Unpublished interview with Eazy-E. Phyllis Pollack, February 1995

Q: Earlier, you often talked about envy

Eazy-E: Someone may hate you, but when you hate them, you destroy yourself. (He coughs for a long time.) (After that, he puts a cassette). This is something that I do. I think it will be a good track for me and Rena.

Q: Did you make this track? I did not know what you were producing.

Eazy-E: I did a lot of NWA songs. It's all old shit. I did not want to advertise it, because I'm the owner of the company, I'm an artist myself, I had a solo album before the release of NWA, and I'm a band member. (Coughs) I did not want to advertise it, because everyone has his own ego. I received money for being a member of the group and as the owner of the company. And that's what Dre did. He said that I and Ren should come with their song ideas. Dre was good at
combining them. So we could have an idea for a song, this could be enough for 4 tracks or 12 tracks, then Dre put all the ideas together. He and Dj Yella.

Q: What specific NWA tracks are you talking about specifically?

Eazy-E: "Findum, Fuckem and Flee," "She Swallowed It," I and Ren did a lot. "Approach to Danger", much more. I can not remember them all. Much, you can call them yourself, if you knew Dre and his style. He was in NWA, but Dre came from Wrecking Crew, but I made him do exactly this, another type of music that I wanted to do, gangsta shit, and I took Dre off what he was doing at that time. Ice Cube came from the CIA and Stereo Crew, and if you knew their style, they were like the Beastie Boys. I put them together and we formed the NWA, and they changed their style. And they started shouting "Compton", because we from there: I, Ren and Yella.

Q: Do you want me to put it here?

Eazy-E: Yes. Did I have fake people with me or not. But when Ice Cube left, he never again mentioned Compton. He began to shout "How to survive in South Central." You never heard him mention Compton. If you look at people's past and check their style, you will see where they really came from. Go to their past and see what they did at the beginning. Dre, if you heard how the style of the NWA was changing, he completely changed. Dre stole this style (G-Funk) from Cold 187um, Rhythm D and some other people from whom he stole it. Dre stole ideas from the song "Never Missing a Beat" from the album "Black Mafia Life" (he coughs twice, then three times). It's a good song.

Q: So, how old are you?

Eazy-E: I'm young (coughing). Just young. Nobody knows how much.

Q: People say that you got money to finance Ruthless Records from the drug trade.

Eazy-E: They can say anything, but wherever that information comes from, they can not prove it.

Q: What is between you and Cube at the moment? Do you work with him on anything?

Eazy-E: I'm fine with Cube. That's all I can say. We sat down and spoke several times. I have nothing against him.

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

Eazy-E: First of all, this is my company. I'm the only owner. No investors, no partners. This is my company.

Q: Looking at the number of successful record companies owned by black, how did you become the first?

Eazy-E: Even if their owners are black, they are funded by someone else. There are many companies like Russell (Simmons-Def Jam, Ed.), Andre Harrell, Uptown Records, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. You had Motown.

Q: But Motown does not own black.

Eazy-E: It was at one time. I said "You had Motown" (he laughs) Jermaine Dupree is doing something now. Yes, I was one of them. Then there were all the others who broke away from me, some of them are now in order.

Q: Let's return to delusions.

Eazy-E: I treat my artists really well. All this "he fucked me," but why do I still make money on them? If someone raises me, he will not earn me a cent more on me. Dre escaped, screaming at every turn, but none of what he said was true. Everything was a lie. I still make money on it; (That's why Eazy says: "When you talkin about playin me," my comment), I still have about 5 years left.

Q: What are you saying that if you file a lawsuit, will the court be on Dre's side? Papers?

Eazy-E: Yes, the contract and all that, and also I ended the deal with Interscope. I offer my artists fair deals. They start at me with lifting around 500000 $. With regard to sales revenue, they are distributed 50 to 50. Today, most people take 100% of the sales of artists. I know many people who sold 4 million records, but did not see even a million dollars. It's not a deal. I try to provide great opportunities, because it is compensated. This is your money. If you took advantage of greater opportunities, you should pay for them if you could not sell enough copies.

Q: Any more misconceptions?

Eazy-E: I do not know. Do you still know?

Q: Mm-hmm. What about Jerry Heller?

Eazy-E: Jerry Heller works for me; I do not work for him.

Q: How many bands do you currently have?

Eazy-E: About 35.

Q: Do you still look after artists on your label?

Eazy-E: Yes, if they are original and have something new.

Q: Have you changed the distribution due to changes in the industry?

Eazy-E: I had deals with many major labels; They do not understand what you are trying to do. Many of them do not understand rap. They are new to rap (coughs), many of them can not distribute the record the way we want (coughs three times). They just do not understand. I changed a lot of labels, moved from here to there. The deal that I have now (through Relativity) is much better than it was before it, whether it was through Priority, or Giant, or Epic, or Atlantic or MCA or something else.

Q: What time is your label estimated?

Eazy-E: He is estimated at 20 million (he coughs long and hard)

Q: What, in your opinion, is the main mistake of all these one-day labels?

Eazy-E: They can spend 2 million, but everything can fail. All this is connected with know-how, distribution, promotion, marketing. They can not even rise from the ground. These one-day labels can stay even for a few years, but I'm a supporter of the duration. I've been doing this since I was 86 years old.

