And always settled with a cool compromise.īoiling it all down, what do you see as N.W.A’s legacy? Ice Cube’s Son Becomes Him in ‘Straight Outta Compton’ĭr. Ice Cube: With every character in the neighborhood dropping by. Eazy’s paying for it, and we’re just sitting there creating. They understand how much I love this music, and they push and inspire me.ĭr. Dre: I protect my family and keep them away from the bullshit, but at the same time they’re supportive of what I do. It all comes down to their talent and hunger.ĭr. As my kids got older, they wanted to be part of the business, and I helped create an avenue. Ice Cube: Family time is family time, and work is work. Coming up, we all went through it - all the shady characters. There are too many fakes in the game, and I try to keep my family away from that. How do you balance your professional lifestyle with your family? The way we talk to each other now is the same way we talked when we first met. Me and Dre go back so far - a long 30 years - even before N.W.A. Let everything fall wherever it’s going to fall.ĭJ Yella: I just stayed the same. We were going to stay centered in ourselves. Dre: It was an unspoken thing for all of us. From the clubhouse to the courtroom, I was going to be myself no matter what. Ice Cube: When I was young, I made a vow to myself that I wouldn’t let the game change me. I’m curious to know how you feel about my generation of artists. But it’s what makes you real.ĭr. Dre’s ‘Compton: A Soundtrack’ Lives Up to Its Cinematic Aspirations: Album ReviewĪs one of your offspring, anything I do comes from what y’all have done before me. It’s hard for some people around me to understand that the music is all I think about. Dre: It’s all about getting back in that studio. It’s always some shit you ready to get rid of so you can go back to being creative.ĭr. It’s fun to make records, fun to be in the studio with your homies, fun to get up onstage. Ice Cube:Business is the most f-ed-up part. Dre:We were just a bunch of creative guys who got together and did something amazing but were clueless about business. The first go-around we didn’t make a nickel.ĭr. What was the hardest part when you were young and first coming to grips with the game?ĭJ Yella: Publishing! We didn’t know anything about publishing. Dre of N.W.A photographed on Jat Milk Studios in Los Angeles. We opened the floodgates for artists who wanted to work on this side, artists who wanted to be raw.ĭr. We did that by making it all right for artists to be themselves. Ice Cube:We not only changed music, we changed pop culture all over the world. How did N.W.A change the history of music? Dre:When I saw Axl Rose wearing an N.W.A cap in one of his videos! So bear with me … When did you first know you were more than local stars?ĭr. The conversation ranges from early days in the studio with Eazy-E, the eternal “bullshit” of the music business and how N.W.A made South Park (and much more) possible. It’s appropriate that the main figure pushing hip-hop forward today would be present to see the members of N.W.A reunited and talking, as Dre says, “like we just saw each other yesterday.” Tucked into the conference room with Dre, Cube, Ren and Yella, Lamar speaks so softly that the men must lean in to hear him. In 2011, Dre designated Lamar “the new king of the West Coast.” The rapper infuses the politics of N.W.A with an analysis of his own emotional conflicts as a black artist seeking to maintain sanity in 21st century America. Ice Cube Remembers Eazy-E on 20th Anniversary of N.W.A Partner’s Death The five former members were on the verge of reconciliation when Eazy-E died of AIDS. (On Aug. 7, he released Compton - an album inspired by the new movie, featuring guests including Cube, Lamar and many others.) Yella, 47, is making beats again after 12 years as a porn producer, and Ren, 46, has continued as a solo act (Cube joined him on a track in 2014). Now, of course, he’s one of music’s richest moguls, after selling Beats, the headphone and streaming company he co-founded, to Apple in 2014. N.W.A fully dissolved when Dre left to start Death Row Records with Suge Knight, and sold, according to Nielsen Music, 5.7 million copies of his 1992 G-funk classic The Chronic. Ice Cube Calls N.W.A. Biopic ‘Straight Outta Compton’ a ‘Real Superhero’ Movieīy the end of 1989, Cube had split from N.W.A over Eazy-E and manager Jerry Heller’s hoarding of the group’s earnings, setting off a conflict that climaxed with his famously obscene 1991 diss track “No Vaseline.” That year he also launched his acting career with Boyz N the Hood today he’s a leading Hollywood star ( 22 Jump Street) and producer ( Friday, Ride Along, in which he also starred).
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