Ruthless Records

Ruthless Records
Parent company	Sony Music Entertainment
Founded	March 3, 1987
Founder	Eric Wright (Eazy-E); Jerry Heller
Distributing label	Priority Records; Relativity Records; Epic Records (U.S.)
Genre	Gangsta rap
Country of origin	USA
Location	Los Angeles, California
Official website	http://www.ruthlessrecords.com/

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This article is about the hip hop record label. For the punk rock record label, see Ruthless Records (Chicago).

Ruthless Records, pronounced roofless records, is an imprint record label formed by Gangsta rapper Eazy-E with partner Jerry Heller in Eazy-E's home town of Compton, California in 1987. The label is credited with pioneering the gangsta rap genre of West Coast hip hop, and later, G-funk. The Cleveland based group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony was given a chance by Eazy-E. They are also one of Ruthless's biggest artist they have signed and top-sellers. They even began the career of will.i.am^[1], in a group called Atban Klann.

[edit] History

[edit] Eazy-E's Foundation

With Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren, and DJ Yella, Eazy-E formed the rap group N.W.A..

Other artists on the label included Above the Law, Penthouse Players Clique, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, The D.O.C., Blood of Abraham, DJ DTM, Steffon, Young E, Kokane, Cold187um, B.G. Knocc Out, Gangsta Dresta, Brownside, Tairrie B, Frost, A.L.T., Dirty Red, Slow Pain, H.W.A., Laylaw, Mister D & Sleepy Malo, Leicy Loc, Menajahtwa, Black Eyed Peas formerly known back then as Atban Klann ("[[Grass Roots (Atban Klann album)]"] - 1992), Daddy X, DJ U-Neek, J.J. Fad and CJ Mac.

In 1995, Eazy-E was diagnosed with AIDS and died shortly thereafter. After his death, the label was taken over by his wife, Tomica Wright. Ruthless Records is now a division of Epic Records.

[edit] Following Eazy-E's Passing

The label has had several distributors simultaneously. Early Ruthless releases were distributed by Macola Records, but that deal was short lived and the rights reverted to Ruthless. All of N.W.A's releases and Eazy-E's first two solo releases on Ruthless were distributed by Priority Records, and the rights to these releases are now held by Priority's new owner, Capitol Records. Releases by The D.O.C., Michel'le, and JJ Fad were marketed through Atlantic Records or its subsidiary Atco Records. These master rights are still held by Atlantic's parent company, Warner Music Group, while Above The Law's releases were marketed through Epic Records. In the early 1990s, Ruthless found more exclusive distribution through Relativity Records, formerly a heavy metal label. Relativity was later folded into its parent company, Sony Music.