[2] Several artists and groups on the label such as N.W.A, Eazy-E, MC Ren, The D.O.C., Michel'le, and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony have released RIAA certified albums.

According to group member MC Ren, it was a common opinion that N.W.A manager and Ruthless co-founder Jerry Heller was the one receiving their due: We felt he didn't deserve what he was getting.

The success of their song "Fuck tha Police" led to a threatening FBI letter to distributor Priority Records.

Though Heller continually claimed that everything was in order, and even offered them to open the account books to prove his innocence,[7] the ensuing confrontation ended in Ice Cube leaving Ruthless without signing on as a solo artist, which the remaining members proceeded to do.

In 1989, Eazy signed hip-hop's first white female rapper Tairrie B to Ruthless' new Comptown label subsidiary.

She released her debut album The Power of a Woman in 1990 (through MCA Records) featuring the single and video for "Murder She Wrote" which Eazy and Philadelphia rapper Schoolly D appeared in.

and the rapper's friend, Suge Knight, that he should leave the label to avoid any possible financial meddling by Heller,[10] offering to extricate Dre from his Ruthless contract.

Producer Big Hutch/Cold 187 um alleges that during this time period, with Ruthless switching distributors from Priority to Relativity and Epic, even Wright began to feel as though Heller wasn't being honest with the label's finances: When the money started rolling and a lot of cats couldn't come to the table and renegotiate...Ya know, it was fucked up!

He had just signed the Cleveland, Ohio-based group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, whose 1994 extended play Creepin on ah Come Up was well received by critics and fans.

Eazy-E executive produced Bone Thugs' second album, E 1999 Eternal, which was released shortly after his death on March 26, 1995, of HIV/AIDS in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

These master rights are still held by Atlantic's parent company, Warner, while Above The Law's releases were marketed through Epic and Giant.