DJ Yella

**Antoine Carraby** (born December 11, 1961), better known by his stage name **DJ Yella**, is an American DJ, rapper, record producer and film director from Los Angeles, California.

DJ Yella began his career as a member of the World Class Wreckin' Cru along with Dr. Dre. He later joined the pioneering gangsta rap group N.W.A (originally composed of Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren, Arabian Prince and Eazy-E) and became the least vocal but longest-lasting member of the group. His first and only studio album One Mo N\*\*ga ta Go was released in 1996 through Street Life Records and was dedicated to Eazy-E. After the release of the album he left the music industry to direct pornographic films until 2011, when he started working on a new album called *West Coastin*.

In 2016, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of N.W.A.

## Early life

Antoine Carraby was born in Compton, California, on December 11, 1961 and raised in Los Angeles.
He was passionate about music from a young age. He grew up listening to funk music and learned to play the drums. As a teenager, he performed at various clubs of Los Angeles by the name of Yella which was inspired by Tom Tom Club's Mr. Yellow. After watching Run-D.M.C. perform in California for the first time, he and Dre both were amazed to see them on-stage with nothing more than a DJ scratching. They attempted to make a few records themselves in the nightclub Eve After Dark, owned by Alonzo Williams.

## Career

 File:Yella - Slice (Album cover).jpg
Yella began DJ'ing as a teenager in a local club called Eve After Dark. At the club he met aspiring DJ Dr. J, later to become member Dr. Dre of N.W.A. Eve After Dark had a back room with a small four-track studio. In this studio, Yella and Dre recorded several demos. In their first recording session, they recorded a song entitled "Surgery".
Influenced by Grandmaster Flash, Yella and Dre formed the World Class Wreckin' Cru in the early '80s, which released its debut album under the Kru-Cut label in 1985. The group would become stars of the electro-hop scene that dominated early-mid 1980s West Coast hip hop. "Surgery", which was officially released after being recorded prior to the group's official formation. The record would become the group's first hit, selling 50,000 copies within the Compton area. DJ Yella and Dr. Dre also performed mixes for local radio station KDAY, boosting ratings for its afternoon rush-hour show The Traffic Jam.

Along with Dre, Yella helped produce Eazy-E's debut album *Eazy-Duz-It* and the three N.W.A albums, with the first one being a compilation album translating into millions of sales. Along with Dr. Dre and Arabian Prince, Yella co-produced J.J. Fad's gold certified debut (Super Sonic) and also Michel'le's (self-titled) album and contributed to The D.O.C.'s 1989 album *No One Can Do It Better* (also produced by Dre). Jerry Heller, in his 2006 memoir Ruthless, witnessed Dre and Yella's work together, writing that the two had an almost eerie understanding, as they crafted high quality beats and productions with almost no words or full sentences needing to be spoken.

 File:Yella-58b8c9a15f9b58af5c8cb0e5 (cropped).jpg
Yella remained close to Eazy and stayed on production duties at Ruthless Records after the acrimonious breakup of N.W.A. He produced J.J. Fad's second album *Not Just a Fad* (1990), Yomo & Maulkie's album *Are U Xperienced?* (1991), two tracks from Eazy-E's *It's On (~~Dr. Dre~~) 187um Killa* (1993), the gold-selling hit single "Foe tha Love of $" from Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's *Creepin on ah Come Up* EP, Menajahtwa's album *Cha-licious*, and tracks from H.W.A.'s *Az Much Ass Azz U Want* E.P. (all three from 1994). He also produced Eazy's final album *Str8 off tha Streetz of Muthaphukkin Compton*, released about a year after his death in 1995 because of AIDS.

Yella released his 1996 debut solo album *One Mo N\*\*ga ta Go* on Street Life Records as a tribute to Eazy-E, featuring members of the Ruthless "family tree" Kokane, B.G. Knocc Out, and Dresta, rhyming over his productions. The album peaked at number 82 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and at number 23 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart in the United States.

