“He hit me like Tyson, but I took it”: Tairrie B, interview, Record Mirror, December 1, 1990.
“It means we get more money”: Eazy-E, quoted in Owen, “N.W.A.”
“Yeah, it got better”: MC Ren, N.W.A: The World’s Most Dangerous Group.
“You could’ve grabbed anybody off the street”: Dr. Dre, quoted in Ro, “Moving Target.”
“Then Dre picks me up by my hair”: Dee Barnes, interview by Louis Flores, The Source, December 1992.
“I was like, ‘What?’ ”: Dr. Dre, quoted in Ro, “Moving Target.”
Ren said Barnes “deserved it”: MC Ren, quoted in Alan Light, “N.W.A: Beating Up the Charts,” Rolling Stone, August 8, 1991.
“He grabbed the bitch by the little hair that she had”: Eazy-E, quoted in Mark Blackwell, “Niggaz4Dinner,” Spin, September 1991.
APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION
“There was tension all through that album”: Dr. Dre, N.W.A: The World’s Most Dangerous Group.
“As soon as I was old enough”: Suge Knight, quoted in Burhan Wazir, “Mutha Knows Best,” Guardian, August 5, 2001.
“They wanted me to be the gangster”: The D.O.C. interview.
“He was the first one to tell me”: Ibid.
“By any means necessary”: Dr. Dre, N.W.A: The World’s Most Dangerous Group.
“ ‘Look, we’ll give you a couple of dollars’ ”: Suge Knight, interview by BET, 1996.
“He had me look over the edge”: Vanilla Ice, interview, Primetime Live, 1996.
“You’re talking about many, many years”: Nina Bhadreshwar, author interview, January 30, 2015.
“I got a hold of one on my own”: Suge Knight, quoted in Chuck Philips, “The Big Mack,” Spin, August 1994.
“They had the worst contracts I had ever seen”: Dick Griffey, Welcome to Death Row.
“Look, man, I’m not dealing with Jerry Heller anymore”: Dr. Dre, N.W.A: The World’s Most Dangerous Group.
“He played the divide-and-conquer game”: Dr. Dre, quoted in Kevin Powell, “Live from Death Row,” Vibe, February 1996.
“Hey, yo, you know we got to work this shit out”: Heller, Ruthless.
“I heard you was trying to get me killed, Blood”: Suge Knight, quoted in Jory Farr, Moguls and Madmen: The Pursuit of Power in Popular Music (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001).
“I figured he did know where my mother lived”: Eazy-E, quoted in Farr, Moguls and Madmen.
“It was like The Godfather”: Michael Bourbeau, quoted in Farr, Moguls and Madmen.
“[It’s] a simple dispute”: Wayne Smith, quoted in Farr, Moguls and Madmen.
“[People] like Suge Knight are just takers”: Jerry Heller, quoted in Philips, “The Big Mack.”
“That Mike Klein deal brought a lot of confusion to Ruthless”: Mack interview.
“Eric felt bad for Dre”: Hutchinson interview.
“When Cube left, you really didn’t miss anything but his essence”: Ibid.
“the single most important event”: Mulch et al., “The Evolution of Popular Music.”
“From doing ‘Boyz-n-the-Hood,’ the song”: Ice Cube, interview by Ali.
“He was real sharp about the business of show business”: Hutchinson interview.
“I paid $2,500 for a million dollars’ worth of publicity”: Eazy-E, quoted in Blackwell, “Niggaz4Dinner.”
SA PRIZE
“That first line, ‘Goddamn, I’m glad y’all set it off’ ”: Sir Jinx interview.
“Once I found that track, I knew”: Ice Cube interview.
“I was ready to mash”: MC Ren, ThaFormula.com.
“When the song was done”: Ice Cube interview.
“I think it’s one of the most vitriolic attacks”: Jerry Heller, quoted in Amos Barshad, “Jerry Heller Expresses Himself,” Grantland, August 11, 2015.
“Taking rap music literally”: Ice Cube, interview by Barbara Nevins, Talk Live, 1991.
“I didn’t know what ‘anti-Semitic’ meant”: Ice Cube, quoted in Brian Hiatt, “N.W.A: American Gangstas,” Rolling Stone, August 27, 2015.
“I was making a transformation”: Ice Cube interview.
“We were just doing music”: Ibid.
“Having them in there, I felt like a running back”: Ibid.
