Eazy-E's Ruthless Records Celebrates 20 Years as an Indie Pioneer
Gail Mitchell
Let's hitch a ride on the music time machine back to the year 1987. Whitney Houston, Madonna and Michael Jackson rule the No. 1 hit parade on the pop charts, along with rockers U2, Bon Jovi and Bob Seger. In control on the R&B front are Jackson again, baby sister
Janet, Luther Vandross and Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam.
Still in its formative years, rap is mostly an East Coast happening. Eight years have elapsed since the Sugarhill Gang rhymed its way to commercial success in 1979 with "Rapper's Delight." And it's three years since Afrika Bambaataa and Soul Sonic Force landed on "Planet Rock."
Now rapper LL Cool J has nabbed his first No. 1 single—"I Need You"—just a year after Run-D.M.C. stepped up its legacy with top 10 singles "My Adidas" and "Walk This Way."
It's in this climate that co-founders Eric "Eazy-E" Wright and music industry veteran Jerry Heller decide to launch rap label Ruthless Records. Little did anyone know that the upstart indie would put West Coast and gangsta rap on the map, let alone house a stable of gold- and platinum-selling acts, among them pioneering rap group N.W.A. (Niggaz With Attitude)
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Courtesy of Billboard.com
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