Just finished reading this book.
I would recommend this book to anyone. It's by Jerry Heller a Jewish guy with a college degree and from a respectable family background who founded Ruthless Records with Eazy-E.
Jerry Heller's roots in the business run deep frm the 50s onwards.This guy managed John Lennon, Marvin Gaye and a whole bunch of really top notch artists in the business and he even talks about Hugh Masekela in LA in the late 60s.
He knew Barry Gordy, the founder of Motown as well as all the Execs at the top of the music biz today like Clive Davis and David Geffen.
Despite the fact that he's a veteran of the game, Jerry Heller's been dissed hard by Ice Cube in "No Vaseline" by Dre in "Dre Day" and most recently by the Game in "No more fun and Games".
He's basically been regarded as the white villain that exploited Dre and them and generally has had a bad rep for years in Hip-Hop.
This book is his personal memoir and it chronicles the entire inside story of NWA, Ice-Cube, Dre, Eazy, Ruthless and the start of Death Row records.
It reveals some interesting facts like Ice-Cube was really just an angry nerd and despite the diss to Eazy on Dre-Day, Eazy-E still got paid 20c off every dollar off the Chronic or other Death Row releases that Dre worked on even though Dre had left Ruthless and was dissing the shit out of Jerry Heller and Eazy-E.
It also reveals that Eazy-E was mistakenly invited to lunch by the first George Bush when he was President and Eazy-E had lunch with George Bush despite the flack NWA was catching from the gov for "f*** tha Police".
I didn't even know that the FBI sent NWA a cautionary letter for "f*** tha Police". Still despite this Eazy-E had lunch with the President. A true baller for real.
It also puts into perspective the downplayed contribution that Eazy-E personally and NWA as a group made to the transformation of Hip-Hop from the political Public Enemy era to the more abrasive gangsta politics of "Straight Outta Compton".
The book had me reminiscing about the first time I heard "f*** tha Police" and that hilarious skit called "The art of sucking dick".
It also breaks down the whole NWA story and takes u into the depths of the american music business.
From the involvement of the mob, gangsters, drugs, groupies, ambitious vultures like Suge Knight etc and how all this intersected at Ruthless.
Its a really good book and the good thing about it is its not for headz only.
He takes u to a time when everyone who's powerful in the business today was starting out.
This book is the shit and this guy gives u a real insider's look on how it actually works from contract negotiations to concert promotions and the everyday hustle of it all including the highs and lows of the music game.Its really opened my eyes.
Its more than just about the NWA drama.Its also about the journey of one's man life and his love for music.
From the Beatles, Quincy Jones and Frank Sinatra era to the Gangsta rap era this guy takes u thru the entire history of the industry and shows u how it was made to be what it is today.
The cool thing about it is the info from someone who was actually involved and had relationships with the people he's talking about.
The book's also written in a very good satirical style.
It also shows you how Suge Knight is some ways salted and f***ed up the game by trying to make rap about real gangsterism whereas guys like Eazy-E and NWA were just actors making out stories and parodies to prove a point.
Its like the violent beefs started with Death Row and Suge.
The book's not yet available in SA or other African countries but you can order it online from Amazon.
I would recommend the UK Amazon site coz the delivery turnaround time is much quicker than the US one.
You can also download the Jerry Heller interview from daveyd.com another dope Hip-Hop site which caters to mainly more mature headz.
Here's the link.Take the time to check this out.Trust me, you won't be dissapointed.
http://odeo.com/channel/3681/view
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