Jerry Heller, the groundbreaking/controversial manager who brought Eazy-E and N.W.A. to fame and helped change the landscape of music is dead.

Heller was embroiled in controversy for decades, right up until his death Friday. He was accused of fleecing members of N.W.,A. Some members, including Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, accused him out outright stealing.

Heller and Eazy-E founded Ruthless Records, which churned out a number of rap stars ... until Suge Knight and Death Row Records stole the big ones.

Heller filed a defamation $110 million lawsuit against producers of "Straight Outta Compton" for the way he was portrayed. He vowed on TMZ Live to continue that fight. The case was pending at the time of his death.

Heller also worked with huge rock and soul acts in the 60s and 70s including ... Elton John, Pink Floyd, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, The Who and Ike & Tina Turner.

7:30 AM PST -- Heller died after suffering some sort of medical emergency while driving in Ventura County Friday just before noon. We're told he slammed into a mini-van and was taken to the hospital with serious injuries. It's unclear if he died from the medical emergency, the collision or both.

Jerry Heller was so distraught over the way he was portrayed in "Straight Outta Compton" it ultimately killed him ... so says Heller's attorney.

Mickey Shapiro tells TMZ ever since the movie came out painting Jerry as nothing but a crook, the former N.W.A. manager has been under a tremendous amount of stress. In fact -- Shapiro says things were so bad -- Jerry barely slept and was "heart broken" over the entire thing.

TMZ broke the story ... Heller was in a car accident Friday around noon, the initial investigation states he may have suffered a medical emergency to cause the wreck. Shaprio says Jerry's family has been told it appears he suffered a heart attack before the crash.

Mickey says he believes the heart attack was brought on by the stress from the film and tells us, "Jerry Heller would be alive today if not for that movie."