The Defiant Ones (2017) s01e02 Episode Script

1 (vehicles passing by, honking) (radio static crackles) (hip-hop music plays) (radio changing stations) - (Spanish music playing) - (radio changing stations) Eazy-E: I'm on the radio, radio, radio Greg Mack: Here on the radio! K-Eazy-E! I'm Greg Mack.
Don't forget to join us this Friday night live.
We're gonna be jammin' to Eazy-E! With more radio! Now disc jockeys are playin' me in rotation Hittin' number one spots across the nation I'm on the charts You could go list 'em But now listen, I'm on your system AM or FM, I'm in power You hear my record once every hour So listen up to the rhyme and percussion But do this with no discussion Eazy-E is the godfather of gangster rap.
Yo I got reason But you don't have Eazy-E without Dr.
Dre.
- Yo Dre - What up? Do it your way On the radio, you get more looser Take my word You're a dope producer We combine To put out hits But jealous people, they just have fits (music stops) (man speaks indistinctly) - That's how the shit go.
- Bad-ass.
Ice Cube: "Ruthless" started out the gate winnin'.
You know, "Boyz-n-the-Hood" became a hit, so, we had to follow it up.
Dr.
Dre: But we needed more writers, so we call in a friend of mine from Dallas, The D.
O.
C.
Ice Cube: And Eazy brought Ren in.
How was that? Too slow? Man: I never seen a roadrunner by the pool like this.
You ain't never seen one? They run out here all day, man.
- Animal Kingdom.
- (man laughing) (chuckles) Yeah, man.
My relationship with E, first startin' out, man, it was like like you can say, like a little brother.
'Cause he grew up right around the corner from me.
What, you want me to scream? MC Ren: Eazy-E, he's totally opposite of what a lot of people think he is.
To put out hits (all laughing) MC Ren: He cool, he a comedian.
He always got jokes.
But when E did "Boyz-n-the-Hood," it was like a shock to me, because I'm in the neighborhood.
I'm tryin' to be an MC.
Then, out the blue, I hear, like, "Man, who is that's E? You know, that's him doin' that?" But I got the rundown from a story how it came about.
Now, I wanna turn up my box And make much noise And rock the party and shock all the B-boys - Like that.
- DJ Yella: The way Eazy learned to rap was Dre having patience.
Now I wanna turn up my Aw, shit, man.
DJ Yella: Because he was not a rapper.
So, Dre had to teach him word by word, line by line.
Now I wanna turn up Aw, shit.
- (frustrated yell) - (all groaning) - Dre: 73 takes.
- Eazy-E: Shit! MC Ren: He'd be in there so long, that you just be like, "I'm out, man.
I get with y'all tomorrow.
" Eazy-E: But jealous people, they just (babbling) Ice Cube: That's usually when I had to exit, 'cause I just couldn't sit there, and just hear these words get butchered.
We only got till tomorrow.
That's all right.
Keep going.
You can't say shit, you little pale bastard.
And fuck all y'all.
Suck my dick.
DJ Yella: But Eric had such a - unique voice.
- Eazy-E: Shit! Ice Cube: Man, to see Dre turn this dude into a megastar Yo, yo, yo.
Ice Cube: it's like seeing Dr.
Frankenstein work, or some fuckin' wizard or something.
Wait a minute.
Wait a minute.
Who does it? Eazy does it.
But how does he do it? - Longer.
It gotta be longer.
- That was perfect right there.
- That was right.
- Yeah.
That wasn't long enough.
- That was right! - Got to have it a little bit longer.
Nah, that was perfect, just like that.
(whirring) I think it was the perfect combination, because we had Eazy.
He's comin' from this hardcore, drug-dealin', street perspective.
And Cube would come in with the more Malcolm X political voice.
You goddamn right.
Dr.
Dre: The angry rapper, so to speak.
I was tryin' to be street, but commercial at the same time, because I wanted the record to sell.
And Ren was the hot voice that bridged these two perspectives.
D.
O.
C.
wrote a lot of Eazy's lyrics, but he was always meant to be a solo act.
So, Eazy, Cube, Ren, Yella, and myself, we decided to create a group.
And we wanted to be a little bit shocking, so you listen to what we're tryin' to say.
(electricity buzzing) Ice Cube: There was a war on gangs at the time, which means, if you think I look like a gangbanger, it's a war on me.
So, we wanted to show the world our world.
We just wanted to put Compton on the map.
Ice Cube: Gangbangin', crack cocaine, Daryl Gates, the LAPD, Reaganomics.
That was our formula.
DJ Yella: We were just ghetto reporters.
Ice Cube: And then Dre and Eazy pulled up one day, and said, "We got a name for the group.
" And I was like, "What is it?" He said, "N.
W.
A.
" And I thought, "What the fuck? That's initials.
What does that mean?" And he was like, "Niggaz Wit Attitudes.
" And I was like, "Oh, hell, yeah.
" You know what I mean? It was like "Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
" That's the name for this group.
(distant siren blaring) Jimmy Iovine: Dre and I were involved with Chrysler, and we have to tune the car to our specs, and we wanna make sure that it sounds right, and Dre and I do it ourselves.
You can find me in the club Bottle full of Bud Mama, I got the X if you into takin' drugs I'm into havin' sex, I ain't into makin' love So come give me a hug if you into gettin' rubbed (indistinct) When I pull up out front, you see the Benz on dubs When I roll 20 deep, it's 20 knives in the club Niggas heard I fuck with Dre, now they - Dr.
Dre: Okay, yeah, yeah.
- I'll play you the Patti Smith.
Outside of society That's where I want to be - Lenny! - Baby was a black sheep Baby was a whore You know she got big Well, she's gonna get bigger Baby got her hand As the decades go on, right, Dre? It's like really weird, because the everything the recording process has changed.
So, everything tightened up, you know, and Right.
You started makin' records, really, in the '80s, right? - Yeah.
- Yeah.
With probably eight subwoofers in a small room.
Right.
I didn't meet a subwoofer till I met you.
- (laughs) - It's the truth.
- All I knew was that they were annoying.
- (laughs) And you figured it out.
You cracked the code on 'em.
(Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "Refugee" playing) - That sounds good.
- Right.
I feel that, you know? (laughing) We got somethin', we both know it We don't talk too much about it I met Jimmy Iovine in '78.
I had made two albums, but The Heartbreakers, we had not mastered the studio by any means.
And I had heard Patti Smith's Bruce Springsteen's song, and I really liked the sound of the drums.
