N.W.A. Manager Jerry Heller Says He Should Have Let Eazy-E Kill Suge Knight

"It’s not like anyone would have investigated it," says Heller. "Who do they put him in jail with? The guy that killed Tupac?"

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Complex Original

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Jerry Heller already let everyone know how he felt about F. Gary Gray's megahit N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton (hint: he might sue), so now he's once again enlightening others regarding his side of N.W.A. history, particularly his relationship with the late legend Eazy-E. Though Heller has vaguely addressed these topics in a smattering of interviews over the past few years, his candidness in a new interview with Smashd (particularly when discussing the always controversial Suge Knight, who Heller believes "put the hit" on Tupac) provides some fascinating expansions on previously acknowledged rumors:

The truth was, I should have let Eazy kill [Suge Knight]. It’s not like anyone would have investigated it. Who do they put him in jail with? The guy that killed Tupac? Or the guy that killed Biggie? Or the guy that killed Eazy? Do they share a cell, or what? I should have let him do it. And probably, Eazy would still be around, and Ruthless would still be making great records.

As for the oft-repeated rumor that Eazy contracted AIDS due to a villainous injection, Heller doesn't entirely use his extensive interview with Adam Popescu to squash that one either:

At the end [in 1995], he did go for acupuncture. One of his assistants, she took him to a Korean acupuncturist in Burbank—I don’t know for sure, but I think so. My doctor in Beverly Hills—I had gone to him for 30 years—he examined Eazy, and Eazy was not HIV positive in July of 1994. So, that sort of makes sense to me. It doesn’t always show up when the doctor does the test. I’ve heard of that happening.

However, Heller is more hesitant to dump fuel into the rumors surrounding his business practices, particularly his financial relationship with Ice Cube and Dr. Dre. According to Heller, stealing is simply impossible in the music industry:

You can’t steal in this business. Either you have a good deal, or you don’t. If you don’t, when you have a hit, you re-negotiate.

As previously reported, Heller claims he was never consulted during the development of Gray's biopic. "I did see it on Saturday," Heller told a reporter shortly after the film's debut, "and I’m still not willing to comment right now on that movie because I think sooner or later it may be part of an ongoing litigation."

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