AllHipHop.com: Later on, Eazy was extremely hurt by Dre’s departure, both businesswise and mentally. What was the climate at Ruthless after Dr. Dre left? Jerry Heller: We lost the principles we started under, which was working on one album at a time. Eazy was searching for producers, sometimes we would have 15, 20 projects going at a time. We lost quality control. All you had to do in those days was say, “Death Row was interested,” and Eazy would sign them just to get them away from Dr. Dre. It was a very stressful time and fortunately, he was able to come back with his own solo record and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. But you can never replace an Andre Young. AllHipHop.com: What were Eazy’s spirits like when he found Bone Thugs? It’s almost like he discovered them right on time and ushered in a new sound, look and another style for Hip-Hop music. Jerry Heller: Eazy was doing a show in Cleveland. He heard them rapping and he freaked out. He immersed himself in the Bone project 24 hours a day, which is they way he did things and it turned out to be unbelievable. AllHipHop.com: During the Bone Thug period is when Eazy was diagnosed with AIDS. How was he really with women? Jerry Heller: Eazy was very promiscuous. Women loved him. That was his only weakness. He was strong intelligent businessman and artist, and I always thought women were his weakness. I didn’t know I would be such a prognosticator of things to do come. It would be nothing for him to see half-a-dozen women in a single day. I was very sad that with all that he had to live for, that his career and his contribution would be ending that way. I loved Eazy. AllHipHop.com: When you found out the news, how did you react? Right in the middle of this success, but also after so much inner turmoil in the company? Jerry Heller: I was very sad. With all he had to live for, that his career and contribution would be ending that way. He was like a son to me; I loved him. I was like a father to him and he was like my son. We had an incredible relationship, both personally and businesswise. AllHipHop.com: How was the business handled after Eazy died? Bone Thugs have sold millions of records, but their recording career went in a different direction after Eazy-E passed. Jerry Heller: I am contractually not allowed to discuss those things as part of a settlement that I made after he died. I would like to, but I can’t. I try to protect Eazy’s legacy. AllHipHop.com: In the book, you mention the tense atmosphere at Ruthless Records when Dre left and went on to Death Row. How did Suge Knight enter the scene? What was he like early on? Jerry Heller: I liked Suge Knight at first. Eazy always saw right through him. I always want to help the underdog. He was an enterprising guy, he did bodyguard work and he was a driver for Ruthless clients. My initial instincts were to help him on the management end of the business. We used to talk for hours on end. Eazy always felt Suge was going to be a problem. I disagreed with him, and I was wrong. Suge Knight was one of the factors for breaking up N.W.A., and that’s unforgivable. I know how Brian Epstein [The Beatles’ manager] must have felt when Lennon and McCartney couldn’t get along anymore. It’s unforgivable to break up the “Black Beatles.” If I had to step aside, I would have done it in a second. When Eazy died, the most important thing to him was an N.W.A. reunion album, which I wished he could have done before he died. AllHipHop.com: You wrote a rap at the end answering Ice Cube’s “”No Vaseline”.” Why did you do that? Jerry Heller: Just to show how ridiculous it was. Even though Cube and Dre say bad things about me, I tell it like it is. I don’t present myself as some knight on a white horse. I want everybody to read this book and decide for themselves. When I did that rap, I was saying, these guys attacked me and I didn’t have a forum to reply. The other thing that sort of bothered me. In XXL, I was mentioned in two of the biggest diss records of all time. I think that’s ludicrous. I never cheated them. Everyone was paid the same amount. Cube wanted to leave based on his own ambitions and sometimes it’s easier to blame the Jewish manager, which is common practice in the music business! All of the contractual workings are in the book, and I even challenge Cube to dispute the numbers. AllHipHop.com: You call yourself “n##ga” in Ruthless. Being a White guy, how do you feel about helping a hand in popularizing the word n##ga through N.W.A.? Jerry Heller: I’m very proud of everything we did at Ruthless and so was Eazy. I am incredibly proud of the contribution N##gas With Attitudes made to the social structure and breaking down the barriers in America. Eazy was a visionary And I am certainly proud of having been in business with him. It took a lot of balls in 1987, for a group to come out called N##gas with Attitudes, to say “Straight Outta Compton, crazy muthf##ka named Ice Cube from a band with N##gas with Attitudes.” I think that was incredibly brave. All of these legislative people and stuff, they put their hometown on the map.