So, we flew this guy, Jimmy Iovine, to LA.
He'd never been to LA.
To live like a refugee Don't have to live like Iovine: I remember landing in California.
It was 78 degrees and it was December, and I remember gettin' out of that car, goin' to my room, and goin' back to the doorman, and sayin', "Hey, man.
Do regular people live out here?" He said, "What do you mean 'regular people?'" I said, "Regular people! You know, my dad's a longshore" He goes, "I'm a regular person.
I'm a doorman.
I live out here.
" I said, "Well, are there docks down here?" "Of course there are docks here! "You're in California! It's the Pacific Ocean.
" I go back to my room, call my mother and said, "Mom, how did we get this wrong?" Petty: We rented him a nice, little house in the Valley.
He calls the next day to say, "I'm too scared to stay in this house.
" I go, "What do you mean?" He goes, "I hear stuff moving outside, and I never slept in a house before.
" I go, "What? You never slept in a house?" He goes, "I've been in apartments all my life.
I'm from New York.
I never slept in the woods.
" And I'm like, "You're not in the woods.
You're in a neighborhood.
There's nothing there.
" - ("Breakdown" playing) - (audience cheering) It's all right if you love me It's all right if you don't I'm not afraid of you running away Honey, I get the feeling you won't Petty: Next thing I know, he shows up at Shelter Records and he's got an engineer with him.
And I'm going, "Well, hey.
What's with him?" Iovine: I said, "He's the engineer.
" He said, "I thought you were the engineer?" I said, "No, I'm the producer.
" By the end of the day, he had convinced me that he would be better as a producer than an engineer.
Baby Breakdown Go ahead and give it to me Breakdown, honey Take me through the night Baby, breakdown Breakdown, now I'm standin' here Can't you see? Breakdown, it's all right It's all right It's all right Petty: We sat down, and I played him the songs I had Iovine: He played me "Here Comes My Girl," and "Refugee.
" Petty: and he got really excited.
Iovine: I just looked him, I said, "Get another eight songs quick, 'cause we're done.
" And he goes, "We're gonna be millionaires," you know? And I thought that was the strangest comment I'd ever heard about music.
You know? But when you're that age, the sky's the limit.
Jimmy became so obsessed with getting the right take on that song.
- I'll bet we did over 100.
- I think we should do one more.
Iovine: We just were so connected.
We would work 12 hours, and then talk for three hours.
Petty: We were thick as thieves.
And we had a plan to conquer the world.
I was talkin' with a friend of mine Said a woman had hurt his pride Told him that she loved him so And turned around and let him go Petty: When they released that record, Jim turned into a tornado of promotion.
Iovine: I wanted to have some influence in the marketing, because when you finish the record, you go play it for somebody, and they just go, "That doesn't sound like your last record.
" And you're in there saying, "Of course it doesn't sound like the last record.
"It's not supposed to sound like the last record.
The whole concept is to not sound like somebody else.
" Not like everything else.
So, I started sayin', "I got to get control of our destiny "or else, we're handing these records to people that want us to sound like what's on the radio.
" Petty: He was really, really dedicated and doing very well on that side of things.
One thing about him is he's always known what people to be hanging with.
Don't do me like that And Stevie Nicks had shown up, and wanted to hang out.
She had lots of people around.
That, really, I couldn't figure out what their jobs were, you know, and gypsy girls.
And I was just kind of confused by it all.
(electronic keyboard playing simple melody) (simple melody continuing) Stevie Nicks: You can run high atop your pony I know you won't fall 'Cause the whole thing's phony That's "Bella Donna.
" When I first met Jimmy, we went out to dinner, and about ten days later, I moved in to Jimmy's house, when Tom was finishing Damn the Torpedoes, but nobody knew.
I mean, certainly Tom Petty didn't know.
Jimmy didn't want Tom Petty to know because he felt that Tom would feel like, "Well, I guess your interest has been slightly taken away from my record now.
" And for the next several months, I spent a lot of time making English muffins with mozzarella cheese and tomato in the broiler.
That's what we lived on.
I was the mini-baby pizza maker.
I liked him, and he totally liked me.
I mean, we liked each other.
Iovine: You know, I was an up-and-coming record producer, and she was a big star, so Danny Goldberg, Paul Fishkin, and Doug Morris asked me to produce Stevie's first solo album outside of Fleetwood Mac.
Nicks: I wanted Jimmy because Jimmy produced Tom, because I loved Tom's records.
Iovine: We started hanging out, and it was fun.
But Tom and I were very, very close at that time, and it was really awkward.
Nicks: Jimmy's like, "You don't know Tom.
"Tom doesn't know you.
"And when Tom comes over here, you have to hide in the basement.
" So, I did, because it was a nice basement, and actually it was a whole Rock and Roll 101 outside of Fleetwood Mac for me when Tom would come over.
And of course, I would be like, you know - Iovine: Try and understand one thing.
- Lovely stars If you make an alteration of some sort, if we say, "Hey, you know, this is not right, it's not exactly right.
Does not mean, okay, panic city time, Needle Park.
- We're trying to get it right, Jim, for you.
- I know - Stevie intentions are right.
- And so we can't - All I'm tryin' to say - We can't, you know, do it without talking.
Stevie, again.
Again, Stevie, this is what I'm talking about.
Everytime I say something, it's like a lawyer.
It's like a group of lawyers, which is completely unnecessary.
I don't feel we should try a different high part.
Stevie, that's not the point.
- But just to be be a lawyer.
- Okay.
You know? Okay.
Come on, let's go.
Nicks: Jimmy and I would get in a lot of arguments.
About music, about what I wanted, and what he thought I wanted, for instance, the single.
Petty: They didn't have a single that was gonna break the album.
And she started coming by the sessions quite a bit, and she was right up front.
She goes, "I want you to write a song for me.
" And I said, "Well "I'd like to write a song for me.
You know, I'm It's not that easy.
" So, we had this record going, Hard Promises, and I'd written a lot of songs for it, one of which was "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around.
" And I didn't see "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" as a single.
I kind of put it on the shelf.
Iovine: Sounded like a blues record when he did it.
And I heard it like a big pop record, with a girl singing it.
Nicks: Jimmy says "If I were you, "I would take this amazing gift from Tom Petty, "and put it on your damn album.
Because you don't have a single.
" Iovine: And you're coming out of a group that has nothing but hit records, so, you're gonna come out with this beautiful record, all with lace and veils and candles all over it, and no one's gonna hear it.
