At 20 Ice Cube turned down $75,000 because nobody would let his lawyer read the contract.
He’d been paid about $32,000 for writing much of N.W.A’s biggest music.
In the video below, Cube tells how he walked out, and how long it took to answer the friends who called him a traitor.
Cube kept asking manager Jerry Heller to send the contract to his lawyer. Heller said it was on its way.
So Cube tried a trick. “Just send it to my mama.”
Heller wouldn’t even do that.
“I can’t sign that,” Cube said. His bandmates laughed at him. Who turns down $75,000?
He walked out of the biggest group in rap.
N.W.A answered on their next record. They called him Benedict Arnold.
His label tried to calm him. He had just torn up their office with a bat. So an executive took him out on a boat and played him the diss in the middle of the water. Three more hours to the dock.
By the time he got home, it was ready to come out. “No Vaseline” took him 90 minutes.
In fairness, $75,000 was a fortune for a kid from Compton in 1989. And N.W.A’s next album went to No. 1 without him.
Years later, Cube says, he ran into Eazy E at a New York club called The Tunnel. They talked about a reunion. It was the last time he saw him alive.
In 2015, Cube produced Straight Outta Compton, the movie about the group that called him a traitor. It made about $200 million.
This time, his lawyer read every page.
Who betrayed N.W.A: the 20 year old who wouldn’t sign, or the man who wouldn’t show him the contract?
Comedy Central offered Dave Chappelle $50,000,000 to keep making Chappelle's Show. He walked out in the middle of season 3 and flew to South Africa.
In the video below, he tells David Letterman why the extra $40,000,000 was never worth it to him.
Chappelle's Show had been on for 2 seasons and was one of the biggest shows on cable. Its first season became one of the best-selling TV DVDs ever.
The new deal was huge: about $50 million for 2 more seasons. Chappelle agreed. Then the show stopped, and it never came back.
Almost 10 years later, Letterman asks if he regrets it. Chappelle says technically he never quit. He's just "7 years late for work."
Then he explains the math. He's in a nice restaurant with his wife, and he sees a guy across the room with $100 million eating the same entree. Say Chappelle has $10 million in the bank. The difference in lifestyle is tiny. The only difference between $10 million and $50 million, he says, is "an astounding $40 million."
He admits he'd like to have that money. Money is the fuel for choices. But some of the most valuable things in his life weren't bought with it.
In 2016 he came back on his own terms. Netflix reportedly paid him $60 million for 3 specials.
Would you walk away from $50,000,000 if the job was breaking you, or take the money and figure it out later?
“Me and this nigga fell asleep in his bitch bed... I heard her son come in the room with his iPad... Her son called her and told her ‘SK got a girl in ya bed’...She's like, ‘I'm on my way home’…So instead of waking this nigga up, what you think I did?...”
🚨 Disney gets busted again!
A trafficking ring was just caught with some of the suspects employed with disneyworld and universal studios.
Guess who else was connected to Disney?
Jay-Z’s “Dead or Alive” (1996), featuring Sauce Money, was an unreleased diss record aimed at Tupac during the escalating East Coast–West Coast tensions. Although the exact recording date has never been firmly established, Roc-A-Fella co-founder Kareem “Biggs” Burke revealed that the track was performed at the Apollo with The Notorious B.I.G. present. Following Pac’s death, the crew ultimately decided against releasing it out of respect for the fallen rapper. In a 2017 interview, Biggs explained that the record had circulated through mixtape channels before they decided to pull it back. An intriguing piece of mid-'90s hip-hop history, the track offers a glimpse into a battle Jay-Z and his camp were prepared to take further before choosing to let it rest.
Snoop Dogg didn't want Death Row. He wanted one album back. The price, he says: 12 years of work and $250,000. So he bought the whole label.
"Come work for us for 12 years. You get your masters back in 15." That was the offer, in Snoop's words, for the album he made at 22: Doggystyle.
For almost two years, he says, all he wanted was that one album. In 2021, Hasbro sold its eOne music division, Death Row included, to Blackstone for $385 million. In February 2022, Snoop announced he now owned the Death Row brand. Terms were not disclosed.
His answer to the people who said he still didn't own his songs: "I want all of them, not just mine."
The case for Snoop: his voice built that label, and no one should wait 15 years to own his own album.
The case for the label: it paid for the catalog, the masters were part of what it bought, and $250,000 is still an offer.
In the video below, Snoop walks through the calls that ended with him owning Death Row.
If a company paid for your work, should you still get to own it?
Dr. Umar reacts to recent domestic violence allegations Rick Ross, Charleston white saying dating a rich or famous man won't protect women from abuse, explaining that a man's money and status can make the situation much more dangerous
"The more famous, the more successful, the more status, the more popular a man becomes, the more abusive he becomes because he gets intoxicated with his power. If you getting punched in the mouth and choked out with hoodies, what good does it matter if you living in a big mansion in Miami?"
"We already know that half of all black women will be domestically abused in their life."
JOE BUDDEN RESPONDS TO FAT JOE’S SUBS ABOUT PODCASTERS BEING “SOFT” AND SCARED OF HIM 👀
“I don’t think nobody was talking about me, but I did do research just in case… I think he was talking about NORE.”
Dame Dash and Jay-Z built Roc-A-Fella Records from nothing. they were brothers. nobody wanted to sign Jay, so they created their own label and made him famous.
"Jay's my best friend. I'm not ashamed to say it."
then Dame fell in love with Aaliyah. it started as a friendship. "our intention wasn't even to be in love. it was almost an accident."
but Aaliyah was still healing. at 15, R. Kelly had secretly married her. Dame knew everything. "we talked about it up to the point where it hurt." she'd just say: "that's a bad, bad man."
Aaliyah asked Dame one thing: leave it alone. don't start anything with Kelly. let her heal. he respected her wish.
August 2001: Aaliyah flew to the Bahamas to shoot a music video. her last text to Dame: "I don't like the plane." he replied: "don't get on." she got on.
the plane crashed minutes after takeoff. Aaliyah was 22.
"if I'd have been an asshole that day and really stood behind what I believed in, she wouldn't have got on that plane."
five months later, Jay-Z released a joint album with R. Kelly. Best of Both Worlds. then a tour. t-shirts. merchandise. everything.
Dame: "you know that I got a girl that your man r**ed. I tell you. and you're gonna still work with him. what you think I felt?"
Jay's response: "I mean, I wasn't there. I had nothing to do with that."
Dame couldn't speak out – he'd promised Aaliyah he'd leave it alone. so he watched his best friend tour with the man who abused the woman he loved.
the partnership collapsed. Jay became CEO of Def Jam. the media blamed Dame. "Dame is bitter. Dame burned bridges." Jay called it "growing apart."
for 20 years, Dame held it in. then the "Surviving R. Kelly" documentary aired. dozens of women came forward. Dame broke his silence.
"if people would've protected Aaliyah, so many other girls wouldn't have got touched. she was the sacrificial lamb. she didn't deserve none of that."
R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years.
"there hasn't been one day in 20 years that I haven't heard her name, heard her record, or seen a picture of her. every single day she's present in my life."
someone asked Dame what people should remember about Aaliyah.
"she was magic. I never thought I'd see that magic again."
Dumbass Deon & Dumbass DG thought they could catch Dara slippin, gangsta Leon kills Deon and feeds DG to the Bloods
Wanting to fuck one last time is crazy after feeding a nigga to the wolves lmaooo
Dara slid for Keith, but Is Dara in violation ? #TheDropFX#SnowfallSaga