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."

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.

About The Author

Cole Blake is currently an Editor at HotNewHipHop based out of Brooklyn, New York. He began working at the site as an intern back in 2018 while studying journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s graduated with a bachelor's degree and written extensively about a wide range of topics including pop culture, film & television, politics, video games, sports, and much more. He’s also covered music festivals such as Gov. Ball and Rolling Loud. You can find him publishing work for HNHH from Monday to Wednesday or on weekends. On the sports front, Cole’s a passionate NBA and NFL fan with his favorite teams being the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Lakers. He also roots for the Yankees whenever he finds himself at Yankee Stadium or the Red Storm when in the company of other SJU alumni. His favorite hip-hop artists are billy woods, Earl Sweatshirt, Cam’ron, MIKE, and Mach-Hommy.

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