Name	DJ Yella
Background	non_performing_personnel
Birth name	Antoine Carraby
Alias	Yella
Born	December 11, 1967
Origin	Compton, California, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals , Music Producer , Drums
Genre	Hip hop
Occupation	DJ, producer, director
Years active	1983–present
Label	Ruthless Records
Associated acts	World Class Wreckin' CruN.W.ABone Thugs-n-Harmony
Url	DJYella.com

DJ Yella is the stage name of Antoine Carraby (born December 11, 1967), a DJ, drummer, music producer, film director and pornographer from Compton, California. He was a member of the World Class Wreckin' Cru along with Dr. Dre. He later became a founding member of the pioneering gangsta rap group N.W.A (composed of Yella, Dr. Dre, Arabian Prince, Ice Cube, MC Ren, and Eazy-E). Along with Dre, he produced Eazy-E's debut album Eazy-Duz-It and all three N.W.A albums. Yella has also credited himself with "producing over 150 adult films". [1]

Discography

External links

Official website

Yella speaks out on the rise and fall of hardcore

Davey D interviews Yella

DubCNN.com interview with Yella

Category:Hip hop DJs Category:1967 births Category:Hip hop record producers Category:American pornographers Category:African American rappers Category:Musicians from California Category:Ruthless Records artists Category:N.W.A members Category:People from Compton, California Category:Living people Category:American hip hop record producers

Name	Roger Troutman
Background	solo_singer
Born	November 29, 1951Hamilton, Ohio, U.S.
Died	April 25, 1999Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, talk box, guitar, keyboard, bass guitar, harmonica, vocoder
Genre	FunkR&B;BluesHip hopWest Coast hip hopG-funk
Occupation	Musician, songwriter, producer
Years active	1975–1999
Label	Warner Bros., Reprise, Oarfin
Associated acts	The Crusaders, Roger & the Human Body, Funkadelic, A.B. Quintanilla y los Dj Quik, Zapp, Shirley Murdock, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur, Tech N9ne, Snoop Dogg, Spice 1, Mr. Capone-e

Roger Troutman (November 29, 1951 – April 25, 1999) was the lead singer of the band Zapp who helped spearhead the Funk movement and heavily influenced West Coast hip hop due to the scene's heavy sampling of his music over the years. Troutman was well known for his use of the talkbox, a device that is connected to an instrument (frequently a keyboard) to create different vocal effects. Roger used a custom-made talkbox—the Electro Harmonix "Golden Throat," as well as a Yamaha DX100 FM synthesizer. As both lead singer of Zapp and in his subsequent solo releases, he scored a bevy of funk and R&B; hits throughout the 1980s. In his later years, he was mostly known for singing the chorus to the hip-hop classic, "California Love".

Biography

Early life and career

Born in Dayton, Ohio, Roger was the fourth of ten children. He was a late-arriving member of Parliament-Funkadelic and played on the band's final Warner Brothers' album The Electric Spanking of War Babies. Beforehand, Troutman had formed various different bands with his four brothers, including Little Roger and the Vels and Roger and the Human Body. In 1977, he and the Human Body issued their first single "Freedom". Within two years, Roger and his brothers were discovered by George Clinton, who signed the newly-christened Zapp to his Uncle Jam Records label in 1979. Zapp made their professional television debut on the first and only Funk Music Awards show. A year later, as Uncle Jam Records was forced to close, Zapp signed to Warner Bros. Records and released their self-titled debut, which yielded the Bootsy Collins produced & Troutman-composed hit, "More Bounce to the Ounce." The song peaked at number two on the Billboard Soul Singles chart in the fall of 1980. The debut album reached the top 20 of the Billboard 200 and firmly launched Zapp and Roger into the national spotlight.

Between 1980 and 1985, Zapp released gold-selling albums such as Zapp, Zapp II, Zapp III and New Zapp IV U and released top ten R&B; hit singles such as "Be Alright", "Dance Floor", "I Can Make You Dance", "Heartbreaker", "It Doesn't Really Matter" - which was a tribute to black artists of the past and present, and the Charlie Wilson and Shirley Murdock-assisted funk ballad, "Computer Love". Zapp's hit making magic faded shortly after the release of their fifth album, Vibe, in 1989. The album would become the group's final studio album though they continued to release singles into the 1990s releasing the hits "Slow & Easy" and "Mega Medley", which put together a collection of the group's hit singles in a remix. Throughout Zapp's tenure, the original five-member lineup grew to around fifteen. Troutman also made a habit of producing solo efforts for Zapp band members and associated acts. In 1993, the group scored their biggest-selling album when a compilation album, Zapp & Roger: All the Greatest Hits, was released. Featuring remixed cuts of Roger's solo singles and featuring the "Mega Medley", the album sold over two million copies giving the collective their most successful album to date.

