Jerry Heller, Ex-Manager of Dre. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren, Eazy-E’s N.W.A., Dies at 75

Jerry Heller, who was best known for managing Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren and Eazy-E's west coast rap group N.W.A., died on Friday at the age of 75. His attorney, Mickey Shapiro, attributed the music mogul's death to his portrayal in the biographical film Straight Outta Compton.

According to TMZ, Heller was rushed to a hospital in California after getting involved in a vehicular accident. His family noted that he suffered a heart attack right before his car crashed.

Following his death, some of the hip-hop artists he managed took to their Twitter accounts to pay their respects to the late co-founder of Ruthless Records.

Although Heller died due to a medical emergency, Shapiro noted that his client's condition would most likely not have worsened if it weren't for the Straight Outta Compton film, where he was played by actor Paul Giammati. According to Shapiro, the film, where Heller was portrayed as a shrewd and exploitative businessman who triggered the breakup of N.W.A., caused tremendous stress on the manager. Following the film's release, Heller sued the producers of the film for defamation.

"Jerry Heller would be alive today if not for that movie," Shapiro told TMZ.

Gary Ballen, Heller's cousin, claimed that the mogul's portrayal in the film was very inaccurate. He also maintained that his cousin never took advantage of Eazy-E's finances after they established Ruthless Records.

"It made him look bad, like he stole money from [Eazy-E] or something, which never happened," Ballen told The Guardian. "They just rewrote history. And because of that, he had this lawsuit and it's been going on and on. It really stressed him out having to deal with all this stuff."

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Jerry Heller, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, N.W.A.