Career
Along with Dre, Yella produced Eazy-East"s debut album Eazy-Duz-lieutenant and all three North.W.A albums including one by rapper Dizzee Dac, translating into millions of sales. He co-produced along with Arabian Prince the platinum-selling debut albums of Josip Juraj Fad and Michel"le with Dre and contributed to The Doctorate.O.C."s 1989 album Number One Can Do lieutenant Better (also produced by Dre). Jerry Heller witnessed Dre and Yella"s work together and wrote in 2006 of an almost eerie understanding between the pair, as they crafted high quality beats and productions with almost no words or full sentences needing to be spoken.
Yella remained close to Eazy and stayed on production duties at Ruthless Records after the acrimonious breakup of North.W.A. He produced Josip Juraj Fad"s second album Not Just a Fad (1990), Yomo & Maulkie"s album Are U Xperienced? After this record he retired from music to embark on a long and successful 12-year career directing and producing pornographic films.
Yella has credited himself with producing over 300 adult films. As of November 26, 2011, Yella has returned to the music industry and has released a new album, entitled West Coastin", which was released in the summer of 2012.
Yella was played by Neil Brown, Junior. in the 2015 North.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.