Petty: Next thing I know, he rolls in and says, "Hey, I got something I got to play you.
" And he plays me "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," the same track, with her singing.
Jimmy, you just took the song and? I said, "Tom, let's do the same thing I did with Bruce.
" It had worked once.
Why wouldn't it work again? Nicks: He knew that "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" was a stone-cold hit.
And even more of a stone-cold hit with Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks singing it together.
Petty: His comeback was, like, "Hey, this is gonna buy you a house.
" (laughing) And I'm, like, "Okay.
" But it pissed me off because it became a huge hit.
Iovine: It blows up with him on it.
Then his single comes out, but it wasn't a big a hit as it should've been.
Petty: They came out at the same time.
So I think our single suffered.
There's people running 'round loose in the world Ooh ooh ooh Ain't got nothing better to do Make a meal of some bright-eyed kid Ooh ooh ooh You need someone looking after you I know you really want to tell me goodbye Ah ah ah I know you really want to be your own girl Baby, you could never look me in the eye Yeah, you buckle with the weight of the words Stop draggin' my Stop draggin' my Stop draggin' my heart around Ooh ooh We almost did that right.
That that wasn't good? Iovine: I didn't tell anybody I was goin' out with Stevie, right? So that shit always leads to trouble.
It always leads to awkwardness with amongst friends and stuff like that.
And I was in over my head.
(rock music playing) That was the beginning of a tough time for me and Tom, because I was goin' out with her.
We had a gigantic hit record.
It looked like hustle.
I mean, did I know that her label was gonna drop that record right on top of his record? No.
But still, it was my responsibility to have his back.
And my relationship with Tom was affected, and it's probably still affected in some way because how I handled it was wrong.
I had no idea what I was doing socially or in life.
I knew one thing.
That every time I went back to the studio, if something good happened, I felt better and my life would get better.
It was that simple.
Just like the white winged dove Sings a song, sounds like she's singing Ooh ooh ooh Just like the white winged dove Sings a song, sounds like she's singing Ooh, baby, ooh, ooh Nicks: This guy gave me my solo career on a platter with a single from Tom Petty.
You know, I don't think he ever consciously did anything to do Petty a disservice.
But he knew it would work for her.
And after everything is said and done, he wants a win.
Well, I hear you In the morning When I hear you Every night, all the time At nightfall, I hear the call Of a night bird I'm a few years older than you Whoa Whoa, baby Do you know Dr.
Dre: Every producer knows that you're only as good as the artist that you're workin' with, because that artist could either make or break you.
No matter how great your track is, the artist that you're workin' with, or the writer that you're workin' with has the ability to make it magic or fuck it up.
Dr.
Dre is on the drum Going rum-pa-pa-pum Dr.
Dre: So we're in studio working on the first N.
W.
A.
album.
It was coming out great.
Ice Cube: The group was startin' to get shows and gettin' money.
Dr.
Dre: And Eazy comes in, and he wants me to stop the show, 'cause he has this girl group he wants me to produce.
I'm like, "Are you crazy? You want me to stop this to do what?" My homegirls always say I'm chillin' but I rocks the box And I get top billing Ice Cube: Dre is always down for a good idea.
But it better be hot.
Not warm, not kind of hot.
It better be the shit.
I'm Baby D, on the mic my funky beats, so what you like I know you'll like me once you see me, 'cause I'm not your enemy Always happy, never sad, that's because I'm such a bad, freaky cool You're a fool, sucks to see you later, rude That's me, bustin' out some beats See if you can understand MC JB A sama lama lama lama doo ma nama lama See ma nama lama doo ma nama Hold it, wait Stop the beat, I want you all to know Who's in effect Don't compare us to others, we demand respect Dr.
Dre: Turns out, we're actually havin' fun recordin' this record.
And the money that we made on the J.
J.
Fad album helped fund a lot of the albums that came next.
It was the first gold record on Ruthless Records.
Yeah, that's it Supersonic motivating rhymes are creating And everybody knows that J.
J.
Fad is devastating Dee Barnes: The interesting thing about J.
J.
Fad is that Eazy wanted something commercial to make radio stations say, "Oh, Ruthless Records.
" We're gonna be anticipating the next record that drops, and the next thing you know, they slipped in that (laughs) "Boyz-n-the-Hood.
" A female group opened the door for N.
W.
A.
It was once said by a man who couldn't quit Dope man, please, can I have another hit? The dope man said, Cluck, I don't give a shit If your girl kneel down And sucked my dick Man, I can't believe they just said that.
This music is incredible, but MTV is not gonna let any of this happen.
Young brothers gettin' over by slanging caine No nope, that's not my son.
I was in total denial at first.
I said, "Why does he have to talk so bad?" He said if he rapped normal, they wouldn't wanna listen to it.
Dope man, dope man You know, it took me a while.
Dope man, dope man Yo, fuck that shit It was weird, because when we were all together, that's not how they talked.
Suck this bitch And that is Eazy all the way.
He said any publicity is good publicity.
Matthew McDaniels: Rhythm Rock Live.
We're on location tonight to talk to probably the most controversial rap group in LA right now.
How close are you to what your records are? We're just as real as this gun.
See this chamber right there? That's no bullshit.
Alonzo Williams: Me, Dre, Yella we all were into paintball back in the day.
We were the first black people into paintball.
We all bought these paint guns, masks, the whole nine yards.
Drive out to Malibu.
Only black guys out there.
Our crew was called Just Us.
Eazy bought a paintball shotgun.
Everything you hear on our records is true.
Williams: Him and Dre decide to ride down the Harbor Freeway, stickin' this paintball shotgun out the fuckin' window, and bam! Creatin' havoc on the motherfuckin' freeway.
- Dr.
Dre: Freakin' people the fuck out.
- (gunshots) Williams: So Highway Patrol got wind of these fools.
Dr.
Dre: Ten, 15 minutes after that, the police is behind us.
Pull us out of the car with guns drawn.
Lay us facedown on the freeway.
Really aggressive and the whole nine, as they should've been.
Williams: They jacked these motherfuckers like they robbed a bank.
They lucky they're alive today.
They come back to my house, shakin' like a motherfucker, okay? "Man, fuck the police.
Them motherfuckers, they did this, they put guns at our heads.
" I said, "What the fuck y'all do?" "Oh man, all we did was ride down the street with some with the paintball gun, shootin' at people's cars.
" "You did what?!" (indistinct shouting) Ice Cube: Him and Eazy was runnin' around fuckin' up, you know what I mean? So Dre had to check hisself into jail every weekend.