“Every song was better than the last one”: Ibid.
“In their pursuit of the American dream”: Helen Zia, Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000).
“You bitch, you’re trying to steal my orange juice”: Soon Ja Du, quoted in Clarence Lusane, African Americans at the Crossroads: The Restructuring of Black Leadership and the 1992 Elections (New York: South End Press, 1994).
“Look at the message”: Ice Cube, quoted in Robert Gordon, “Ice Cube Lets Off Steam,” Creem, 1991.
“Nobody is safe when you listen to Death Certificate”: Ice Cube interview.
“We kicked it and had a good time”: Ice Cube, interview by Michael Williams, RapCity, 1993.
“Cube is a sponge”: Sir Jinx interview.
“[The] teaching is self-love”: Ice Cube, interview by Williams.
“I’m sick of begging for the white man to put out my records”: Ice Cube, speech at a Nation of Islam event, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48x2SE60a0Y.
“I swear to God”: Bryan Turner, quoted in Hiatt, “N.W.A.”
“We decided Cube needed a backup group”: Sir Jinx interview.
“The truth is, I don’t care what the white community thinks”: Ice Cube, quoted in Dennis Hunt, “Outrageous as He Wants to Be,” Los Angeles Times, November 3, 1991.
“That’s why people have issues with the media now”: Ice Cube interview.
“It’s interesting, the people who are so intrigued”: Ibid.
“I took that book everywhere I went”: MC Ren, quoted in Michael Cooper, “N.W.A’s MC Ren Is Ready to Be Renincarnated,” BallerStatus.com, October 2, 2009.
“Fuck this. This is a worse situation”: MC Ren, ThaFormula.com.
“[The] beats were just too funky”: Edwards interview.
“We just stuck together as a crew”: Warren G, interview, DubCnn.com, 2003.
“I said, ‘Nigga, stop lying’ ”: Snoop Dogg, quoted in S. Leigh Savidge, Welcome to Death Row: The Uncensored History of the Rise & Fall of Death Row Records in the Words of Those Who Were There (Hawthorne, CA: Xenon Press, 2015).
“Jerry and Eazy were trying to starve me out”: Dr. Dre, The Pharmacy, October 10, 2015.
WHO GOT THE CAMERA?
“Please stop. Please stop”: Hector Tobar and Richard Lee Colvin, “Witnesses Depict Relentless Beating,” Los Angeles Times, March 7, 1991.
“I haven’t beaten anyone this bad in a long time”: Tracy Wood and Sheryl Stolberg, “Patrol Car Log in Beating Released,” Los Angeles Times, March 19, 1991.
“Did you see that shit on the news?”: Ice Cube interview.
“Not all cops are bad”: Eazy-E, quoted in Chuck Philips, “Rodney King Gets Rap Offer,” Los Angeles Times, March 20, 1991.
“was fucked up worse than Rodney King!”: Eazy-E, quoted in Blackwell, “Niggaz4Dinner.”
“Sure, I’ve seen that little stomp”: Eazy-E, quoted in Chuck Philips, “Rapper Takes Officer’s Side,” Los Angeles Times, April 6, 1993.
“Eazy-E is a sellout”: Willie D, quoted in Philips, “Rapper Takes Officer’s Side.”
“I know they ain’t got no money”: Sir Jinx interview.
“Some of the homies”: Ice Cube interview.
“Finally it took a motherfucker to videotape a nigga”: Eazy-E, “Eternal E,” Str8 off tha Streetz of Muthaphukkin Compton, 1996.
“Whether Rodney King happened or not”: Ice Cube interview.
“It seemed like the thing to do”: The D.O.C. interview.
“It was like a big-ass picnic”: Sir Jinx interview.
“It was more than just the verdict”: Ibid.
“I mean, if bl
ack people kill black people every day”: Sister Souljah, quoted in David Mills, “Sister Souljah’s Call to Arms,” Washington Post, May 13, 1992.
“The problem is that records like ‘Cop Killer’ do have an impact”: Dan Quayle, quoted in Chuck Philips, “The Uncivil War: The Battle between the Establishment and Supporters of Rap Music Reopens Old Wounds of Race and Class,” Los Angeles Times, July 19, 1992.
“If you believe that I’m a cop killer”: Ice-T and Douglas Century, Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption—From South Central to Hollywood (New York: One World Books, 2011).
