Ruthless Records
Ruthless is an American record label, founded by Eric "Eazy-E" Wright and Gerald "Jerry" Heller. The record label was founded in Compton, California in 1986. Ruthless Records since its inception has been a subsidiary of Inc.. All Ruthless Records trademarks are owned by Comptown Records Inc; the label's acts over the years have earned RIAA certifications of Platinum or higher on 15 of its released albums, including releases by N. W. A, Eazy-E, MC Ren, The D. O. C. Michel'le, J. J. Fad, Bone-Thugs-n-Harmony. Ruthless was formed as a vehicle for releases by N. W. A, as well as member and cofounder Eric "Eazy-E" Wright. W. A's "Dopeman", "8-Ball" and "Panic Zone", introductory to the group's N. W. A. and the Posse, a compilation album released under the group's name, albeit not on Ruthless. It put out singles by underground California acts such as Frost and J. J. Fad, but the label's 1st full-length release was N. W. A's Straight Outta Compton, certified Triple Platinum by the RIAA. Following this was the release of Eazy's solo debut, Eazy-Duz-It.
As the six members went on tour in support of their project, some began to voice their displeasure with the financial situation at Ruthless. According to group member MC Ren, it was a common opinion that N. W. A manager and Ruthless co-founder Jerry Heller was the one receiving their due: We felt he didn’t deserve what he was getting. We deserved that shit. We were the ones traveling in vans and driving all around the place. You do all those fucking shows trying to get known, you come home to a fucking apartment. You go to his house, this motherfucker lives in a mansion. There's gold leaf trimmings all in all kinds of other shit. You’re thinking, “Man, fuck that.” Jerry Heller, in his 2006 memoir Ruthless, disputes any allegations of financial misconduct. The label experienced outside pressure due to the group; the success of their song "Fuck tha Police" led to a threatening F. B. I. letter to distributor Priority Records. After coming off tour, group member Ice Cube voiced his opinions on the group's finances.
Though Heller continually claims that everything was in order, has offered them to open the account books to prove his innocence, the ensuing confrontation ended in Ice Cube leaving Ruthless without signing on as a solo artist, which the remaining members proceeded to do. 1988 saw the release of J. J. Fad's gold-certified album Supersonic, produced by founding N. W. A member Arabian Prince and in 1989, singer Michel'le's eponymous self-titled album, The D. O. C.'s critically acclaimed No One Can Do It Better, all produced by N. W. A beat-smiths Dr. Dre and DJ Yella. W. A, producing the 100 Miles and Runnin' E. P. and the group's Niggaz4Life, which reached Platinum status. Above the Law's Livin' Like Hustlers was released during this period. In 1989, Eazy signed hip-hop's first white female rapper Tairrie B to Ruthless' new Comptown label subsidiary, she released her debut album The Power of a Woman in 1990 featuring the single and video for "Murder She Wrote" which Eazy and Philadelphia rapper Schoolly D appeared in.
The album featured guest vocals by Dr. Dre, D. O. C. and future House of Pain frontman Everlast, production by QDIII. Though N. W. A was successful, Dr. Dre was advised by The D. O. C. and the rapper's friend, Suge Knight, that he should leave the label to avoid any possible financial meddling by Heller, offering to extricate Dr. Dre from his Ruthless contract.. Suge succeeded in procuring Dre, D. O. C. and Michel'le's contracts—through illicit means—and proceeded to set up Death Row with Dr. Dre. Now short of Dr. Dre, Eazy-E signed various other acts that would assist him in a subsequent rivalry with Death Row. Gangsta Dresta and B. G. Knocc Out were among the most vocal of these rappers, with DJ Yella,187um and new producer Rhythum D producing. While MC Ren and DJ Yella stayed neutral, they remained with Ruthless. Eazy-E released several high-profile LPs dissing Dr. Dre, including most famously It's On 187um Killa. Producer Big Hutch/Cold 187 um alleges that during this time period, with Ruthless switching distributors from Priority to Relativity and Epic Wright began to feel as though Heller wasn't being honest with the label's finances: When the money started rolling and a lot of cats couldn’t come to the table and renegotiate….
