In a shockingly frank interview with Prezident Bejda of “The Murder Master Music Show,” Ruthless Records co-founder Jerry Heller recounted the Ruthless/Death Row Records feud of the early 1990s. Heller explained that as things were getting out of hand, Ruthless head Eazy E said that he was willing to kill notorious Death Row CEO Marion “Suge” Knight. Knight reportedly strong-armed Eazy into letting super producer Dr. Dre out of his Ruthless Records contract. Dre subsequently moved on to Death Row and crafted numerous hit songs and albums for the label.
“Eazy said, ‘You know this guy Suge Knight?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He says, ‘Well, I’m gonna kill him!’ ” Heller says. “He said, ‘This guy is gonna be a problem and I think I should kill him.’ I said, ‘Let me think this thing through. First of all, we’re doing $10 million a month with six employees. We don’t even have a typewriter in the office. We’re the most successful start-up record company in the history of the music business and you want to kill this guy? That just doesn’t make any sense to me.’ ”
Heller then admitted that looking back now, he actually wishes he’d given Eazy the go-ahead to commit murder.
“You know something? I should have let him kill him. You know? I would have done the world a favor,” Heller said. “He would have done it for sure by himself. He always rolled by himself and he was fearless … I think that he was going to go do it. I took him seriously.”
Dr. Dre would eventually have a similarly acrimonious split from Death Row and Knight, but Heller believes that had Eazy killed Suge, Dre would still be on his Ruthless label. He also believes former N.W.A star Ice Cube would still be on the label — despite the fact that Cube left Ruthless Records due to financial disputes with Heller and it had nothing to do with Suge Knight.
“He was right and I was wrong,” Heller reiterated, referencing Eazy’s desire to kill Suge. “I shouldn’t have talked him out of it. Ruthless would probably still be around. Dr. Dre and Ice Cube would probably still be with Ruthless. It would have been an empire.”
