As we’ve seen over and over with groups of all musical genres, when N.W.A. was striving and broke, they were cool. But as their popularity soared and the money started flowing in, tensions began to flair. Cube was the first one to get ignited. Since Ice Cube wrote the lyrics to approximately half of both Straight Outta Compton and Eazy-E’s solo album, Eazy-Duz-It, he was advised of the amounts he was truly owed by Heller, and took legal action soon after leaving the group and the label. In response, the remaining N.W.A members attacked him on the EP 100 Miles and Runnin and on their next and final album, Efil4zaggin (“Niggaz4life” spelled backwards). Cube’s and Dre’s departure turned out to be a blessing for both. N.W.A quickly dissolved into irrelevancy, especially after its founder succumbed to AIDS. Dre signed onto the legendary and equally infamous Death Row Records and caused the industry to tilt on its axis, and Cube would find his true destiny: movies.