(laughing) And as a teenager, weekends with Dr.
Dre, you were in the club.
You partyin', the music is bangin'.
You're around hip-hop.
He go to jail, all that stopped.
So our weekends was borin'.
Bump.
We was back on the block.
We was just not doin' nothin'.
So I was just mad that all the fun stopped, and Dre had to go to jail till Monday.
So I wrote "Fuck Tha Police," you know what I mean? Because it was, like, enough is enough.
I knew it was the shit.
But when I said it to Dre, he was like, "Dude, I'm not doin' that record.
"I got to go to jail Friday.
"They gonna kick my ass up in there.
I ain't 'bout to do that.
" So I ripped it out and balled it up and threw it away.
And my friend, Phoenix Phil reached in the trash, and was, like, "Naw.
This is too good.
" And he spread it out and put it back in my notebook.
"You can't throw this song away.
" So when it was time to do the N.
W.
A.
record and we was thinkin' of all these ideas, I waited till everybody was in the room.
And I was, like, "Man, I got a record called 'Fuck Tha Police.
'" (laughing) D.
O.
C.
went crazy.
Whoever thought of this shit was genius.
Ice Cube: Ren almost did a backflip.
Eazy was like, "Say it.
Let's go.
Let me hear it.
" Eazy-E: Yeah, do it.
(laughs) Wow.
We really gonna talk about the police like that? I knew we had something that was gonna be dangerous.
I knew we had somethin' that we could potentially get in trouble for, something the group was really excited about, and proud of because of the way it sounded.
I mean, we did the whole court thing at the beginnin'.
I played the judge, and D.
O.
C.
was playin' the lawyer on the record.
Judge Dre residing.
In the case of N.
W.
A.
versus the Police Department, prosecuting attorneys are: MC Ren, Ice Cube, and Eazy-motherfuckin'-E.
Wait a minute.
Hold it, hold it.
Order in the court.
Ice Cube, take the motherfuckin' stand.
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothin' but the truth, so help your black ass? You're goddamn right.
Won't you tell everybody what the fuck you gotta say.
Fuck the police coming straight from the underground A young nigga got it bad 'cause I'm brown And not the other color, so police think They have the authority to kill a minority Fuck that shit, 'cause I ain't the one For a punk motherfucker with a badge and a gun To be beating on and thrown in jail We can go toe-to-toe in the middle of a cell Fucking with me 'cause I'm a teenager With a little bit of gold and a pager Searching my car, looking for the product Thinking every nigga is selling narcotics Fuck tha police Fuck tha police Fuck tha police Fuck tha police The verdict The jury has found you guilty of being a redneck White-bread, chickenshit motherfucker But wait, that's a lie! That's a goddamn lie! - Get him out of here! - I want justice! - Get him the fuck out my face! - I want justice! Out right now! Fuck you, you black motherfuckers! Fuck tha police (gunfire) (cheering) Fab Five Freddy: The FBI letter.
There was no precedent to the FBI sending a letter, "Please stop singing these records.
" When that came through, the news was all over that.
And then, of course, with media and controversy, it all just worked to sell more records.
Because N.
W.
A.
, they were like, "No, we're gonna go right back at that.
We're gonna do these records.
" Eazy was clearly a marketing genius.
He had a great sense for what buttons to push to create controversy in different levels.
Ice Cube: It became political once these forces start comin' against us.
It let us know that we're more than a group.
We're a political statement.
It just knocked us into that position.
DJ Yella: I remember bein' on tour somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
I'm wakin' up.
We were asleep, and the bus was stopped.
And I hear cryin'.
And I go to the back of the bus, and it was Dre.
Dr.
Dre: I had a call and it was about my brother Tyree.
Verna Griffin: Andre was his idol, and I think he wanted to be like his big brother.
And he had started writin' little raps.
DJ Yella: Tyree was gonna come on tour.
But I don't think Dre was gonna let him come.
So it was like, "If I had let him come" (distant sirens wail) (police radio chattering) Verna Griffin: And I used to always warn them about cruisin' Crenshaw, and there was a confrontation.
And this big guy, they said he came from nowhere, out of the back seat or somethin' and grabbed Tyree and slammed him.
Well, I think it broke I think it broke his neck, and, uh and so, when, uh So, when I got back, and I see two men standing at the door with briefcases.
"Ma'am, your son was involved in an altercation, and he didn't regain conscious.
" I don't remember anything.
All I know, is that I was down at about three blocks, running and screaming.
Mm-hmm.
(police radio chattering) And I remember him leaving off the tour, to go to the funeral.
He went home.
And he missed one show.
I remember that.
Verna Griffin: I remember him coming in, and that was the first time that I had seen him cry, except for when he was a little kid.
He didn't take it very well.
MC Ren: When Dre came back, I was thinkin', like, he was gonna be, like, just down, you feel what I'm sayin'? But he held it together, man.
He was strong, like, just come back and pick it back up like nothin' ever happened.
He was back to normal.
When he came back, it was just, like, "Okay, let's do it.
Let's finish this tour.
" Dee Barnes: But I just know like, I noticed that, uh, it was a change in Dre.
Like, I think the drinking was happening.
Like, 'cause he was never really a drinker.
He just was heavy.
He went from that lighthearted Dre to heavy.
You know, here he is at the height of, you know, popularity, and he didn't seem happy.
Every time that I felt like I was at the bottom, it's always been because of death.
Man: What happens at the bottom? It's like, you know It's almost like I can identify with somebody that's on drugs, that's at the bottom.
You just you just feel fuckin' empty, like there's nothin' left here for you.
It's just like, "Why the fuck am I here?" You know what I mean? "And what the fuck am I doin'? There's nothin' that's important to me anymore.
" Man: What the longest you been in that space though? You're never out of that space, especially when it comes to death.
When it comes to death, if it's somebody that you really love like a brother or a son, you're never out of that space.
You just figure out ways to deal with it, because there are still people here that need me.
So I gotta pick my shit up and suck it up and get active, man.
And turn to music as an outlet to have a place to go, like the studio to be creative.
It absolutely, like it help get your mind out of the dark areas.
You know what I'm sayin'? And, um that's my way of copin' with it.
(chuckles softly) After we finished our tour, I had to pick myself up, and just strive, because the loss of my brother, my best friend.
I was really determined to be a success, you know? We're buildin' from ground up, and we have artists comin'.
We've got Michel'le, Above The Law.
We've got The D.
O.
C.
And me and D.
