Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, and Ice Cube are acclaimed legends in the realm of hip-hop and the music industry. These three friends came together to create the infamous rap group N.W.A. Over time, as they found success, their friendship started falling apart. Ice Cube left the group, and later on, Dre followed suit.
They dissed each other in songs, but what really went down? Did they ever patch things up? We’ll break down everything we know about what happened between these three hip-hop giants.
Formation of N.W.A
In 1987, Eazy-E founded the group. Dr. Dre was the first member to join, followed by Ice Cube, DJ Yella, and Arabian Prince. Their group stirred controversy, especially with the release of their hit track ‘F**k Tha Police.’ The entire group was even arrested after performing this song at a concert.
Remembering the day they made and recorded that song Dre told LA Times, “[N.W.A member] Eazy-E and I were driving through Torrance, and Eazy was leaning out the window shooting people at bus stops with these paint guns that you can buy,” Dre says. “We were laughing our asses off watching the people on the benches freak out because the paint balls were red. Well, not too much later we found ourselves down on the freeway with guns to our heads and the police were being like real ass—–. We left that experience and went into the studio and made that song–the same day.”
Why did Ice Cube leave N.W.A?
N.W.A achieved tremendous success, gaining recognition for all its members, not just Eazy-E. Despite Ice Cube’s role as the main rapper and ghostwriter for the group’s first album, “Straight Outta Compton,” he eventually chose to part ways, but what led him to make that decision? In short, Cube’s decision was fueled by a disagreement with the group over royalties and financial issues.
As noted, Cube played a significant role in the group, not only contributing lyrics to “Straight Outta Compton” but also writing Eazy’s hit track “Boyz N Da Hood.” Additionally, Cube penned several tracks for Eazy-E’s solo album, “Eazy-Duz-It.” Because Eazy lacked sufficient business knowledge, as stated by Ice Cube, Jerry Heller had the freedom to handle things as he pleased. Cube mentioned that Heller didn’t even allow him to review his contract. Consequently, due to the manager’s actions, Cube was deprived of the rightful royalties he should have received, despite his efforts to seek fair compensation.
Following Cube’s departure from the group, N.W.A dissed him in their track ‘100 Miles and Runnin’. However, Cube retaliated with an even stronger diss track, ‘No Vaseline,’ which is often regarded as one of the greatest, if not the top, diss tracks ever.
Why did Dr. Dre leave N.W.A?
Like Ice Cube, Dre departed the group for similar reasons. In a Vibe interview, Dre expressed his dissatisfaction with the group’s label, Ruthless Records. Interestingly, it was Suge Knight who conveyed to Dre that he was getting the short end of the stick in his deal with Ruthless Records. He said, “I was gettin’ like two points for my production on albums. I still have the contracts framed. I’m not no egotistical person. I just want what I’m supposed to get. Not a penny more, not a penny less.”
After learning about these issues and having some disagreements with Eazy-E and Jerry Heller, Dre found himself compelled to part ways with the group. Following his departure, Dre, alongside Suge Knight and Dick Griffey, established Death Row Records, which quickly rose to prominence with the addition of artists like Snoop Dogg. Subsequently, Dre released his album ‘The Chronic,’ featuring a track with Snoop called ‘F**k Wit Dre’ which included disses aimed at Eazy-E.
Eazy-E hit back with the strong diss track ‘Real Muthaphuckkin G’s,’ claiming control by saying “Dre day is Eazy’s payday.” Eazy still had Dre’s contract. But later the contract was released, how? well in a scene from the movie ‘Straight Outta Compton,’ we see Suge Knight and his crew beat Eazy and Jerry, pushing them to release Dre from his contract.
As time went by, Dre left Death Row Records because of Suge Knight’s bad reputation and, more importantly, his short temper.
The end of Eazy-E, Ice Cube, and Dr. Dre’s feud
Before Eazy-E got sick, he and Cube had patched things up, planning to revive N.W.A. Cube shared in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that a few months before Eazy’s passing, they met at a club and discussed the possibility of reuniting. However, at the time Eazy and Dre were still in no contact, according to Dre in the same interview, somebody just randomly handed him a cell phone and on the phone was Eazy calling they talked about their past mistakes and potentially getting back together to make another record.
Unfortunately, just when Cube and Dre were prepared to create another N.W.A record with Eazy-E, he became ill with HIV. On March 26, 1995, he passed away. If he were still with us today, we would surely have witnessed many more new records from N.W.A.
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