Today, most Hip-Hop fans can spout off the names of every label’s CEO, and maybe even an A&R or two. But in 1986, Jerry Heller became one of the first behind-the-scenes moguls to emerge when he aligned with Eric “”Eazy-E”” Wright to form Ruthless Records. The label would change Hip-Hop forever with its introduction of “The Black Beatles”, better known as N.W.A. Other successful acts such as D.O.C., Above The Law, and Bone Thugs & Harmony would follow, but it was the label’s ‘80s glory years, where it’s remembered for some of the Blackest rap to ever release, and the White Heller pulling the strings. After a lot of accusations and criticism – including Ice Cube’s ““No Vaseline”” and Dr. Dre’’s ““F**k Wit’ Dre Day,”” Heller has chronicled his success, while defending his name in Ruthless, a memoir of the era. In promotion of the book, Heller spoke to AllHipHop’.com’s Grouchy Greg about moving from a Rock & Roll manager to one of the earliest believers in West Coast Hip-Hop. The Ruthless mind touches on the earliest days of Eazy-E, Suge Knight, and some raps that Ice Cube may like to forget, a hundred pages and turnin’. AllHipHop.com: After all these years of silence, why did you decide to pen Ruthless? Jerry Heller: I’ve always felt that I was a good storyteller and for years, people asked me to write a book. I never thought the time was right. I do very few interviews and I’ve always been a behind the scenes guy. I walked into a Barnes & Nobles or Borders one day. I read a lot of books especially since Eazy died, I really haven’t been doing that much. So I saw this book on the front table called Can’t Stop Won’t Stop [by Jeff Chang]. I picked it up and read it. It was the first time I had seen a music book at the front at one of the major stores, for $30. I said maybe it’s time for me to write this book, because it had a chance of getting attention, and being an important book. So I got a call from Phyllis Pollack saying that [Jeff Chang] was in town at some eclectic little bookstore. I showed up late and he was finishing his presentation. The place was just packed. So I told him I read the book, and that it was the most definitive kind of book on Hip-Hop I’ve ever read. Very few people recognize who I am. So someone said, “That’s Jerry Heller,” and it was an electric moment. Then [Jeff Chang] inscribed my book, saying I was responsible for some of the most influential music during his lifetime. That started it. I started interviewing writers. Of the publishers we approached, I think we approached ten, and seven or eight were interested. I flew to New York and met with Harper Collins and Simon and Schuster and I chose Simon and Schuster. AllHipHop.com: People know your role at Ruthless Records, but most people don’t know that you were an influential music industry executive in the ‘60s, before N.W.A., with some of the big Rock & Roll acts. Jerry Heller: One of the reasons I was able to understand what was happening in the ‘80s was because it was not unlike what I saw at the beginning of the Rock & Roll era. The first group I started with was group named The Standells in 1966. They were managed by a guy Bert Jacobs, whose major claim to fame was that he was proud of point shaving and fixing some basketball games in the ‘60s. He wound up managing Three Dog Night and Steppenwolfe. Then I got involved with the Grassroots, Creedence Clear Water Revival, and The Guess Who. Then in 1969, I brought Elton John to America for his first US tour. When I finished that tour I represented Pink Floyd. In mid 1970, I started my own agency. I represented Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Electric Light Orchestra, Joan Armatrading, Boz Scaggs and a lot of other Rock and Roll groups. AllHipHop.com: What was it about Hip-Hop music that made you pay attention? Jerry Heller: I liked [West Coast Hip-Hop] because it was more melodic than East Coast Hip-Hop. Besides, whatever else it was, it had a sense a humor, which I didn’t think East coast Hip-Hop had. I started to manage some of the West coast groups, mainly the World Class Wrecking Cru, who were with Alonzo Williams, who I think is one of the most important guys in the history of West Coast Hip-Hop. AllHipHop.com: He’s featured on their hit song “”Turn Out the Lights”,” which also features Michel’le. But why was he so important behind the scenes? Jerry Heller: It’s always important to be one of the first guys. He really helped with the movement. He had a club called Eve After Dark, which allowed the guys to showcase what they were doing. His vision for Hip-Hop was sort of rapping to like Temptations kind of orchestration and dance moves. That was sort of his vision of Hip-Hop. In his stable he had C.I.A. [Crew in Action] that Ice Cube and Sir Jinx were in. Then he had the Wrecking Cru, which was himself, Yella, Shakespeare and Dr. Dre. AllHipHop.com: And all of this occurred before you met Eazy-E? Jerry Heller: I met and managed all those guys before I met Eazy. And Alonzo, who was never comfortable with the rough language of later gangster rap, kept telling me about this guy named Eazy-E coming to the club saying he wanted to meet me. So I put Eazy off as long as I could. AllHipHop.com: What happened the first time you met Eazy-E, and what was the first thing that went through your mind? Jerry Heller: Well, up comes this Suzuki Samurai all tricked out. And Eazy gets out with [MC] Ren and the guy impressed me. When he got out of the car, he was only about […]