Ya know, it was fucked up! That's. Like Eazy came to me one night and he said “Man, shit is fucked up, man.” Because he was at a point where he was getting played by Jerry Heller. However he added, "... I can't knock Jerry Heller.... He took us to the people to get massive exposure. We couldn’t have walked through the doors as brothers like that. We needed a guy like Jerry Heller to do that. You need that face, you need. Without him there wouldn’t have been none of that..."Eazy-E fired Jerry Heller, shortly before his death. On March 1, 1995, Eazy-E was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, he had just signed the Cleveland, Ohio-based group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, whose 1994 extended play Creepin on ah Come Up was well received by critics and fans. Eazy-E executive produced Bone Thugs' first full-length album, E 1999 Eternal, released shortly after his death on March 26, 1995 of HIV/AIDS in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, their smash 1996 single "Tha Crossroads" was dedicated to Eazy-
Anaheim, California
Anaheim is a city in Orange County, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a population of 336,265, making it the most populous city in Orange County and the 10th-most populous city in California. Anaheim is the second-largest city in Orange County in terms of land area, is known for being the home of the Disneyland Resort, the Anaheim Convention Center, two major sports teams: the Anaheim Ducks ice hockey club and the Los Angeles Angels baseball team. Anaheim was founded by fifty German families in 1857 and incorporated as the second city in Los Angeles County on March 18, 1876. Anaheim remained an agricultural community until Disneyland opened in 1955; this led to the construction of several hotels and motels around the area, residential districts in Anaheim soon followed. The city developed into an industrial center, producing electronics, aircraft parts and canned fruit. Anaheim is a charter city. Anaheim's city limits extend from Cypress in the west to the Riverside County line in the east and encompass a diverse collection of neighborhoods and communities.
Anaheim Hills is a master-planned community located in the city's eastern stretches, home to many of the city's affluent. Downtown Anaheim has three mixed-use historic districts, the largest of, the Anaheim Colony; the Anaheim Resort, a commercial district, includes the Disneyland Resort, with its two theme parks, multiple hotels, retail district, numerous hotels and retail complexes. The Platinum Triangle, a neo-urban redevelopment district surrounding Angel Stadium, is planned to be populated with mixed-use streets and high-rises. Anaheim Canyon is an industrial district north of California State Route 91 and east of California State Route 57. Anaheim's name is a blend of Ana, after the nearby Santa Ana River, German -heim meaning "home", a common Germanic place name compound; the city of Anaheim was founded in 1857 by 50 German-Americans who were residents of San Francisco and whose families had originated in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Franconia in Bavaria. After traveling through the state looking for a suitable area to grow grapes, the group decided to purchase a 1,165 acres parcel from Juan Pacifico Ontiveros' large Rancho San Juan Cajon de Santa Ana in present-day Orange County for $2 per acre.
For $750 a share, the group formed the Anaheim Vineyard Company. Their new community was named meaning "home by the Santa Anna River" in German; the name was altered to Anaheim. To the Spanish-speaking neighbors, the settlement was known as Campo Alemán. Although grape and wine-making was their primary objective, the majority of the 50 settlers were mechanics and craftsmen with no experience in wine-making; the community set aside 40 acres for a town center and a school was the first building erected there. The first home was built in 1857, the Anaheim Gazette newspaper was established in 1870 and a hotel in 1871; the census of 1870 reported a population of 565 for the Anaheim district. For 25 years, the area was the largest wine producer in California. However, in 1884, a disease infected the grape vines and by the following year the entire industry was destroyed. Other crops – walnuts and oranges – soon filled the void. Fruits and vegetables had become viable cash crops when the Los Angeles – Orange County region was connected to the continental railroad network in 1887.
Polish actress Helena Modjeska settled in Anaheim with her husband and various friends, among them Henryk Sienkiewicz, Julian Sypniewski and Łucjan Paprocki. While living in Anaheim, Helena Modjeska became good friends with Clementine Langenberger, the second wife of August Langenberger. Helena Street and Clementine Street are named after these two ladies, the streets are located adjacent to each other as a symbol of the strong friendship which Helena Modjeska and Clementine Lagenberger shared. Modjeska Park in West Anaheim, is named after Helena Modjeska. During the first half of the 20th century, before Disneyland opened its doors to the public, Anaheim was a massive rural community dominated by orange groves and the landowners who farmed them. One of the landowners was Bennett Payne Baxter, who owned much land in northeast Anaheim that today is the location of Angel Stadium, he came up with many new ideas for irrigating orange groves and shared his ideas with other landowners. He was not only successful, he helped other landowners and businesspeople succeed as well.