O.
C.
had already created a friendship and a bond.
D-O-motherfuckin'-C in the house.
Dr.
Dre: Almost like a big brother, little brother type thing.
And for me, it's like he came in and filled this space that was missin'.
And, um, it really motivated me to make sure that his record was the shit.
I'm gonna be a big star one day, man.
I'm gonna buy you a drink.
- (gunshot) - Yeah (D.
O.
C.
laughing) Rastafara Dr.
Dre: D.
O.
C.
was just incredible in the studio.
I mean, one of, if not the best at it.
One, and in comes the two to the three and four Then I drop the beat I have in store Lay dynamics on the top like a rug Make it sound smooth and later make a dub Dr.
Dre: His position was, "I'm not gonna cuss on my records.
" I am not illiterate, no, not even a little bit, nothing like an idiot Dr.
Dre: "I'm a real MC.
I don't want to be compared to N.
W.
A.
I don't need to do that.
" Let the rhythm take you, shake it 'cause it makes you Dr.
Dre: And he was kind of like the antidote to that.
Go in like a knot, don't be a puff And I let it play 'cause Dre say it funky enough Dr.
Dre: We were on a roll at the time, and workin' on two videos, but he was hangin' out with this young lady, havin' this wild sexcapade with Ecstasy pills.
It's getting funky, it's getting funky Dr.
Dre: And he decided he wanted to drive home (car revs) still under the influence.
And he fell asleep on the freeway.
(tires screech, metallic thud) - His car flipped.
- (glass shattering) He shot out of the back window.
(slapping) He bounced up and down on the freeway, and they found him hanging off the side of the freeway from his leather coat, and his four front teeth were in a tree.
(police radio chattering) I get a call from Mike Concepcion.
He says, "Listen, man.
Your boy got into a really bad car accident.
He's at Kaiser hospital.
You should go check him out.
" I remember walkin' in the room, in the hospital, lookin' at him in disbelief.
I couldn't even recognize him.
He went through 14 hours of plastic surgery to just rebuild his face.
Everything was put back into place.
Yeah! (laughing) He looked the same.
Everything was the same, except for his voice.
His voice was gone.
D.
O.
C.
(on recording): Drop the lyrics? A'ight.
One, and in comes the two to the three and four Then I drop the beat I have in store Lay dynamics on the top like a rug Make it sound smooth and later make a dub Enunciate well, so that you can tell I am not illiterate, no, not even a little bit Nothing like an idiot Get it? You want the record? Cool, I'm with it Let the rhythm take you, shake it 'cause it makes you As I turn the knob to the door you escape through Go in like a knot, don't be a puff And I let it play 'cause Dre say it funky enough (clicks) (sighs) (raspy) What's weird is Hmm.
What's weird is, after that record came out and and that thing happened, it was a real problem even listenin' to that stuff, you know? 'Cause I was pretty good, you know, back in the days, man.
But my job was just to play my role to help them build their art.
And I don't think anybody was in the studio, besides Dre, more than me.
You know, because I went when he went.
When he went home, I went home.
And when the interviews came and they would sit down, I would have to stand just outside of frame, you know? And they would talk about stuff that I wrote.
"Why you gotta call us bitches.
" She call right off, she callin' herself a bitch.
D.
O.
C.
: And I think to myself, "That ain't it.
That ain't why I wrote that.
" And I gotta sit in the chair like (growls).
You know? And it was tough.
It's tough.
It was tough for a 19, 20-year-old kid to have to deal with that emotion.
But doin' my record, it was great.
You know, it was, uh I felt validated.
And when they tell you you're the greatest, then didn't take me long before I start "Hmm.
Maybe I am the greatest.
" And so maybe I started really goin' overboard then with the excesses.
I had it all.
It was right here.
It was right here.
And within moments, it was all gone.
Stevie Nicks: I really did love Jimmy, but I just couldn't be that person in his life.
Iovine: There was a lot of drugs around, you know, and I was always such a control freak that it got in the way of work and things like that.
It, um, it got nuts and Nicks: There was just a point that where it was like, "I can't do this to him anymore.
"If love is love and I love this man, "and I care about him, "I cannot morally hurt him anymore over this.
And this situation is not gonna get better for a while.
" Iovine: After Stevie and I broke up, I was really lonely, and I was freaked out.
I didn't know what the hell was goin' on.
The '80s were tough for me, because where I had been into breaking artists I had suddenly moved to Dire Straits, Stevie Nicks and Bob Seger, which were successful artists.
The A&R guys didn't want to give me the new artists.
Thought I was too expensive, thought I would, you know, take too long.
I have too much to say, or whatever the stuff is that people at the labels think.
And maybe rightfully so, they thought it about me.
So I was really down.
Janet Mormile: My mother and I, being at home in New York, and Jimmy's in California by himself, we're worried.
Is he eating? Does he have food? So every vacation we took was to California.
To support him, or to see where he was in his career.
Because his success wasn't complete unless we could enjoy it with him.
And Jimmy liked us around, because he had somebody to take care of him.
But when Vicki came into the picture, she was my mom and I together you know, self-sufficient.
She was smart.
She was gorgeous.
Iovine: She was a lawyer from Cambridge University in England and Hastings and Berkeley.
And, yeah, she was a Playboy centerfold.
But I like strong personality women.
I like women that have an idea of how they want to live and what they want to do.
And she was incredible.
Vicki Iovine: I was at a party, and there was Jimmy, and he followed me out, And he said, "If you give me your phone number, and I remember it, can I call you?" He called me about 10 times the next day, and he asks me on a date.
And when it was the appointed hour, a maroon limousine pulls up in front of my house.
I get in.
There's no Jimmy.
But there are napkins with my name printed on them, and matches with my name printed on them.
So I'm thinking, "This is so weird.
Where is this guy?" And then I realize we're on our way to his house to pick him up.
That should've been my first indication.
He doesn't want to wait for people.
(crowd cheering) Vicki (on recording): This is Vicki McCarty for the Westwood One Satellite Network.
I'm backstage with Bono Vox from U2.
- Bono: Could I just correct you there? - Vicki: Yeah, I wish you would.
Bono: My full name is Paul David Hewson.
People call me Bono.
Vicki: Should I call you Paul or Bono? - Call me Bono.
- (laughs) Oh Oh oh oh I can't believe the news today I can't close my eyes And make it go away How long How long must we sing this song? Bono: U2 was playing the US Festival.
It was David Bowie, The Clash, quarter of a million people.
