Basically, gangsta rap became most influential in the West, starting wit Ice-T's "6 N' The Morning". Gave props to its origins though in the East, starting wit Schooly-D out of Philly. He's the OG. Then came straight out the Boogie Down Bronx, Boogie Down Productions with Criminal Minded. But Ice-T was the first to get it started out here in the West. Eazy and NWA took the gangsta baton from Ice-T and ran with it, and blew it up. They couldn't help but blow up though. Eazy was smart. He took the best dudes from groups throughout the LA club scene that were formerly affiliated with Lonzo Williams (Grandmaster Lonzo) and Greg Broussard (The Egyptian Lover). The coalition under Broussard was Uncle Jamm's Army, and consisted of dudes from the Wreckin' Crew, Mix Master Spade, Toddy Tee, Arabian Prince, Jamie Jupitor, Bobby Jimmy & The Critters, DJ Joe Cooley, DJ Unknown, DJ Slip, The Glove. By the time E came around, these groups had broken off from Uncle Jamm's Army and were floating. E formed a partnership with the Wreckin' Crew (Lonzo, Cli-N-Tel, Shakespeare, Yella-Boy, Dr. Dre), Bobby Jimmy & The Critters (Bobby Jimmy, General Jeff, Arabian Prince), and C.I.A. (Ice Cube, Kid Disaster, Sir Jinx). Wreckin' Crew and C.I.A. both were produced by Dre and were on a label called Kru-Cut Records. Bobby Jimmy was on his own label, Rapsur Records (which Rapsur is Bobby Jimmy's real name spelled backward, Russ Parr). And E formed NWA with the nucleaus being E, Dre, Yella Boy, Arabian Prince, and Ice Cube. This original NWA did jams on the NWA and The Posse record. One of my favorites being The Panic Zone from The Posse record, and also Something To Dance To, which was on Straight Outta Compton. Ren was signed after the release of NWA and The Posse, which he ain't on. Arabian Prince left the group two weeks before the release of Straight Outta Compton, which is why his picture is on the album cover with Eazy holding the chrome. Gotta go for now, but I'll come back later and tell ya why E and Ruthless was the most influential band in rock and roll history. More influential than the Beatles even. Check it with the next edition of Back Alley Entertainment Info. Ice-Cold-Slim-In-Em 1/04
Alright Dogg, I'm back,
So why was the folks at Ruthless puttin out the most influential shit from years 87 - 95? It was the vision homeboy E had. Think about it. You take some square dudes (Dre & Yella), and put them to do silent work like make the music and produce, get some dude whose strength is straight flowing and blowing (Cube & Ren) and hook them behind a real gangsta nigga wit some scrilla and connections..what you gonna get? Exactly. Some dope ass shit.
Man, when Cube left, he hooked back up with niggaz like Sir Jinx, Kid Disaster (K.D.) from his old C.I.A. click. Got wit the Bomb Squad and you know the rest. But my point is that Jinx and K.D. worked with Cube and was on some of his records. These guys were cool wit Eazy, but their loyalty was with their homie Cube. Other NWA affiliates left with Cube too. Fools like JD, Shorty who with their homie T-Bone, formed under Cube's wing, Da Lench Mob. Kam joined Cube as well as Yo-Yo. All were Lench Mob. And all came originally from the NWA camp.
Later Cube would form Westside Connection and brought star status to Mack 10 and WC who came from his own star status previously earned with the group WC and the Madd Circle. While leader of that group didn't earn immediate id after they split up (that honor went to Coolio), WC is now collecting big bills and respect and id as 1/3rd of Westside Connection, which not ironically has the initials WC.
MC Ren did some solo producing and created Capital Punishment Organization (C.P.O.). A loose collection of mcs which included Ren's old homie Chip. But the star mc was the intimidating 400+ lb Lil Nation.
Dre did all the production work for most of the NWA spinoff groups. Most of the these groups got minimal marketing but many did become great hits. Some of the spinoffs that Dre did production work, and blew up were The D.O.C. (Nobody Can Do It Better 1988), Michel'le (Michel'le 1987), Above The Law (Living Like Hustlers 1988), and Kokane (Nickel Slick Nigga single 1990).