Q: You have this very high-priced radio show and you play different things there.

Eazy-E: I know, at one time it was # 1 for your time interval.

Q: How did all this come about?

Eazy-E: I came to the radio station and talked to them a little, with the help of Dominique DiPrima and Michelle Santosuosso. They needed a show, since most of the people on the radio were from northern California. They did most of the things that were more of the East Coast. What was good for Beat (the name of this radio station on which Eazy was doing the show), they invited me and got The Ruthless Radio Show and Wake Up Show (with Sway and Tech). It was really cool. In fact, I played what I wanted to play there. I'm not programmed, so I could play whatever I wanted.

Q: Did you play prizes on air?

Eazy-E: I played Rudy Ray Moore movies. I played a lot of prizes. I was playing t-shirts. It all depended on what kind of company came to me and said that they wanted to do something. I did something for Adidas. I played prizes, I did a favor for the guy I knew. The promoter could come to me and say that he wants to introduce his club. Some restaurant owners could come and ask to present their restaurant, and they could bring us some food and be suppliers of provisions for the show. So I did a lot.

Q: Have you ever planned to make a show that would be sponsored on a national basis?

Eazy-E: I now have 5 offers. But I want to clean up my show. Because in some states you can say "ass," "bitch" or something like that, but in some you can not. I do not want to have any problems. I clear my show so that there are no words "bitch", "ass", "nigga" or anything like that. For example, if I make The Beat (KKBT 92.3 FM) in Los Angeles, I should throw out all forbidden phrases and at the same time someone in another state should throw out their forbidden phrases. As soon as I achieve this, everything will be fine.

Q: Have you interviewed different artists?

Eazy-E: I played Dre, Snoop, Lench Mob, and I invited many of these people to the show. (Coughs) Anyway, they are from the East or West (coughs twice). A lot of people. I interviewed Redman, Method Man, Lench Mob, Doctor Dre and Ed Lover, in addition to my bands, Dru Down.

Q: How long have you been doing this show?

Eazy-E: About four months. And it's every Saturday from 6 to 9 pm. The people involved in it are Kisha, The Freak of the Week, Milan, DJ Yella, Tony G, Julio G, Jessie Collins. (Coughs twice)

Q: You told me a couple of times about a couple of so-called women politicians who should remain unnamed, who tried to ban your show.

Eazy-E: Why do politicians always try to ban anything that is black and positive? This removes children from the streets. Why do they try to kill everything that is black in the bud: radio stations, music, etc.? They want to bring us back to the times when we were all slaves. You can be caught smoking a joint and they already want to take away your driver's license. It's all a bunch of stupid shit. We have many more things to talk about.

Q: Do you now also have personal speakers?

Eazy-E: They are called Eazy-E's Ruthless Bass Shakers by Aura Systems. I have my own columns on the way. They're for a car or something like that. The company made a bunch of sounds that were simulated at the Universal studio. Virtual reality they have an interactive shell. I'm going to do promotion, that's all. They should be ready. I'll give you a couple (coughs twice). You can put them at your desk and check.

Q: How did you get along with Aura Systems?

Eazy-E: A couple of my buddies.

Q: What else?

Eazy-E: It turns out my game for Super Nintendo called Hittin 'Switches from Mandigo Entertainment and Motown Games is the Super Nintendo in all the different formats. Another thing is to get out Rap Jams - the basketball game of all the stars. On it I have various artists: Coolio, Queen Latifah, Yo-Yo, Naughty By Nature. I've never met so many different artists as here.

Q: Can parents decide what their children know about rap because of these games?

Eazy-E: It's not Mortal Combat, where they shoot people. I did not do anything like this. It's just a trip to a super show, a show of cars. You pass through obstacles, change the wheels (coughs).

Q: Whose contribution is behind this?

Eazy-E: These are all my ideas. These are my games. I came to the youth center after the earthquake they could buy just one TV in the next five years. I bought them TVs, VCRs, Super Nintendo games, and I organized a studio there because many of these children can sing and read rap. Many of them are artists and they can draw. They can make logos for many groups. Many people can not find sponsors who could help them do many things, because they (corporations) think "Well, they are in prison." Why do they need all this? " I can bring rap magazines so they can be aware of everything that happens.

Q: People really are not sure what you are giving to the community. Basically, the mainstream media classifies you as simply a gangsta rapper. Even though the so-called respected politicians do not do their job and they justify their mocking talk about the Midnight Basketball, it's really just a codeword.

Eazy-E: That's not true. I also participate in the Make a Wish Foundation. I have a guy named Paul Mercado. He has a disease of the spine. He's hunched up. He's on a wheelchair. His spine can break it. I always see him when I'm in Chicago. I gave him a coat, I only had one. I gave him many different things. I took him to the studio. Some of the youth centers with which I worked include Sylmar, I was also in Central and some others too. And the Fathers of Juveniles, I have to do something with them soon.

Q: I remember that you were having a hard time talking.

Eazy-E: Yes, I did not talk.

Q: People can sit with you for a couple of hours and you will only say a few words.

Eazy-E: Uh-huh. I never talk, really. If this is not related to the music business, I would probably never have spoken. I have been like this my whole life, really. I have not talked to too many people. I'm all in my words (he laughs, then coughs twice).