And we were being interviewed by this rather attractive Irish-American journalist, Vicki McCarty.
And she was, like, pushin' this other dude.
It turns out, her boyfriend, saying, "You guys were meant for each other.
" And bodies strewn across the dead end street Iovine: So I went down there, and the guy in the front had that thing that Springsteen had.
He had that edge.
My back up against the wall Sunday, Bloody Sunday Sunday, Bloody Sunday Bono: But just based on clothes, cars, and hairdo, there was nothing I was gonna have in common with Jimmy.
Because we were comin' out of punk rock.
And punk rock was not about shiny things.
Actually, it was about defacing shiny things.
And Jimmy was a bit slick for us.
But he he happens to you.
(laughing) He's like a virus that enters the system uninvited, takes over all your main organs, gets to the brain.
It's like, he knows this is going to work out well for both of you.
I didn't.
(crowd cheering) Yeah, give it up Sunday, Bloody Sunday Sunday, Bloody Sunday (song ends) (crowd cheering) Bono: And then Jimmy just chased us around the world until we agreed to go into the studio with him.
He would not take no for an answer.
So we did Under a Blood Red Sky.
It was a live album.
And we went to New York to do the mixing.
And he showed us around New York.
And that's where we really understood the Italian aspect of him the family, the food.
You know, that's when we realized that really Irish people are Italians.
It's just we don't eat as well, we don't dress as well, we don't play soccer as well.
But we can sing.
Up, up, pull the teeth, black fur You sin like cinema Hate that girl Throw 15 stone and Why go down, you sing All your friends are movin' Can you sing Hey Sonya's coming 'round She's gonna blow your house down See, you guys are stopping, and underneath your stop, Larry is coming in on the tom-tom, on the bass drum, starts playing it again, so it never really stops.
- Yeah.
- I think that could work.
Bono: A great idea has a lot in common with a great melody, and Jimmy's gift is the clear thought.
But also outside of music, in the room, the clear thought.
When others hear harmony or counterpoint, he hears the clear melody.
So he applies that wherever he is.
Why don't you sing what you sang me when I first got here? - Um - Do you remember it? Yeah, well, that was more like - It was more like - It was a little different than that.
There was a little more to it.
It was more like a lyrical idea.
It sounded really good.
Iovine: Bono and I hit it off.
We became friends.
But that was the beginning of, um, a tough time for me.
(distant phones ringing) - (phones ringing) - (indistinct chatter) Jerry, Yella's on One.
Jerry Heller: You know, you're talkin' about the most controversial time in the history of the music business.
I'm the general manager of Ruthless Records.
I'm Eazy-E's personal manager.
And it might be oversimplifying by saying that I financialize his dreams.
- But probably that's what I do.
- Woman: And playback! (shouting) Yo, yo, yo! Yo, we in the house.
Eazy and Dr.
Dre's wild and wet pool party, and we drunk as a motherfucker.
That appetite is tremendous So I'm gonna spin this Drop up some violence because they ax me to end this Some trouble that I caught 'cause I was noisy A nigga tried to take advantage Because of the kamikaze He took de swing from my hand, thought I was faded Start runnin' for the door but the fucker never made it The sound of the nine went bang! DJ Yella: It was just the beginnin' of us makin' some real money, after years of nickels and dimes.
Now we'd be able to buy houses, cars.
Rich.
DJ Yella: That was the first time we ever had contracts.
But Cube wanted somebody to look at the paperwork.
I still got me a little Jeep.
I'm at my mother house.
Now, this is when the trouble started.
Ice Cube left in a bitter dispute.
I don't like the manager, 'cause he wasn't payin' me my money.
That's the bottom line.
Bottom line.
That's it.
No more N.
W.
A.
No more N.
W.
A.
questions, please.
You're gonna leave? Dr.
Dre: I got Cube on the phone.
He felt he was gettin' fucked, and Jerry was the reason for it, and Eazy was condonin' it.
Ice Cube: He was talkin' to me about, "Dre, you gotta take a look at your financials, dude.
" Dr.
Dre: And then Suge Knight enters the building.
D.
O.
C.
introduced me to him.
D.
O.
C.
: Suge was my guy.
Big-ass dude.
Super friendly.
And Suge says, "Let me take you to this guy.
He can help us out.
" Dr.
Dre: So Suge took my contracts to a guy named Dick Griffey.
He started tellin' me I should be getting this amount of money, and this amount of points for each record.
And you're only getting this.
So I'm, like, "Okay.
" Went back to the studio not knowin' if Eazy knows about this shit or not.
And Eazy is just goin' crazy.
"Fuck Cube this, fuck Cube that.
" Somebody start shootin'.
(imitates gunfire) Dr.
Dre: Up until then, everything that we had done was like the ultimate brotherhood, at least, from my perspective.
And all of a sudden, it just turned into business, and it turned into pressure.
MC Ren: You know, there was a lot of distractions, but to me, Dre had always seemed driven in the studio.
Had people comin' in playing bass and instruments, and so it was a lot more funk to it.
Dr.
Dre: I'm tryin' to prove myself as an engineer, as an artist, as a producer without Cube.
For me, it all became just a point to make.
D.
O.
C.
: Cube was, I'd like to say, the spirit of N.
W.
A.
His anti-establishment feel drove that early sound.
Dr.
Dre: And Cube's our lead guy.
He's gone, so I'm hearin' different shit around the streets.
"N.
W.
A.
is nothin'.
They're gone.
" That started touchin' my ego a little bit.
Ice Cube (on recording): Find out what's goin' on on my new solo project.
"AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted.
" Dr.
Dre: Ah, Cube in y'all ass, man.
What the fuck y'all gonna do? Dee Barnes: Pump It Up was a nationally syndicated music video show.
I was a fan of the music, so I wanted to present that to other fans.
Let's see if success and money has changed the meanest men in rap.
Dee Barnes: They agreed to do this interview for me, 'cause it was Dee, their home girl.
And the interview I wound up doin' with N.
W.
A.
awkward.
Excuse me.
Hi.
Is Eazy-E here, N.
W.
A.
? Hey, what's up, you guys? Come here.
- Eazy-E: What's up? - What's up? Everybody knows this is Eazy-E.
- Yo! - Dr.
Dre.
Dee Barnes: From the very moment it started, the energy was bad.
Dee Barnes: Wow, it's too quiet.
Y'all gotta wake up.
Come on, y'all.
Dee Barnes: It seemed like with every question, they found a way to get verbal jabs at Cube.
