Exclusive – North.W.A left an indelible mark on Hip Hop culture when Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Eazy-E, MC Ren, DJ Yella and Arabian Prince dropped their 1988 debut Direct Outta Compton.Busting at the seams with gritty tales of Los Angeles street life, the project put Due west Coast gangsta rap firmly on the map and opened the door for countless acts to follow.

Afterwards just two studio albums, Straight Outta Compton and N-ggaz For Life — the group dissolved and each fellow member started pursuing their own solo careers. Ice Cube (who left in 1989, two years before Northward-ggaz For Life was released) dropped The Predator in 1992, which came with a hefty dose of disses aimed at his former crew, Dr. Dre unleashed The Chronic the same year and Eazy-E focused on Ruthless Records and emerging talent such as Os Thugs-n-Harmony.

Just in 1995, Eazy-East was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles with what was described as a "violent cough," which turned out to be HIV/AIDS. He died roughly 1 month after March 26 at just 30 years old.

As DJ Yella was discussing his new memoir Straight Outta Compton: My Untold Story during a recent interview with HipHopDX, he opened up about that day. In the volume, Yella recalls getting a phone call from Eazy's attorney, telling him he'd passed.

"I had found out just a little bit before that," he tells DX. "My buddy Big Man told me that he passed, but that really didn't hit until the lawyer called me. I said 'OK, this is official, really official.' When I got the phone call, I was stunned, shocked. My brother had died, but I was trivial. I never had a friend that was grown and died. It was a shock. There wasn't much words to say."

As DJ Yella writes in the book, he hadn't seen Water ice Cube since 1989, but they had a hazard to reconnect at Eazy-Due east'south funeral. Interestingly plenty, the other members of N.W.A have nevertheless to talk near Eazy's decease — over 26 years later.

"It was kind of a short talk," he says of running into Cube. "Not also much was said when he passed. I can't think the conversation very much. Because information technology wasn't so much there. It was just a short talk, just chit chat. Information technology wasn't nothing.

"I don't remember nosotros actually discussed, fifty-fifty to this day, none of usa take discussed Eastward'due south death. None of us. We never take. Even on that phone telephone call we didn't talk over it. It had never been in a conversation between none of them at all. Not once."

N.W.A had their differences early on merely were able to put them bated for the group'due south 2015 biopicStraight Outta Comptonand several reunion shows in 2016, although Yella was hesitant to talk about by beef.

"Later on the movie, we had did 10 shows, so Dre went to ane of the Coachellas," he says. "Nosotros don't talk every day or every week, only we nevertheless in good continuing, all of us. I mean, nosotros don't go out to consume dinner and all that, but that'due south how information technology always been. We talk for a minute and stuff like that [if nosotros see each other]. Everybody doing their own thing.

"Only at that place's nothing bad between none of us at all. Never was. A lot of that [beefiness] stuff is Hollywood. It looks like what it own't. I stay out of grown folks business organisation."

related news

Eazy-Eastward'south Girl Says Ice Cube Is 'Ducking' Her Over Documentary Nearly Her Legendary Father

Apr fifteen, 2021

Then did Ice Cube when information technology came to the forthcoming documentary The Mysterious Death of Eazy-E. Both Yella and Cube declined to participate in the moving-picture show, which explores the numerous conspiracy theories surrounding Eazy's expiry.

"Did Eazy-Due east truly die from AIDS?" the press release reads. "If so, how did he contract information technology? Are there people who wanted this pioneer and father dead? The investigative series uncovers these questions and more."

The inaugural ane-hr episode premieres on August 12 at 10 p.grand. ET and will characteristic never-before-seen footage and interviews likewise every bit explore Eazy-E'due south touch on the music manufacture and his daughter Ebie'due south quest for answers to the perplexing circumstances surrounding his passing.

As for Straight Outta Compton: My Untold Story, observe it here and check back with HipHopDX before long for Office Two of the DJ Yella interview.