Ruthless Records

Ruthless Records was an American record label founded in 1987 in Compton, California by Eric "Eazy-E" Wright and Jerry Heller. The company has been a subsidiary of parent company Comptown Records, Inc. since its inception. RIAA certified albums have been released by several label artists, including N.W.A, Eazy-E, MC Ren, Michel'le, and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.

History
Eric "Eazy-E" Wright, a member and cofounder of N.W.A days, founded the group as a vehicle for releases. The label's first successful

single was Eazy's "Boyz-n-the-Hood" and its first full-length release was Straight Outta Compton, which was certified Triple Platinum by the RIAA. Ice Cube, a member of the group, expressed his thoughts on the group's finances after returning from tour. The ensuing brawl resulted in Ice Cube leaving Ruthless without signing a contract. Tairrie B was signed to Ruthless' new Comptown label subsidiary by Eazy-E in 1989.

In 1990, she released her debut album The Power of a Woman (on MCA Records), which included the single and video for "Murder She Wrote" Dr. Dre was advised by The D.O.C. and Suge Knight to leave Ruthless in order to avoid Heller's financial meddling. Suge eventually obtained Dre, D.O.C., and Michel'le's contracts through allegedly illegal means and established Death Row with him. Jerry Heller was allegedly fired by Eazy-E shortly before he was accused of assaulting his ex-wife.

Eazy-E says he can't knock Jerry Heller because he gave him an opportunity to get massive exposure. However, he says he would not have been able to walk through the doors as a brother without him. The rapper allegedly fired Heller, shortly before his death, after he was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in. Eazy-E also said that he had no plans to sue his ex-wife or family members.

N.W.A member Dr. Dre left Ruthless in the early 1990s after being advised by Suge Knight that he should leave the label to avoid any possible financial meddling by Heller. The D.O.C.'s Michel'le's eponymous self-titled debut album was released in 1989, while J.J. Fad's gold-certified album Supersonic was produced by Dre and DJ Yella. Eazy-E then signed Tairrie B to Ruthless' new Comptown label subsidiary, which later became his own record label. In, Ruthless split into two labels: Ruthless and Death Row, with Ruthless owned by Eazy; Death Row owned by rapper Kanye West.

After Eazy-E's death
In March 1995, Eazy-E was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. At the time of his death, he had just signed with the Cleveland, Ohio-based group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and was working on his third album. E 1999 Eternal, the group's second full-length album, was released shortly after Eazy-death. e's Their hit single "Tha Crossroads" from 1996 was dedicated to him and helped propel the album to multi-platinum status.

Former Artist
The Table chart taken from Wikipedia.