Do you guys still communicate with him or - Nah.
- Only time we communicate is when they have little run-ins, you know.
Dee Barnes: So the interview's done, and it hadn't aired yet.
Next thing I know, my producer wanted to film Ice Cube's rebuttal and put it in the show with N.
W.
A.
Personal beef.
Let's let's milk this for what it is.
This is Ice Cube on Pump It Up.
I got all suckers 100 miles and running.
(imitating D.
O.
C.
) Like to give a shout out to the D.
O.
C.
Y'all can't play me.
That was their mentality, sensationalism.
Sista Dee, always in the middle of controversy right here on Pump It Up.
I was 22 at the time.
I'm not Oprah.
I didn't know that there's still more internal struggles in the group.
Not even after Cube left.
I just figured, "Okay, ego.
" But out of four remaining, I was like, "Hmm.
Whose ego is gonna be next?" Dr.
Dre: The ego was a motherfucker.
It's almost like the little pilot light and fame is the gasoline.
And once gasoline gets poured on that ego, you never know if the pilot light is gonna go out or if it's gonna turn into a motherfuckin' bonfire or some shit that nobody could control.
MC Ren: I remember, uh, us bein' in the studio and Dre was tryin' to talk to E about the money.
And E would always be, like, "Talk to Jerry.
" And Dre don't want to talk to Jerry.
I said, "Listen man.
"Fuck all of this goin' back and forth shit, man.
Either Jerry goes or I go.
" And he looked me in my face and said, "I can't get rid of Jerry.
" That was the end of me and Eazy-E's relationship.
MC Ren: He had to really trust Jerry to get rid of Dre.
'Cause Dre was the main ingredient.
The feelin' I had at that moment was, um similar to losin' a brother.
Seriously broke my heart.
All I remember is walkin' out of the studio and everything just bein' a blur.
Like a slow motion walk to that car.
There was so many things goin' on and all the loss.
It was a terrible space for me at the time.
And I guess, you know a lot of people have their ways of dealin' with things of that nature.
I turned to alcohol.
Dee Barnes: So it was the night before the American Music Awards.
And, um, it was a Def Jam party.
I spotted Dre.
He was drunk.
And I think he looked my way, but he didn't smile.
And it looked like he wasn't gonna speak to me at all.
And the next thing I know, he snatched me up.
When I say he snatched me up, my feet were off the ground.
It was like, "Shit.
" You know, like the strength and the rage.
And, uh, you know.
Everybody knows the story from there.
In Los Angeles, Dee Barnes, host of the Fox TV rap show Pump It Up, is filing a civil suit against Dr.
Dre and claims that last January at an LA club, Dre assaulted her, grabbing her hair, slamming her face and body into a wall, and kicking her in the ribs.
Barnes' attorneys say that Dre was apparently upset that one of Barnes' producers inserted her interview with ex-N.
W.
A.
member Ice Cube into a Pump It Up show last winter featuring N.
W.
A.
N.
W.
A.
's independent publicist says, quote, "I know Dr.
Dre as a gentle soul, the loving father of a baby boy.
" Dr.
Dre: I don't think I was out of touch with reality, but I was Dr.
Dre, and this was, uh, a very low point in my life.
And, um I've done a lot of stupid shit in my life, a lot of things that I wish I could go and take back.
I've experienced abuse.
I've, um, watched my mother get abused, you know? So, it's like, there's absolutely no excuse for it.
No woman should ever be treated that way.
Any man that puts his hands on a female is a fuckin' idiot.
He's out of his fuckin' mind, and I was out of my fuckin' mind at the time.
I fucked up.
I paid for it.
I'm sorry for it.
And I apologized for it.
I have this dark cloud that follows me, and it's gonna be attached to me forever.
It's a major blemish on who I am as a man.
And every time it comes up, it just makes me feel fucked up.
So it's just like, what do I do? What do I do to get rid of this dark cloud? I don't know what else to do.
I'm learnin'.
I'm tryin' to become a better person, become a better man.
From from a personal standpoint, I feel like I've handled it well.
I had to stand up just because I would probably never forgive myself if I didn't.
Newswoman: Dee Barnes' civil suit charges him with assault and battery, inflicting emotional distress, and defamation.
Barnes seeks damages over $10 million.
I called the police on Mr.
Fuck Tha Police.
But little by little, the work started dryin' up.
It was as if I had ruined his career by being that disturbing footnote in his legacy.
But, um, I went through the the anger and the, uh, the dismay, and you know, I worked I worked those things out, um, to where to where I got to a place of peace.
Forgiveness is about It's not really about the other person.
Forgiveness is about for you.
You do it for yourself, because what are you gonna do with all that anger? Hmm.
Dr.
Dre: In the end, I've hurt people that I care about, and for that, I'm really sorry.
Iovine: In 1984, I went with my father to his father's funeral.
And the next morning, I went back to LA and I get a phone call from my sister that my dad had a heart attack.
So I rushed back to New York, and about six weeks later, his mother died.
And then two days after that, or somethin' like that, he died.
And at one moment, he, his mother and his father all died within six weeks.
And it was easily the worst day of my life.
It is still the worst day of my life.
We were very, very close.
I had no idea he was gonna die.
He was my best friend in the whole world.
I think he still is my best friend in the whole world.
Janet Mormile: We were very, very much in mourning, all of us.
This man of 63 years old, this firecracker, you know, was just erased, you know.
So, um, Jimmy and Vicki decided just to get married.
My father died in January, and Vicki said, "Well, with your father gone, "it will never be a good time to get married.
Let's just do it.
" And she was incredible.
I mean, if if he didn't have her there, you know, with him when my father died, I don't know what would have happened.
Because it was so devastating to him.
I was sittin' on the floor of my sister's house.
And I said, "I don't know how I'm gonna get through this.
I just don't know.
" So I thought, I know.
My dad loved that I was in music, you know? And he loved Christmas.
I said, I'm gonna make a Christmas album and dedicate it to him and give all the money to charity.
Get money out of the equation.
Let's use all of our friends.
Let's do something really powerful.
And it sold so many copies that over the years, we gave Special Olympics $100 million.
And to do that for my dad was just everything to me, and it really helped me move on.
Petty: Though he continued to produce records, he was getting more and more involved in business.
And I felt like that was overtaking the artistic side of him.
Like, he did Graham Parker, and the guys in his band would tell me, "Look, when we went to the studio, he never did anything but talk on the phone.
" And I'm not surprised by that, because more than one time I took the scissors, and just cut his line.