The D.O.C. however was probably the most talented of the spinoff groups. Born Trey Curry in Dallas, TX, DOC was dope before he signed with Ruthless. Originally part of a Dallas-based trio called the Fila Fresh Crew, their sound was eventually added to the roster for N.W.A.'s first LP, N.W.A. and The Posse. Only having 3 songs on that LP under the moniker Fila Fresh Crew, the DOC wrecked shop and was signed exclusively to work as a writer first, and later as an assistant producer under Dr. Dre. His contribution to the Straight Outta Compton LP went mostly unnoticed because he wasen't given his credit by Dre, the DOC blew up wit his first solo LP, Nobody Can Do It Better. After Dre left Ruthless for Death Row, he was smart to take the DOC along with him, to assist in the production for The Chronic.
Eazy himself picked up some people who eventually turned out some LPs. Dudes like BG Knoccout and Gangsta Dre'sta. These dudes worked with E on many tracks after the NWA breakup. Their contribution on Eazy's "Real Muthaphukkin' Geez" was considerable, and took their beef with Daz and Kurupt and the rest of the Death Row camp, to wax on their own 1995 LP on Def Jam, called Real Brothers. While never recording much after that (they never had another LP together) BG Knoccout was on Flesh-N-Bones solo LP T.H.U.G.S.
Tarrie B. was another Ruthless signee. She was a white girl rapper. Her one and only LP, Murder She Wrote, was pretty popular and produced one video which was the title song. She moved on after her one record deal with Eazy to go on and do punk rock glam music.
Ultra talented Jimmy Z. only had one LP on Ruthless as well. It was called Musical Madness. Jimmy Z played the saxophone, harmonica, trumpet, xylophone, and etc and worked with Dr. Dre on Musical Madness. Dre does mostly production, while Jimmy would do the main vocals as well as his instruments. Dre actually raps on like 4 songs on Madness for Jimmy, who doesn't rap at all on this LP. A decent LP to listen to Dre do different shit besides gangsta.
Yomo & Maulkie were NWA-affiliates who had their first 1989 LP, R U Xperienced, produced by DJ Yella. Yella wrecks shop puttin for the rappers, beats that were even better than Dre's work on Straight Outta Compton. Yomo & Maulkie were on a differnet vibe, and while Yella was puttin forth the gangsta beats, they rapped about black consiousness and advancement. Sort of like a South Central Public Enemy. The album is slammin, with not one cuss word found anywhere on the record. But the record did not go so well. Yomo and Maulkie never recorded for Ruthless again after their first LP. They broke up, but Maulkie found major work when asked by Da Lench Mob to do lead vocals for their second LP, Planet of Da Apes. So if you listen to that record, you'll hear Maulkie more than hold his own, filling in the gap nicely for the incarcerated JD.
Above The Law was a great success at Ruthless. Puttin out a total of 4 albums at Ruthless before moving to Tommy Boy, ATL was the shit. Their first LP, Living Like Hustlers, was almost exclusively produced by Dre and DOC. Cold 187-um did some work, but mostly he was lead vocalist. He got more busier working with his cousin Kokane, who was an unofficial member of ATL. Kokane eventually got even bigger than ATL, by getting signed by Snoop Dogg to Dogghouse Records. He is signed as Mr. Kane.
Eazy's greatest discovery is undoubetdly Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. These kids took Ruthless to the stratosphere. Its too bad that Eazy's widow destroyed that group.
"Shakin' up they spot thats hot and thats real!" -MC Ren
"Eazy Mutha Phukkin E from Eastide South Compton, str8t giving up tha real..." -Hip Hop Thugzta
"I'm on another level than ya'll, all dressed up like I'm Pope John Paul, its a new mutha phukkin Formula ya'll, Ren through the door came to crash the wall!" -Tha Villian IN BlaCk
"And to these busta azz people on this message board, you dudes who have to let your race pride show on this site, goodd for muthaphukin them, Ren say keep it real, well then all niggaz worldwide then gotz to keep it real!" -Stan "The Guitar Man"
"Back Alley Productions is tha shittt in hte 04' you muthaphukkaz!!" -Bro. Marquis endorsing Back Alley Productions
"Eazy E is long gone ya'll. I hate to admit it. But I play that muthaphukkazz music averyday." -JV-ski
"The name's Eazy, I'm coming off like The Enforcer, mass murder muthafukka, in the course, it ain't everyday,I remember when you would stalk by, fuck the car I'll do a muthaphukkin walk-by!" -The dope dealer nown az Casual
Zuletzt geändert von Puddahmaan am 03.09.2009, 10:23, insgesamt 1-mal geändert.
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