After this record he retired from music to embark on a 12-year career directing and producing pornographic films. Yella says he produced more than 300 adult films.

In November 2011 Yella began working on a new album, entitled *West Coastin'*, which was scheduled for release in the summer of 2012. This album remains unreleased as of 2022.

Yella was played by Neil Brown Jr. in the 2015 N.W.A. biopic, *Straight Outta Compton*. He is portrayed as very interested in sex and women, and also as less aggressive than the other members and unwilling to engage in conflict with Ice Cube.

In April 2016, Yella reunited with the former members of N.W.A at Coachella.

## Discography

### Studio albums

* Chart positions: #82 US, #23 Top R&B/Hip Hop

### Collaboration albums

**with World Class Wreckin' Cru**

* *World Class* (1985)
* *Rapped in Romance* (1986)

**with N.W.A.**

* *N.W.A. and the Posse* (1987)
* *Straight Outta Compton* (1988)
* *100 Miles and Runnin'* (1990)
* *N\*\*gaz4Life* (1991)

## Filmography

 1993
 2017

 2015

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 What Happened To DJ Yella, N.W.A. Original Member? You'll Never Believe The Career He Chose After Music (en).
2. ↑ The 50 Most Influential DJs | Music. BET.
3. ↑ DJ Yella: 'Cops Got to Be Held Accountable'. Usatoday.com.
4. ↑ Coe, Kairi. Exclusive! DJ Yella Speaks on World Class Wreckin' Cru Days w/ Dr. Dre. Vladtv.com.
5. ↑ N.W.A | Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
6. ↑ NWA inducted to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (10 April 2016).
7. ↑ Kautz, Justin. N.W.A.. *Encyclopædia Britannica*.
8. ↑ Carraby, Antoine (2021). *Straight Outta Compton: My Untold Story*. ISBN 9798506023630. https://books.google.com/books?id=04-KzgEACAAJ. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
9. ↑ Yella Biography, Songs, & Albums (en).
10. ↑ Heller, Jerry (2006). *Ruthless: A Memoir*. New York: Simon Spotlight Entertainment. pp. 106. ISBN 978-1-4169-1792-2. https://archive.org/details/ruthlessmemoir00hell/page/106.
11. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>May, Mitchell (7 Mar 1991). "Home Entertainment. Rave recordings". *Chicago Tribune*. Tempo. p. 8.
12. ↑ Str8 Off tha Streetz of Muthaph---in' Compton. *Entertainment Weekly* (2 February 1996).
13. ↑ N.W.A Legend DJ Yella Remembers Eazy-E Visiting Him — After He Died (11 August 2021).
14. ↑ DJ Yella Addresses Speculation Of Foul Play In Eazy-E’s Death: "You Never Know" (8 September 2015).
15. ↑ One Mo N\*\*ga ta Go – Yella. AllMusic. Retrieved on September 26, 2018.
16. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
17. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
18. ↑ 22 Rappers You Probably Didn't Know Have a History With Porn (en).
19. ↑ N.W.A Pioneer DJ Yella Directed Over 300 Pornographic Films - Then Found God (24 August 2021).
20. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Yamato, Jen (11 August 2015). "The N.W.A Member Turned Pornographer". *The Daily Beast*. Retrieved 2015-08-19.
21. ↑ DJ Yella of NWA is BACK ! ! ! | RuthlessFamily.com. Ruthlessfamily.wordpress.com (26 November 2011).
22. ↑ Universal's 'Straight Outta Compton' Casts its MC Ren and DJ Yella (29 July 2014).
23. ↑ DJ Yella Says Watching 'Straight Outta Compton' Was Eerie - XXL (en).
24. ↑ Straight Outta Compton's Neil Brown Jr. on Oscars Controversy (25 January 2016).
25. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
26. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
27. ↑ Watch Ice Cube reunite with N.W.A. members MC Ren and DJ Yella at Coachella (17 April 2016).

## External links

Template:Commons

* Official website
* DJ Yella at AllMusic
* DJ Yella at IMDb

Template:2016 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Template:Authority control