DJ Yella Reveals He Was Homeless For 3 Years, Despite NWA Success

DJ Yella says that he was homeless for three years, from 2010 until 2013, despite the worldwide success of NWA. Yella spoke about the dark period in his life during a new interview on the Murder Master Music Show, while promoting his upcoming memoir, Straight Outta Compton: My Untold Story.

“I call it homeless because I didn’t have my own place,” Yella explained. “I had to be on my sister’s couch or somebody’s couch. I wasn’t on the street, but I was like a breath…one breath from it.”

“When I was going through those three and a half years, I wasn’t mad at nobody, I wasn’t mad at the world, I wasn’t mad at God, I was just, ‘It is what it is,'” he added. “And I never had any thoughts of how to get out of it. I never thought about it.”

DJ Yella, NWA, Homeless
Mike Coppola / Getty Images

Yella went on to describe the period of financial turmoil as a humbling experience.

“God had to humble me — take everything away,” Yella continued. “Because it wasn’t no drugs, it wasn’t none of that. It was just…the money just ran out.”

Straight Outta Compton: My Untold Story is available for preorder now.

[Via]