You know, I just pffffff, cut it.
Music, you know, we're doing music.
(man clears throat) Man: Jimmy, you got water over there? Yeah, I'm cool.
Nicks: And see, that was very hard for any of us to understand.
How could you possibly be such a great music producer and actually want to be in a in an office with a desk and a phone? (humming) Iovine (on recording): I don't know.
I don't I don't look at producing as like this big thing.
You know, I really consider it a job.
I don't consider it any kind of great achievement.
I really don't.
I never did.
I'm there to help a guy make a record.
And anybody wants to work with me, I think it's a gas.
You know, sometimes I can't believe they want to work with me, you know? But I just think it's really cool.
But, I don't know.
Anybody that tells you that, you know, "I I I I I did this, and I did that," they they're full of shit, because it doesn't exist.
99 percent of what's goin' on is the artist in the studio.
Iovine: I gotta tell you somethin'.
I wish that I was someone who said, "Wow, I'm doing this.
" You know? It would've been a lot more fun for me.
But I was focused and miserable.
I was working 24 hours a day.
I never did anything other than work.
I didn't want to do anything other than work.
I didn't feel as natural as I felt in the '70s.
When I walk into a room, I knew exactly what to do.
Now all of a sudden, I was feelin' off balance.
Bono: Well, you ran out of tape there, didn't you, Jimmy? Iovine: Yeah, we want you to have, uh, 30 seconds of that, uh, last ending.
That's why when I came out here, we started again, and - Okay.
- I think we can just fix it.
Okay.
We got one more and we call it a day on this song.
Iovine: Okay.
Bono: I think Rattle & Hum was Jimmy's last stand.
I think we broke him.
Iovine: We did two albums, and a movie.
And we went on the road and recorded 18 shows.
And those guys, they worked like Springsteen.
They just go.
Bono: There was a song on Rattle & Hum called "Hawkmoon," and we did 269 takes.
We actually wore the tape out.
That's never happened.
We wore out the tape.
And he's like (audience cheering) Bono: It's hard to be around artists.
You can only do it for a certain amount of time.
And U2 can be very, very wearing.
We we're just we just go too far.
Iovine: At that moment, I just needed to stop.
I didn't want to see a studio.
I was done.
I wanna run I want to hide I wanna tear down the walls That hold the insides I wanna reach out And touch the flame Where the streets have no name Ah ha Where the streets have no name Where the streets have no name Oh, we're beaten and blown by the wind Blown by the wind And when I go there I go there with you It's all I can do (crowd cheering) Petty: Jimmy's heart was in business.
He had a calling, just like you have a calling to be a preacher.
His calling was to be a great businessman.
And that's what happened.
Meantime, speaking of N.
W.
A.
, their new album Niggaz 4 Life recently entered the Billboard chart at number two, then went to number one, and has already gone gold in less than a month, with no radio or video support.
Dr.
Dre: Nineteen ninety-muthafuckin'-one.
N.
W.
A.
back in this motherfucker, yo Takin' out all you commercialized ass niggaz And we on this laid back track And we doin' this one kinda smooth So whatcha gonna do, Dre, kick it And so on, let the shit flow on Because I need somethin' to go off on The motherfucking D-R-E Servin' a death wish So I'm a hit you like this Early in the morning hop into the BNZ I got 44 ways of gettin' paid Sittin' in my lap as I roll off the Compton blocks To scoop up Ren, I heard shots One, two, three Newsman: This is the number one album in the United States.
And, uh, this is the filthiest album ever in the history of the Billboard charts to go to number one.
Newswoman: And they call their number one album Niggaz 4 Life.
If you consider that offensive, brace yourself.
You may be in for a shock.
Newsman: So popular, it became the best-selling album in the whole country last week, even though MTV banned it, and most radio stations have refused to play it.
NWA has one goal DJ Yella: We broke up at number one.
We was plannin' to go on a tour too, and that never even happened.
Outsiders.
MC Ren: Everybody had their own little clicks around 'em, groupies or whatever you want to call 'em, in everybody ear.
DJ Yella: Other people's tellin' people you should get this, that, that, you know, just MC Ren: Gassin' everybody up.
That was just the demise of everything.
Everything was just fallin' apart.
DJ Yella: This whole thing was never about money.
It was always fun.
Money only ruined it.
So, after I left Ruthless Records, it was like, here I go again.
I'm out on my own.
I gotta start over.
I don't know what I'm gonna do.
I don't know where I'm gonna do it, and I have nothin'.
Not too long after leavin' Eazy, I hooked up with D.
O.
C.
D.
O.
C.
: So, I say to Dre, "Suge Knight and I are tryin' to put together a record label.
"This guy's a good guy.
He can help us.
We got a chance to go do our own thing now.
" Dr.
Dre: I remember them takin' me on a tour of the Solar Records building.
On one floor, there was these lawyers offices.
And in the third floor, there was this big rehearsal hall that was all decked out.
And then down the hall, I found the first love of my life.
The SSL Board.
The mixin' board that I had always dreamed of workin' on.
That's how they got me.
Wake up, jumped out my bed I'm in a two-man cell With my homie Lil' 1/2 Dead Murder was the case that they gave me Dear God, I wonder, can you save me? I'm only 18, so I'm a young buck It's a ride, if I don't scrap, I'm getting stuck But that's the life of a G, I guess Ese's way deep, shanked two in they chest Best run 'cause brothers is dropping quicker Uh, too late, damn, down goes another nigga Bouncing off the walls, throwing them dogs Getting a rep as a young hog It ain't nothin' like the street life You better be strapped with your shank 'Cause ain't no fistfight So I guess I gots to handle mine Since I did the crime, I gots to do my time Them say me grow up to be nothing, look at me now And tell me what you see I am what I am It's only me Little ghetto boy Playing in the ghetto streets Whatcha gonna do when you grow up And have to face Responsibility? Now I'm holding a dub Sittin' on swoll 27 years old Up for parole Stroll I'm back up on my feet with my mind on the money That I'll be making soon as I touch the streets Things done changed on this side Remember they used to thump but now they blast, right But it ain't no thang to me 'Cause now I'm what they call a loced-assed OG The little homies from the hood with grip Are the ones I get with 'cause I'm down to set trip Nigga, I'm bigger than you, so what'cha wanna do? Didn't know he had a .
22 Straight sitting behind his back I grabbed his pockets and then I heard six caps I fell to the ground with blood on my hands I didn't understand How a nigga so young could bust a cap I used to be the same way back