Solo career and production work on other artists

In 1981, upon the fast-paced success of Zapp's first album, Troutman cut his first solo album, The Many Facets of Roger. Featuring his frenetic funk cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", the song exploded to number one on the R&B; singles chart helping the album sell over a million copies. The album also featured the hit, "So Ruff, So Tuff", which was similar to "More Bounce..." as were most Roger/Zapp singles during this time. In 1984, Troutman issued his second solo album, The Saga Continues, which featured the singles "Girl Cut It Out", "It's in the Mix" - which was dedicated to Soul Train and its host Don Cornelius in one verse, and a cover of Wilson Pickett's "In the Midnight Hour", which featured gospel group The Mighty Clouds of Joy. In 1987, Troutman scored his most successful solo album with Unlimited!, which featured the massive hit, "I Want to Be Your Man", which rose to number one R&B; and number three on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1988, Troutman worked with Scritti Politti providing talk box vocals on the hit "Boom There She Was". Three years later, Troutman released his final solo album with Bridging the Gap, featuring the hit "Everybody (Get Up)". Alongside his successful careers as Zapp member and solo star, Troutman also became a hands-on producer and writer for other artists including Shirley Murdock, whose 1986 platinum debut featured the Roger-produced hit, "As We Lay". He also produced for Zapp member Dale DeGroat on his solo efforts. He worked with Elvis Costello as a guest appearance on 1991's Mighty Like a Rose on the song "The Other Side of Summer".

Roger Troutman and The Human Body LP

Career re-emergence

After the release of All the Greatest Hits, Roger and Zapp were basically existing as a touring group only recording sporadically. Troutman was starting to be featured on hip-hop songs by this time agreeing to appear on rapper Snoop Dogg's 1993 debut, Doggystyle. In 1995 he was featured on Eazy-E's post-mortem album Str8 off tha Streetz of Muthaphukkin Compton on the last track Eternal E along with DJ Yella. The same year Troutman agreed to enlist vocals on 2Pac and Dr. Dre's single, "California Love". The song became Troutman's biggest-selling and most successful single to date as the song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over two million copies giving Troutman a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. This success led to Troutman being included in a top ten R&B; hit cover of The Persuaders' "Thin Line Between Love and Hate", which he produced and enlisted the talk box alongside Shirley Murdock and R&B; group H-Town. The A Thin Line Between Love and Hate movie soundtrack also included a club hit "Chocolate City". In 1998, he appeared in a remix version of Sounds of Blackness' "Hold On (A Change Is Coming)," which sampled Zapp's "Doo-Wah Ditty (Blow That Thing)". Throughout the 1990s, Roger was promoted heavily by Timothy Olague Entertainment in shows at emerging Indian Casinos in Arizona and California.

Death

On a Sunday morning, April 25, 1999, Roger Troutman was found shot and critically wounded outside his northwest Dayton recording studio around 7 a.m. According to doctors, the 47-year-old had been shot several times in the torso and was in critical condition; he died during surgery at the local hospital, Good Samaritan Hospital and Health Center. Roger's brother Larry was discovered dead in a car a few blocks away with a single gunshot wound to the head. A pistol was found inside the vehicle, which matched the description of a car leaving the scene of Roger Troutman's shooting according to witnesses. The gun found with Larry Troutman also matched the one which fired the fatal shots into Roger, indicating that Larry had shot Roger and then taken his own life. With both men dead, and with no witnesses to whatever confrontation preceded the shooting, the specific motive for the attack remains unknown. Friends and family were able to offer only a general explanation that there had been rising tension between the brothers over issues such as Larry's financial troubles and Roger's desire to dissolve their business partnership. However, given that the two had always been especially close to one another, and with neither man having a history of violence, no one had suspected that those issues might be significant enough to portend bloodshed between them.