Ben Baxter and other landowners helped to make Anaheim a thriving rural community before Disneyland changed the city forever. Today, a street runs along Edison Park, named Baxter Street. During this time, Rudolph Boysen served as Anaheim's first Park Superintendent from 1921 to 1950. Boysen created a hybrid berry which Walter Knott named the boysenberry, after Rudy Boysen. Boysen Park in East Anaheim was named after him. In 1924, Ku Klux Klan members were elected to the Anaheim City Council on a platform of political reform. Up until that point, the city had been controlled by a long-standing business and civic elite, German American. Given their tradition of moderate social drinking, the German Americans did not support prohibition laws of the day; the mayor himself was a former saloon keeper. Led by the minister of the First Christian Church, the Klan represented a rising group of politically oriented non-ethnic Germans who denounced the elite as corrupt and self-serving; the Klansmen aimed to create what they saw as a model, orderly community, one in which prohibition against alcohol
Eazy-E
Eric Lynn Wright, known professionally as Eazy-E, was an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur. Dubbed the "Godfather of Gangsta Rap", he gained prominence for his work with N. W. A, where he has been credited for pushing the boundaries of lyrical and visual content in mainstream popular music. Born and raised in Compton, Eazy-E faced several legal troubles before founding the Ruthless Records record label in 1986. After beginning a short solo career, where he worked with Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, the trio came together to form the group N. W. A that year; as a member of the group, he released the controversial album, Straight Outta Compton, which tackled many socio-political issues. The album has been regarded as one of the greatest albums of all-time, one of the most influential in the genre; the group released their final studio album three years and disbanded shortly after, due to long-standing financial disputes. Eazy-E resumed his solo career, where he released two EPs, which drew inspiration from funk music, contemporary hip-hop, comedians.
He engaged in a high-profile feud with Dr. Dre, before being hospitalized with AIDS in 1995, he died a month after his hospitalization. Eric Wright was born to Richard and Kathie Wright on September 7, 1964, in Compton, California, a Los Angeles suburb notorious for gang activity and crime, his father was a postal worker and his mother was a grade school administrator. Wright dropped out of high school in the tenth grade, but received a high-school general equivalency diploma. Wright supported himself by selling drugs, introduced to the occupation by his cousin. Wright's friend Jerry Heller admits that he witnessed Wright selling marijuana, but says that he never saw him sell cocaine; as Heller noted in his book Ruthless: A Memoir, Wright's "dope dealer" label was part of his "self-forged armor". Wright was labeled as a "thug". Heller explains: "The hood was a dangerous place, he was a small guy.'Thug' was a role, understood on the street. Likewise,'dope dealer' was a role that accorded you certain privileges and respect."In 1986, at the age of 22, Wright had earned as much as US$250,000 from dealing drugs.
However, after his cousin was shot and killed, he decided that he could make a better living in the Los Angeles hip hop scene, growing in popularity. He started recording songs during the mid-1980s in his parents' garage; the original idea for Ruthless Records came. Wright suggested a half-ownership company, but it was decided that Wright would get eighty percent of the company's income and Heller would only get twenty percent. According to Heller, he told Wright, "Every dollar comes into Ruthless, I take twenty cents. That's industry standard for a manager of my caliber. I take twenty, you take eighty percent. I am responsible for my expenses and you're responsible for yours. You own the company. I work for you." Along with Heller, Wright invested much of his money into Ruthless Records. Heller claims that he invested the first $250,000 and would put up to $1,000,000 into the company. N. W. A's original lineup consisted of Arabian Prince, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube. DJ Yella and MC Ren joined later; the compilation album N.
W. A. and the Posse was released on November 6, 1987, would go on to be certified Gold in the United States. The album featured material released as singles on the Macola Records label, responsible for distributing the releases by N. W. A and other artists like the Fila Fresh Crew, a West Coast rap group based in Dallas, Texas. Eazy-E's debut album, Eazy-Duz-It, was released on September 16, 1988, featured twelve tracks, it was labeled as West Coast hip hop, gangsta rap and as golden age hip hop. It has sold over 2.5 million copies in the United States and reached number forty-one on the Billboard 200. The album was produced by Dr. Dre and DJ Yella and written by MC Ren, Ice Cube and The D. O. C.. Both Glen Boyd from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and MTV's Jon Wiederhorn claimed that Eazy-Duz-It "paved the way" for N. W. A's Straight Outta Compton. Wright's only solo in the album was a remix of the song "8 Ball", which appeared on N. W. A. and the Posse. The album featured Wright's performing. After the release of Straight Outta Compton, Ice Cube left because of internal disputes and the group continued as a four-piece ensemble.