NUTHIN’ BUT A ‘G’ THANG
“By the time it made it to Jimmy, I didn’t own anything”: The D.O.C. interview.
“As it turned out, Suge ended up”: Harry-O, quoted in Chuck Philips, “Probe of Rap Label Looks at Entrepreneur Behind Bars,” Los Angeles Times, September 1, 1997.
“It happened that fast”: The D.O.C. interview.
“Even when me and Dre were beefing”: Ibid.
“My brother told me”: Warren G, interview, DubCnn.com.
“all hits and no bullshit”: The D.O.C., interview by Charlie Braxton.
“It was fun”: The D.O.C. interview.
“I don’t give a fuck what Dre says”: Dick Griffey, Welcome to Death Row.
“It was great working with Dre”: Edwards interview.
“I was in hell at that moment”: The D.O.C. interview.
“I got shot at a whole bunch of times”: Dr. Dre, quoted in Ro, “Moving Target.”
“1992 was not my year”: Dr. Dre, quoted in Chuck Philips, “The Violent Art, Violent Reality of Dr. Dre,” Los Angeles Times, December 15, 1992.
“He had the Dee Barnes thing”: Eazy-E, quoted in Ro, Dr. Dre.
“I knew nothin’ about hip-hop”: Jimmy Iovine, quoted in David Fricke, “Jimmy Iovine: The Man with the Magic Ears,” Rolling Stone, April 12, 2012.
“That’s how I felt at the time”: Dr. Dre, quoted in Ro, Dr. Dre.
“He called in, and I taped the receiver of the phone to the mic”: Dr. Dre, interview, Big Boy’s Neighborhood, March 26, 2015.
“I said, ‘Okay, make a commercial’ ”: Jimmy Iovine, quoted in Fricke, “Jimmy Iovine.”
“The Chronic is the only album that rivals Niggaz4Life”: Edwards interview.
“Coming up under Dre’s tutelage”: Hutchinson interview.
“This shit is wack”: MC Ren, ThaFormula.com.
“I wasn’t about to rap over any nigga’s beat back then”: Ibid.
“It just seemed like everything was kind of dead musically”: Rhythm D, interview, Murder Master Music Show, May 8, 2015.
“[Eazy] was cocky”: Hutchinson interview.
“If Dre just left and didn’t say anything”: Ibid.
“Eazy would tell us stories about Dre”: B. G. Knocc Out, interview, VladTV, September 22, 2015.
“It actually was some unnecessary bullshit”: Nate Dogg, Straight Outta Compton [film], https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4vqQFKoyrM.
“We were having a bunch of fun”: Dr. Dre, Behind the Music: Snoop Dogg, VH1, 2000.
“The media is quick to point their finger”: Snoop Dogg, quoted in Chuck Philips, “The Saga of Snoop Doggy Dogg,” Los Angeles Times, November 7, 1993.
“They had trucks lined up”: Chris “the Glove” Taylor, quoted in Tim Sanchez, “Chris ‘the Glove’ Taylor Talks Death Row, Aftermath, and Dr. Dre,” AllHipHop.com, January 28, 2012.
“Yo, what you gon’ do wit’ that, Sam?”: Sam Sneed, quoted in Paul Arnold, “Sam Sneed Talks Dr. Dre’s Abandonment and ‘That Crazy Meeting’ with Tupac,” HipHopDX.com, December 28, 2010.
“Of course we’re exploiting violence”: Ice Cube, quoted in Chuck Philips, “Is America Ready for ‘Natural Born Killaz’?” Los Angeles Times, October 20, 1994.
“We weren’t trying to bullshit each other”: Ice Cube, quoted in Ro, Dr. Dre.
“Dre is feeding me these books about the Illuminati”: The D.O.C. interview.
“Nobody is really putting any energy”: Ibid.
“I went into his vault and took two beats”: Ibid.
“I suppose that probably wasn’t my most shining moment”: Ibid.
“The characters are really N.W.A”: Preston Whitmore II, quoted in Steve Hochman, “N.W.A’s Founder Follows Ice Cube to the Flickz,” Los Angeles Times, February 9, 1992.
“You’ve got rock and rollers”: Mack interview.
“Eric was funny as hell”: Ibid.
“No matter what he did in his entertainment life”: Erica Wright interview.
“My most memorable time with him”: Ebie Wright, author interview, September 26, 2016.