Roger Troutman, who lived 24 years in the Dayton area, left five sons: Roger Lynch (January 31, 1970 - January 22, 2003), Larry Gates, Lester Gates, Ryan Stevens and Taji J. Troutman; 5 daughters, Daun Shazier, Hope Shazier, Summer Gates, Mia Paris Collins, Gene Nicole Patterson; and 4 grandchildren. In remembrance, Roger's nephew Clet Troutman sang "Amazing Grace" through a talkbox at his funeral.

Legacy

Even before his death, several hip-hop and R&B; artists had sampled Troutman in one form or another since EPMD sampled "More Bounce to the Ounce" for their breakthrough 1988 hit, "You Gots to Chill". Credited with being one of the forefathers of G-funk and the West Coast hip-hop scene, his frenetic hand-clapped, bass-driven beats inspired the productions of songs released by DJ Quik, Eazy-E, Warren G, Mr.Criminal, Spice 1, Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, E-40, Ice Cube, Brotha Lynch Hung, Dam-Funk, Tech N9ne on his song twisted, Sicx, Luvraw & BTB , and even East Coast rapper The Notorious B.I.G. on his 1997 song, "Going Back to Cali". Troutman, having been influenced by Stevie Wonder, put the talk box to good use in the '80s and that sound was heard in other funk and urban productions throughout the 1980s bringing in the electro-funk. He also produced a track called twisted with Tech N9ne, the session can be found on youtube.

Rapper/Producer DJ Quik's second track on his 2005 album Trauma titled "Intro for Roger" is dedicated to Roger Troutman, who he credits teaching him the voice box as used extensively on Quik's 1995 album Safe & Sound. He also composed a dedication track on his 2000 album Balance & Options titled "Roger's Groove".

Rapper Nas, also referred to Roger and Larry Troutman's death in his 2007 song, "Blunt Ashes", off his Hip Hop Is Dead album.

New York rapper Cormega mentions Troutman in an interview saying that "So now you got respectable artists doing something that Roger Troutman made dope, but these people [people using Auto-Tune] are fuckin’ it up."

At the video shoot for said song, T-Pain said that he and Teddy Riley had put together a collaboration with unheard material from Roger Troutman.

The song and associated music video of "Sexual Eruption" by Snoop Dogg is understood to be a tribute to Troutman as well.

Kool Keith, under the alias Dr. Octagon, referenced him in "Technical Difficulties" from his 1996 breakthrough Dr. Octagonecologyst, "Like Roger my funk is more powerful than Troutman".

Buckshot & KRS-One released the song "Robot", criticizing the proliferation of Auto-Tune. One of the lines in the song is:

"The best to do it was Roger Troutman. Nah, Shorty, T-Pain didn't come out then."

T-pain referenced Roger Troutman in the song "Karaoke" saying: "Let me get a moment of silence for the late great Roger Troutman."

Solo discography

The Many Facets of Roger (1981)

The Saga Continues (1984)

Unlimited! (1987)

Bridging the Gap (1991)

References

External links

Category:1951 births Category:1999 deaths Category:1999 murders in the United States Category:American funk bass guitarists Category:American funk guitarists Category:American funk keyboardists Category:American funk singers Category:American harmonica players Category:American multi-instrumentalists Category:American record producers Category:American rhythm and blues guitarists Category:American rhythm and blues keyboardists Category:American rhythm and blues singer-songwriters Category:Zapp (band) members Category:P-Funk members Category:Murdered entertainers Category:American murder victims Category:Musicians from Ohio Category:People from Dayton, Ohio Category:People from Hamilton, Ohio Category:People murdered in Ohio Category:Deaths by firearm in Ohio Category:Murdered African-American people Category:African American singers Category:African American musicians

Name	Eazy-E
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Eric Lynn Wright
Born	September 07, 1963Compton, California, U.S.
Died	March 26, 1995Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Rapper, CEO, record producer
Genre	Gangsta rap, West Coast hip hop, gangsta funk
Years active	1985–1995
Label	Ruthless, Priority, Relativity, Epic, MCA
Associated acts	DJ Yella, N.W.A., Rhythum D, Naughty by Nature, Cold 187um, Above the Law, B.G. Knocc Out & Dresta, Kokane, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Brownside, Kid Frost, Compton's Most Wanted, Roger Troutman

Eric Lynn Wright (September 7, 1963 – March 26, 1995), better known by his stage name Eazy-E, was an American rapper who performed solo and in the hip hop group N.W.A. Wright was born to Richard and Kathie Wright in Compton, California. After dropping out of high school in the tenth grade, he supported himself primarily by selling drugs. He invested in the record company Ruthless Records, which he would co-found with Jerry Heller in 1983. When Ruthless artists Dr. Dre and Ice Cube wrote "Boyz-n-the-Hood", Dre, Cube, and Eazy formed N.W.A. After DJ Yella, MC Ren, and Arabian Prince joined the group, N.W.A released N.W.A. and the Posse. In 1988, they released their most controversial album, Straight Outta Compton. The group released two more albums, then Dr. Dre asked Eazy to release him from his contract. At first Eazy refused, but after Suge Knight threatened him, Eazy signed Dre off.