N. W. A released 100 Miles and Runnin' and Niggaz4Life in 1991. A diss war started between N. W. A and Ice Cube when "Runnin"' and "Real Niggaz" were released. Ice Cube responded with "No Vaseline" on Death Certificate. Wright performed on seven of the eighteen songs on Niggaz4Life. In March 1991 Wright accepted an invitation to a lunch benefiting the Republican Senatorial Inner Circle, hosted by then-U. S. President George H. W. Bush. A spokesman for the rapper said that Eazy-E supported Bush because of his performance in the Persian Gulf War. N. W. A began to split up. Dr. Dre recalls: "The split came, he conquer game. Instead of taking care of everybody, he picked one nigga to take care of and, Eazy, and Eazy was like,'I'm taken care of, so fuck it'." Dre sent Suge Knight to look into Eazy's financial situation because he was beginning to grow suspicious of Eazy and Heller. Dre asked Eazy to release him from the Ruthless Records contract; the impasse led to what repor
United States
The United States of America known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U. S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D. C. and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico; the State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean; the U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The diverse geography and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century; the United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies following the French and Indian War led to the American Revolution, which began in 1775, the subsequent Declaration of Independence in 1776; the war ended in 1783 with the United States becoming the first country to gain independence from a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, with the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, being ratified in 1791 to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties; the United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century, acquiring new territories, displacing Native American tribes, admitting new states until it spanned the continent by 1848. During the second half of the 19th century, the Civil War led to the abolition of slavery.
By the end of the century, the United States had extended into the Pacific Ocean, its economy, driven in large part by the Industrial Revolution, began to soar. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a global military power; the United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country to develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use them in warfare, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Sweeping civil rights legislation, notably the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, outlawed discrimination based on race or color. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in the Space Race, culminating with the 1969 U. S. Moon landing; the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the world's sole superpower. The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation, it is a representative democracy.
The United States is a founding member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States, other international organizations. The United States is a developed country, with the world's largest economy by nominal GDP and second-largest economy by PPP, accounting for a quarter of global GDP; the U. S. economy is post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge-based activities, although the manufacturing sector remains the second-largest in the world. The United States is the world's largest importer and the second largest exporter of goods, by value. Although its population is only 4.3% of the world total, the U. S. holds 31% of the total wealth in the world, the largest share of global wealth concentrated in a single country. Despite wide income and wealth disparities, the United States continues to rank high in measures of socioeconomic performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP, worker productivity.
The United States is the foremost military power in the world, making up a third of global military spending, is a leading political and scientific force internationally. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America in honor of the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci; the first documentary evidence of the phrase "United States of America" is from a letter dated January 2, 1776, written by Stephen Moylan, Esq. to George Washington's aide-de-camp and Muster-Master General of the Continental Army, Lt. Col. Joseph Reed. Moylan expressed his wish to go "with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain" to seek assistance in the revolutionary war effort; the first known publication of the phrase "United States of America" was in an anonymous essay in The Virginia Gazette newspaper in Williamsburg, Virginia, on April 6, 1776. The second draft of the Articles of Confederation, prepared by John Dickinson and completed by June 17, 1776, at the latest, declared "The name of this Confederation shall be the'United States of America'".
The final version of the Articles sent to the states for ratification in late 1777 contains the sentence "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be'The United States of America'". In June 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the phrase "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" in all capitalized letters in the headline of his "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence; this draft of the document did not surface unti
Alternative metal
Alternative metal is a rock music fusion genre that infuses heavy metal with influences from alternative rock and other genres not associated with metal. Alternative metal bands are characterized by downtuned, mid-paced guitar riffs, a mixture of accessible melodic vocals and harsh vocals and sometimes unconventional sounds within other heavy metal styles; the term has been in use since the 1980s. Other genres considered part of the alternative metal movement included rap metal and funk metal, both of which influenced another prominent subgenre, nu metal. Nu metal expands the alternative metal sound, combining its vocal stylings and downtuned riffs with elements of other genres, such as hip hop, thrash metal, hardcore punk and industrial metal; the genre is considered a fusion between alternative rock and heavy metal, although Allmusic states "alt-metal is a far-reaching term, used to describe everyone from Hammerlock to Neurosis to Ministry to Limp Bizkit". They remarked that alternative metal was "a style united by its nonconformist sensibility rather than any classifiable sound."One of the main characteristics of alternative metal and its subgenres are downtuned, mid-paced "chug"-like guitar riffs.
