RP: You don’t think he would’ve came out with the news eventually?
Yella: Nah. He didn’t even tell me.
RP: I think it’s a good thing. It’s gonna make
kids in the ‘hood at least think about AIDS.
Yella: Oh, yeah. It’s going to touch somebody.
I know this girl that knew his voice mail number. She was checking his voice
mail every day, even after he died. People were still calling his voice mail.
Just saying all kinds of stuff. Nothing bad. He was bigger than what he was. I
mean, every reporter was at the funeral.
RP: It was beautiful that all walks of the
community came out for his service, despite the image he had.
Yella: There was thousands inside, thousands
outside. People wanted to come just see the casket. When we was pulling him out
in the casket going to the hearse and stuff, people were breaking their necks
just to touch the casket. It was amazing, all these people. I seen a lot of
people crying. All the people I know to this day, the people that talked about
him, feel very bad right now. I know they do, whoever they are. They can’t say
nothing about him now.
RP: At the wake the night before, they didn’t
even let you sit and pray, they just had you in and out of there real quick.
Yella: Because there always would be some
ignorant fan that would steal his hat or something off him. That’s why they
just had people in and out. I didn’t see him. I can’t see him. I
couldn’t see him, ‘cause when I close my eyes I think of me and him joking. I
can’t think of him in no casket, ‘cause I never saw him in no casket. I
wouldn’t have been in the funeral if the casket would’ve been open. That’s one
thing I couldn’t do. I could not see him in that.
RP: Did Cube attend the funeral?
Yella: I think Cube was out of town. Dre didn’t
go. Ren didn’t go. There was a lot of people that didn’t go. Probably didn’t
want to go. I don’t go to funerals. I didn’t go to my grandmother’s funeral.
But this one I did. My family was surprised I went to the funeral. They said,
“You went in and carried the casket?” Me? And then buried him. Actually put the
dirt on him. I would’ve never thought I’d go. The coolest part was when
everybody left the cemetery. There was only like ten or 12 of us just sitting
in chairs, and I was spreading the dirt on the grave. And we was sitting there. It was like peace. All
the stress I had for the past month, nobody could really see it. Right after
the funeral, it just left. Everybody I was talking to said, “It’s like relief to get this over with.” It
took so long to bury him, almost two weeks
that’s rare. We sat out there for about an hour just talking about old times
and laughing.
RP: How do you think Eazy’s death is going to
affect Hip-Hop?
Yella: I think groupies are finna to be put out
of business. They ain’t going to be missing with the groupies no more because,
sheeesh, you never know who can catch AIDS now. I mean, that is the closest it
can get to me without getting inside of me, and that’s close enough. It’s
crazy. I was like, “Of all the people to catch it, it would be him?” I could
not believe it.
RP: What do you think is Eazy’s legacy?
Yella: I really don’t know. I damn sure don’t
have an answer. But I think that the way people talk about like Elvis, Jimi
Hendrix… His name is going to be right up in there too. There used to be a
king, now there’s a new king. They’ll be talking for years [about Eazy]. I can
still see the funeral and the casket, and I’m like, “Wait, he ain’t in there.”
This don’t seem real. I’m waiting for him to go “Surprise!” ‘cause he would do
something like that. He ignorant like that. He damn sure would do some shit
like that. Have a whole funeral and then jump out the casket, “Alright, I’m
just playing.” If he was watching that funeral, he’s probably sitting in the
backseat laughing, “Look at these fools crying.” I know he talked about me
crying. If he sat and watched me, he would’ve said, “You shouldn’t be crying.”
That’s how he was.
RP: Eazy left behind a lot of kids.
Yella: Some of them babies’ mamas gave him hell,
but he took care of his kids. Mamas driving a new car, houses, you know,
apartments. He took care of them. They wasn’t starving. [They] can’t say
nothing about that. He took care of them.
RP: Considering how much he accomplished, it’s
hard to believe he was only 30.
Yella: I must say it was 30 short years. He had
a full life. He probably did more things than people do in a whole lifetime-in
80 years or something. He did a lot. I must say that he had fun. He didn’t go
out suffering for a year, you know? Skinny. No cuts or bruises. I’m glad it
went quick. I’m mad he’s gone, but I’m glad it didn’t draw on, and I’m glad the
media didn’t try to bury him. But now they started getting into the business
part of his life, but the business had nothing to do with it.
RP: What would you like to see happen as a
result of all of this?
Yella: Well, hopefully his business will keep
going. And hopefully his album will come out, as well as the compilation. I’m
going to try my damnedest to make sure that his family and kids get the
proceeds from his royalties, ‘cause it’s going to be a damn lot of money. It’s
going to sell millions.