Eazy's main influences include Ice-T, Redd Foxx, King Tee, Bootsy Collins, Run-D.M.C., Richard Pryor, The Egyptian Lover, Schoolly D, Too $hort, Prince, The Sugarhill Gang, and George Clinton. When reviewing Eazy's albums, many critics noted his unique overall style, with Steve Huey of the All Music Guide summing up: "While his technical skills as a rapper were never the greatest, his distinctive delivery (invariably described as a high-pitched whine), over-the-top lyrics, and undeniable charisma made him a star." His father was a postal worker and his mother was a grade school administrator. Wright dropped out of high school in the tenth grade and supported himself by selling drugs. His profit went to invest in Ruthless Records. He was also a member of the Kelly Park Compton Crip during his teen years, and he openly associated himself with other Crips. He later received a high school equivalency diploma. In 1986, at the age of 23, Wright had allegedly earned as much as $250,000 (USD) from dealing drugs. However, he decided that he could make a better living by becoming involved with the Los Angeles hip-hop scene, which was growing rapidly in popularity. He then began recording songs during the mid-1980s in the garage of his parents' home.

Musical career

Ruthless Records, N.W.A. and Eazy-Duz-It (1987–1991)

In 1987, Eazy used the profits from his drug sales to co-found Ruthless Records with Jerry Heller. The compilation album N.W.A and the Posse was released on November 6, 1987 and would go on to be certified Gold in the United States. The album featured N.W.A collaborating with the Fila Fresh Crew, a West Coast rap group originally based in Dallas, Texas. N.W.A's debut album, Straight Outta Compton was released in 1988. Eazy-E's only solo recording was a remix of the song "8 Ball", which originally appeared on N.W.A and the Posse. The album featured Eazy-E's writing and performing, where he performed on eight of the songs, and helped write four songs. N.W.A released the EP 100 Miles and Runnin', and released Niggaz4Life in 1991. Niggaz4Life featured seven out of eighteen songs where Eazy-E performed.

Eazy-E's debut album, Eazy-Duz-It, was released on September 16, 1988, and featured twelve tracks. It featured the musical genres West Coast hip hop, Gangsta rap, and 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 largely written by Ice Cube, with contributions from MC Ren and The D.O.C.. After the release of Straight Outta Compton, Ice Cube left due to internal disputes, and the group had since continued as a four-piece. In March 1991, Eazy-E accepted an invitation to a lunch benefiting the Republican Senatorial Inner Circle, hosted by then-President George H. W. Bush. A spokesman for the rapper claimed that Eazy-E supported Bush for overseeing Operation Desert Storm.

End of N.W.A and feud with Dr. Dre (1991–1994)

N.W.A began to split up after Jerry Heller became the band's manager. Dr. Dre recalls: "The split came when Jerry Heller got involved. He played the divide and conquer game. He picked one nigga to take care of instead of taking care of everybody, and that was 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, but Eazy refused. The impasse led to what reportedly transpired between Knight and Eazy at the recording studio where Niggaz4life was recorded. After he refused to release Dre, Knight declared that Eazy had kidnapped Heller and was holding him prisoner in a van. However, the rumor did not convince Eazy to release Dre, and Knight threatened Eazy's family. Knight gave Eazy a piece of paper that read Eazy's mother's address, with Knight telling him "I know where your mama stays." Eazy finally signed Dre's release, officially ending N.W.A.

