There are two people in this world. There is “The Man.” And then there is “The Man Behind The Man.” For every George Bush there is a Karl Rove. Michael Jackson had Quincy Jones. Richard Pryor had Paul Mooney crafting those brilliant jokes. Behind Dave Chappelle’s cult show was Neil Brennan. And for Dr. Dre there was Bruce Williams.

Spanning a time period of nearly two decades, Bruce Williams was the proverbial fly on the wall during one of the most heinous, accomplished, controversial, successful and infamous situations that one could ever be a part of. He was the man who did all the grunt work for Dr. Dre. He answered the phones, dealt with the artists and was the buffer between Dr. Dre and the world. There’s only one man who knows everything about Dr. Dre aside from Dr. Dre. And that man is Bruce Williams.

HipHopDX engaged in an extensive dialog with Bruce Williams dealing with his recently released book titled Rollin’ With Dre: The Unauthorized Account. In the book, Williams sheds light on various situations that have never been previously discussed regarding his time by Dre’s side. Whether it be the unfinished Snoop album that made it to the public, the truth about the Death Row/Bad Boy beef, Al Sharpton’s involvement with the 50 Cent/Game beef or what really happened with the Rakim situation, Williams has all the answers the doctor has yet to provide.

In part 1 of this exclusive interview, Williams talks about the his beginnings with Dre and his time at Death Row right up until the infamous 1995 Source Awards debacle that shook up the Hip Hop industry for many years to come.

HipHopDX: Give a little background on yourself for those who don’t know you.
Bruce Williams: I worked with Dre for over 16 years. I started off with the Death Row era. I came out to Cali to be an actor and I met Dre through a chick named Robin. Robin was a girl that was interior designing Dre’s house. I went with her just to kick it for a minute. Me and Dre started talking and the next thing I know he was like, “Yo, what are you fittin’ to do now?” and then just said, “Why don’t you just roll with me?” We’ve been rolling ever since then.

He wanted me to roll with him to learn the business. And since I was already going to be trying to do movies, it just worked out like that. I was his right hand man from there. There was a time where you couldn’t speak to Dre unless you spoke to me first. It was that deep. I learned the music business from working with him.

DX: So why a book at this point in your life?
BW: My inspiration behind writing this book was because I wanted to do this TV show but they decided that I should do a book first to get some interest.

DX: In the book you mention a paltry salary of $300 a week while working at Death Row. What was that all about?
BW: I didn’t get a raise until we started Aftermath. I don’t put that on Dre at all because, at the time, I didn’t really need money. Everywhere I went, everything was taken care of. I stayed in a high rise building. Dre couldn’t give me as much money as he could help me make.

As time went by, we got deeper and deeper into the music and then Dre started Aftermath as well as got a new accountant, and I remember the accountant called me in and was like, “Uhhhh… Dre wants to give you a raise," Dre was astounded and didn’t know that I was making $300 a week and never opened my mouth. But to me, at that time I didn’t have no dependents or a wife or kids so it didn’t really mean much to me because everything was taken care of. "

"Spacey as he could be in those early days, Dre made one smart business decision that would make forgivable his countless bad ones to come: One day we jumped into my man’s ride and he took me to his accountant. There we completed paperwork that made me an employee only of Andre Rommel Young. I didn’t work for the label, Death Row, or for its distribution crony, Interscope.” – pgs 19-20

DX: How did you meet Suge Knight?
BW: Me and Dre has been rolling for a month or so before I even met Suge. We was in this nightclub and all of sudden I’m standing next to Suge, and this guy walks up with a gun and pointed it at him. My instincts had me talking to the dude – trying to calm him down - and next thing I know the gun is on me. We made a couple movements and dude dropped the gun. I picked the gun up and passed it off to Sam Sneed.

DX: And that situation led to you earning Suge’s respect?
BW: That wasn’t me trying to earn his respect. That was just natural instincts from me just being in the military. Continued on page 2 »