1996-02487 words · 2 min
Live from Death Row (Part 3 of 4): Dr. Dre, N.W.A and California Love
Dr. Dre looks back on N.W.A; on the desert set of “California Love,” Tupac awaits fresh out of prison: Part 3 of Kevin Powell’s Vibe report.
Original: “Live From Death Row” (Part 3) · Vibe · Kevin Powell · February 1996
As a club DJ, Dr. Dre reworked other artists’ songs into instrumentals, finding his way into producing. He performed at roller-skating rinks with a young Ice Cube, and in 1986 he met Eazy-E. For eight months they went from record store to record store pushing Boyz-n-the-Hood. Out of that emerged N.W.A, whose album Straight Outta Compton reached double platinum without radio airplay. In the third part of Kevin Powell’s Vibe report, Dre looks back on these beginnings.
Two Percent at Ruthless: The Breakup with Eazy-E
Dre turns bitter over the end of Ruthless Records. Manager Jerry Heller reportedly favored Eazy, while Dre himself received only two percent for his productions. Reached by phone, Heller concedes to Powell that Dre is “probably right.” Suge Knight opened his eyes, Dre says. Exactly how Knight got him out of the contract depends on whom you ask. Death Row, incidentally, was originally going to be called Future Shock.
Dre speaks quietly about Eazy-E’s death from AIDS in March 1995. When asked about his greatest fear, he names two powers: “God and the IRS,” God and the US tax authority.
On the Set of “California Love”: A Machine Instead of Family
Scene change to the California desert near El Mirage: Hype Williams is directing the music video for California Love as an apocalyptic spectacle in the style of Mad Max. Powell meets Tupac in a trailer, more muscular than ever after eleven months in prison. On the East-West conflict, Tupac says just one sentence: “It’s gonna get deep.”
On the phone later, Tupac explains that Death Row is less a family than a “machine,” the strongest superpower in hip-hop. With Suge Knight as manager, he no longer has to fight for respect.
The Swift End of the “Family”
Dre’s perspective on Ruthless is his version; Eazy-E was no longer able to comment. What is documented is the outcome: Dre turned his back on N.W.A and Ruthless, co-founded Death Row with Knight in 1991-92, and propelled the label to greatness with The Chronic.
The invoked “family” did not last long. As early as March 1996, just a few weeks after the issue was published, Dre left Death Row and founded Aftermath under Interscope. Tupac subsequently attacked him on the posthumous Makaveli album on Toss It Up. With Eminem and 50 Cent, and later with Beats-sold to Apple in 2014 for $3 billion-Dre rose to become one of the industry’s most successful entrepreneurs. The announced album with Ice Cube, Helter Skelter, was never released.
Tupac’s praise for Knight reads tragically in hindsight. Seven months later, he was sitting in Knight’s BMW when the fatal shots were fired.
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