“As soon as they saw each other it was all smiles and love”: Krayzie Bone, quoted in Paul Meara, “Firsthand Accounts of the Night Eazy-E & Ice Cube Ended Their Feud,” NahRight.com, September 11, 2015.
“I told Eazy I was down”: Ice Cube, quoted in Ben Westhoff, “Straight Outta Compton: Fact-Checking the Film . . . with Ice Cube,” Guardian, August 13, 2015.
“We gonna get the whole family back together”: Hutchinson interview.
ETERNAL E
“Before we went out”: Krayzie Bone, quoted in Meara, “Firsthand Accounts of the Night Eazy-E & Ice Cube Ended Their Feud.”
“It was never anything serious”: Mack interview.
“In the studio, I knew something was wrong with him”: MC Ren, quoted in Neil Strauss, “The Pop Life,” New York Times, February 1, 1996.
“He sounded worse than I’d ever heard him”: Mark “Big Man” Rucker, quoted in Carter Harris, “Eazy Living,” Vibe, June/July 1995.
“I got a call from him”: Tomica Woods-Wright, N.W.A: The World’s Most Dangerous Group.
“I was too young to understand that my dad was sick”: Ebie Wright interview.
“It got chaotic. Everyone was lost”: Jernagin interview.
“He went through the whole list of who to trust”: Tomica Woods-Wright, N.W.A: The World’s Most Dangerous Group.
“By the time I seen my dad”: Erica Wright interview.
“I can remember the way everybody looked”: Dr. Dre, N.W.A: The World’s Most Dangerous Group.
“I’ve never seen anybody die that quick”: Hutchinson interview.
“Eazy’s right in the middle”: Mack interview.
“I don’t think he was any more promiscuous”: Jernagin interview.
“Do I think something fishy happened to Eazy?”: Jerry Heller, interview, First Fam Radio, March 20, 2014.
“None of us have anything”: Erica Wright interview.
“I believe he was murdered”: Ebie Wright interview.
“We’d be like, ‘Man, get that shit away from us’ ”: Mack interview.
“That is a strong lady”: Ibid.
“We got the short end of the stick”: Ebie Wright interview.
“I never turned my back on him”: DJ Yella, quoted in Strauss, “The Pop Life.”
EPILOGUE
“ ‘Fuck tha Police’ did change the world”: Ice Cube interview.
“When he died, to me, Ruthless died”: DJ Yella, interview by Clean.
“He’s not just some rapper who died from AIDS”: Hutchinson interview.
“Nobody was talking about old beefs”: MC Ren, quoted in Ro, Dr. Dre.
“The chemistry is just incredible”: Mel-Man, quoted in Christopher O’Connor, “Reunited N.W.A Get Serious about Recording Album,” MTV.com, December 7, 1999.
On a film set in Leimert Park: outtakes from Lorraine Ali, “Dr. Dre and Ice Cube Relive Youth on ‘Straight Outta Compton’ Set,” Los Angeles Times, July 30, 2015.
“It’s fucking weird”: Dr. Dre, unpublished interview by Lorraine Ali, fall 2014.
“Ultimately Suge was gonna destroy it”: The D.O.C. interview.
“It makes no sense”: Bhadreshwar interview.
“They were our family”: Dania “Baby D” Birks, quoted in Randall Roberts, “Jerry Heller on the Oth
er Women ‘Straight Outta Compton’ Forgot,” Los Angeles Times, August 27, 2015.
“It was like seventy-five percent accurate”: Ebie Wright interview.
“There’s been several movies made about Elvis”: Ice Cube interview.
“This movie was just a blip on the radar”: Ibid.
“I want to concentrate on other important areas right now”: Jerry Heller, author interview via email, February 19, 2016.
“I don’t think [my abuse] should have been in the movie”: Toussaint interview.
“When we all come back together”: Ice Cube interview.
“It was amazing, like magic”: Ibid.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Kennedy, Gerrick, author.
Title: Parental discretion is advised : the rise of N.W.A and the dawn of gangsta rap / Gerrick Kennedy.
Description: First Atria Books hardcover edition. | New York: Atria Books, 2017.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017032780 (print) | LCCN 2017033278 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501134937 (eBook) | ISBN 9781501134913 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781501134920 (pbk.)
Subjects: LCSH: N.W.A. (Musical group) | Rap musicians—United States—Biography. | Rap (Music)—History and criticism.
Parental Discretion Is Advised Page 28