more East Coast. What was good for the Beat was they brung in me and The Ruthless Radio Show and the Wake Up Show (featuring Sway and Tech). So that's real cool. Basically, I play whatever I want to play. I'm not programmed, so I can play whatever I want to play.

You give stuff on the air?

I give away Rudy Ray Moore movies. I give away a lot of thing on the air. I give away T-shirts. It depends on that company comes to me and say they want to do something. I did something for Adidas. I give away stuff, do a favor for a guy I knew there. A promoter might come through and want to promote their club. Some restaurant owner might come through and promote their restaurant, and they might bring us some food and cater the radio show. So I do a lot of little stuff.

Are you ever going to get the show sponsored nationally?

I've got five offers right now. But I'm waiting to clean up my show. Because in some states you can say, "ass," "bitch" or whatever, and in some, you can't. I'm just looking for syndication and not having no problems. I'm cleaning up the show, so as not to have "bitch," "ass," "nigga" and all that. Say if I'm in L.A., and Im' doing the Beat (KKBT 92.3 FM), I gotta drop my call letters at the same time as someone outta state has gotta drop all their call letters. Once I get all that tight, then everything else is fine.

You interview different artists?

I play Dre, Snoop, Lench Mob, and I have a lot of those people on the show. [Coughs] Whether they're East Coast, West Coast [coughs twice]. A lot of people. I've interviewed Redman, Method Man, Lench Mob, Doctor Dre and Ed Lover, besides my own groups, Dru Down…

How long have you been doing the show?

About four months? And that's every Saturday night from six to nine (pm). The people we have on it are Kisha, The Freak of the Week, Milan, DJ Yella, Tony G, Julio G, Jessie Collins, that's about it [coughs twice].

You've told me a few times about two so-called political women, who shall remain nameless, who are trying to get your radio show banned.

Why do politicians always try to shut down something that's black and positive? It's getting kids off the streets. Why would they try to kill off everything that's black-radio stations, (music) and all? They want to take us back to when were all slaves again. Everything that's going on: three strikes. You get caught smoking a joint and they want to take your (driver's) license away. It's a lot of stupid bullshit. We've still got a lot of other stuff to talk about.

You have speakers now also?

They're called Eazy-E's Ruthless Bass Shakers by Aura Systems. I got my own speakers coming out. They're for cars or whatever. The company does a lot of sound that's simulated at Universal Studios. Virtual reality, they got interactive vests. I'm going to do ads, commercials, everything. That should be done right now. I'll get you a pair [coughs twice]. You can put them in the back of you desk here and hook em' up.

How did you get together with Aura Systems?

Through a couple of my buddies.

What else?

My own Super Nintendo game coming out called Hittin' Switches from Mandingo Entertainment and Motown games-that's Super Nintendo in all different formats. There's one called Rap Jams coming out-an all-star rap basketball game. I have different artists on there like Coolio, Queen Latifa, Yo-Yo, Naughty by Nature. I could find out all the different artists that's in there.

Will some parent eventually complain that their kids knows about rap because of these games?

This isn't like Mortal Combat where they shoot the guy. Mine don't got nothing to do with that. It's just low-riding and getting to the supershow, the car show. You go through obstacles, change the rims on your car…[coughs].

Whose input is behind this?

It's all my ideas. They're my games. I went to juvenile hall after the earthquake…they only could buy one TV over the next five years, so I bought them TVs, VCRs, Super Nintendo games, and I'ma set up a studio there cause a lot of those kids can sing and rap. Some of them are artists, and they can draw. They can do logos for some of the groups. A lot of people can't get sponsors to help them do a lot of stuff because they (corporations) figure, "Well, they're in jail. What do they need stuff for?" So I can bring in rap magazines, so they can be up on everything that's going on.

People aren't really aware of what you give back to the community. Basically, the main-stream media has relegated you to this category of your just this gangsta rapper. Yet the irony is that the so-called respectable politicians aren't doing their jobs, and they justify this derisive talk about Midnight Basketball, which is really a code word for…

It's not right. I'm also in the Make a Wish Foundation. I got a kid named Paul Mercado. He has this disease with his spine. It's curving. He's in a wheelchair. Eventually, his spine might crush him. I see him everytime I got to Chicago. I gave him a coat; I only have one of a kind of it. I gave him a lot of different stuff. I took him up to the studio. Some of juvenile halls I work with include Sylmar; I'm also going to Central and some other ones too. And Fathers Of Juveniles, I might do something with them soon.

I remember when you used to hardly ever talk…

Yeah, I used to not talk.

People could sit there with you for like two hours and you'd say like two words.

Yep! I never used to talk, really. If it wasn't for this (music) business, I would probably have never talked. That's how I've been al my life, really. I don't talk to too many people. I'm in my own world. [He laughs, and then he coughs twice].


R.I.P E

DAM thanx 4 the interveiw i never read it but i heard a little about it....... Eazy-E was gounna do sum big things and Warren G wasnt the first to have speakers

Hella props man......

E was really talkin' about doin' some shit!  What a shame he had to pass....


RIP

Man I wish I could have tuned into Eazy's show on the radio.

U DIDNT KNOW THAT EAZY, REN AND DRESTA WAS GOIN TO FORM A GROUP DID U. THIS BEFORE EAZY PASSED AROUND 94.

U DIDNT KNOW THAT EAZY, REN AND DRESTA WAS GOIN TO FORM A GROUP DID U. THIS BEFORE EAZY PASSED AROUND 94.

Damn, I didnt but was there a name for it?

Maybe cause the guy interviewing him did not ask him about Bone Thugs.
Anyway there is more to Eazy & Ruthless then just Bone Thugs

and why tha fucc was he coughing so much sum1 needs to give him sum nyquil. im out!!!

maybe because he was dying you incosiderate asshole, get a fuckin life