However, funk metal bands use a more conventional riffing style influenced by 1980s thrash metal. Alternative metal features clean and melodic vocals, influenced by those of alternative rock, in contrast to other heavy metal subgenres. Bands incorporated vocal styles that alternated between clean singing and screaming. Examples include alternative metal bands associated with the nu metal movement, such as Korn and Deftones, who have been described as having "bipolar vocals". Jonathan Gold of the Los Angeles Times wrote in 1990 "Just as rock has an alternative, wing-bands like the Replacements and Dinosaur Jr.-so does metal. Alternative metal is alternative music that rocks, and alternative metal these days can reach 10 times the audience of other alternative rock. Jane's Addiction plays an intense brand of'70s-influenced arty metal. In fact, the arty meanderings of Sab and the Zep themselves would be considered alternative metal." Houston Press has described the genre as being a "compromise for people for whom Nirvana was not heavy enough but Metallica was too heavy."The first wave of alternative metal bands emerged from many backgrounds, including hardcore punk, noise rock, Seattle's grunge scene, stoner rock, sludge metal, gothic metal and industrial.
These bands never formed a distinct scene. Jane's Addiction borrowed from art rock and progressive rock, Quicksand blended post-hardcore and Living Colour injected funk into their sound, for example, while Primus were influenced by progressive rock, thrash metal and funk and Faith No More mixed progressive rock, R&B, funk and hip hop. Fudge Tunnel's style of alternative metal included influences from both sludge noise rock; the origins of the genre can be traced back to funk rock music of the early to mid-1980s, when alternative bands like Fishbone, Faith No More and the Red Hot Chili Peppers started mixing heavy metal with funk, creating the alternative metal subgenre funk metal. Other early bands in the genre came from hardcore punk backgrounds. Bands such as Faith No More, Jane's Addiction and Soundgarden are recognized as some of the earliest alternative metal acts, with all three of these bands emerging around the same time, setting the template for the genre by mixing heavy metal music with a variety of different genres in the mid to late 1980s.
During the 1980s, alternative metal appealed to alternative rock fans, since all 1980s alt-metal bands had their roots in the American independent rock scene. The emergence of grunge as a popular style of rock music in the early 1990s helped make alternative metal more acceptable to a mainstream audience, with alternative metal soon becoming the most popular metal style of the 1990s. Several bands associated with the genre denied their status as metal bands. Helmet drummer John Stanier said "We fell into the whole metal thing by accident, we always hated it when people mentioned metal in conjunction with us." Saby Reyes-Kulkarni of Pitchfork Media stated "bands like Faith No More, Primus, the Rollins Band, dozens more were marketed as quasi-metal acts. This was only possible in a climate where record labels and college radio DJs understood that the metal audience could embrace new, albeit arty variations on the form." The alternative music festival Lollapalooza conceived by Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell, helped bands associated with the movement such as Tool, Rage Against the Machine, Nine Inch Nails and Alice in Chains gain exposure.
The progressive rock-influenced band Tool became a leading band in the alternative metal genre with the release of their 1993 debut album Undertow. Spin stated in August 1998 that "It was Helmet that spawned the idea of alternative metal with the punk crutch of 1992's Meantime bands such as Rage Against the Machine took the concept a crucial step further, integrating hip hop to connect with skate
Power of a Woman (Tairrie B album)
Power of a Woman is the debut studio album by the rapper Tairrie B, released on January 1, 1990 for Ruthless Records and distributed through MCA Records. It was produced by Tairrie B, with guest stars such as Schoolly D, Bilal Bashir & Greg Kuehn lending their talents to more than a few tracks. Despite gaining rather favorable reviews, it did not manage to chart on Billboard. "Swingin' Wit' T" 4:30 "Anything You Want" feat. Eazy-E 3:57 "Vinnie Tha' Moocha" feat. Everlast 4:01 "Step 2 This" 6:06 "Murder She Wrote" 3:15 "Packin' A Punch" 5:25 "Let The Beat Rock" 3:33 "Player" feat. Eazy-E, Dr. Dre & The D. O. C. 5:35 "School's In" 4:49 "Ruthless Bitch" 8:01