The feud with Dr. Dre continued after a track on Dre's The Chronic contained lyrics that dissed Eazy-E. Eazy responded with the EP It's On (Dr. Dre) 187^um Killa, featuring the tracks "Real Muthaphuckkin G's" and "It's On". The album, which was released on October 25, 1993, contains pictures of Dre when he was a member of the Electro-hop World Class Wreckin' Cru, where the pictures show Dre wearing "lacy outfits and makeup." Klein, former Ruthless Records director of business affairs said this provided Ruthless Records with muscle to enter into negotiations with Death Row Records over Dr. Dre's departure. While Suge Knight violently sought an outright release from Ruthless Records for Dr. Dre, the JDL and Ruthless Records management were able to sit down with Death Row and negotiate a release in which the record label would continue to receive money and publishing rights from future Dr. Dre projects. It was under these terms that Dr. Dre left Ruthless Records and formed Death Row with Suge Knight. He died due to "complications from AIDS" one month after his diagnosis, on March 26, 1995, at approximately 6:35 PM (Pacific time). He was 31 years old. During the week of March 20, having already made amends with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, Eazy-E drafted his last message to fans. One week after making that announcement, Wright succumbed to the disease. Eazy was buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California. In November 1995, shortly after Eazy-E's death, Str8 off tha Streetz of Muthaphukkin Compton was released.

Musical influences and style

Allmusic cites that Eazy-E's influences include Ice-T, Redd Foxx, King Tee, Bootsy Collins, Run-D.M.C., Richard Pryor, The Egyptian Lover, Schoolly D, Too $hort, Prince, The Sugarhill Gang, and George Clinton.

When reviewing for Str8 off tha Streetz of Muthaphukkin Compton, Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted "…Eazy-E sounds revitalized, but the music simply isn't imaginative. Instead of pushing forward and creating a distinctive style, it treads over familiar gangsta territory, complete with bottomless bass, whining synthesizers, and meaningless boasts." When reviewing Eazy-Duz-It Jason Birchmeier of Allmusic said "In terms of production, Dr. Dre and Yella meld together P-Funk, Def Jam-style hip-hop, and the leftover electro sounds of mid-'80s Los Angeles, creating a dense, funky, and thoroughly unique style of their own." Birchmeier also described Eazy's style as "dense, unique, and funky," and claimed that it sounded "absolutely revolutionary in 1988." Steve Huey of Allmusic said "while his technical skills as a rapper were never the greatest, his distinctive delivery (invariably described as a high-pitched whine), over-the-top lyrics, and undeniable charisma made him a star." In features a song written by Naughty By Nature. The track "Merry Muthaphuckkin' Xmas" features Menajahtwa, Buckwheat, and Atban Klann as guest vocalists, and "Neighborhood Sniper" features Kokane as a guest vocalist. It's On (Dr. Dre) 187^um Killa features several guest vocalists, including Gangsta Dresta, B.G. Knocc Out. Kokane, Cold 187um, Rhythum D, and Dirty Red. Str8 off tha Streetz of Muthaphukkin Compton also featured several guest vocalists, including B.G. Knocc Out, Gangsta Dresta, Sylk-E. Fyne, Dirty Red, Menajahtwa, Roger Troutman, and ex-N.W.A members MC Ren and DJ Yella.

Legacy

Eazy-E has been credited as the godfather of gangsta rap. MTV's Reid Shaheem said that Eazy was a "rap-pioneer," Since his 1995 death, many book and video biographies were produced, including 2002's The Day Eazy-E Died and Dead and Gone . Jerry Heller and Gil Reavill wrote the book Ruthless: A Memoir, which was released August 28, 2007. It included information on his death, his signing off of Dr. Dre, his debut Eazy-Duz-It, and many of Heller's experiences with Eazy. When Eazy was diagnosed with AIDS, many magazines like Jet, Vibe, Billboard, The Crisis, and Newsweek covered and released information on the topic. Although Eazy-E was never certified any awards and was never featured in a film cast, all of his studio albums and extended plays charted on the Billboard 200, and many of his singles —"Eazy-Duz-It","We Want Eazy", "Real Muthaphuckkin G's", and "Just tah Let U Know"— also charted in the US. On March 30, 1995, four days after Eazy-E's death, Tom Elerwine, a Daily Arts editor for The Michigan Daily covered Eazy's career in The Michigan Daily newspaper.

Discography

;Solo

;With N.W.A

References

External links

Eazy E At Find A Grave

Category:1963 births Category:1995 deaths Category:1990s rappers Category:African American rappers Category:AIDS-related deaths in California Category:American drug traffickers Category:American music industry executives Category:Crips Category:G-funk Category:N.W.A members Category:People from Compton, California Category:Priority Records artists Category:Rappers from Los Angeles, California Category:Ruthless Records artists