Despite the fact that the Hip Hop community lost this giant in the game over two decades ago, the legacy of Eazy-E will always be seen, heard and celebrated by the culture of Hip Hop.
Eazy-E was born Eric Lynn Wright on this date in 1964 in Compton, California. As most of his gang-infested Compton neighborhood, Eazy adopted the street life and began a career in selling drugs in the early 80s. Wright earned as much as $250K selling drugs, but quickly reinvested his street profits into the music business, thus starting Ruthless Records.
Not long after, Eazy linked up with O’Shea “Ice Cube” Jackson, Andre “Dr. Dre” Young and Lorenzo “MC Ren” Paterson and founded “the world’s most dangerous group”, N.W.A. This multi-platinum, Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame group catapulted Eazy’s status to the “godfather of gangster rap”.
Even though the world said goodbye to Eazy in 1995 after his short battle with AIDS, his musical genius continues to live on and influence future generations of Hip Hoppers.
On this day in 1995, gangster rap pioneer Eric “Eazy-E” Wright succumbed to complications of the AIDS virus less than 10 days after making it known to the public.
Many are able to embody the persona of gangsta rap. That’s thanks to the likes of Schooly D, Ice-T, and N.W.A. The difference between the two formers when compared to the latter is Eazy-E. a true entrepreneur and if it wasn’t the rap game, his money would’ve (as it has) been made regardless.
In 1986, Eazy-E went into business with Jerry Heller to create Ruthless Records. It’s often told that Wright used up to $250,000 of his own money, which he made in the streets, to fund this endeavor. Because of this, as Jerry Heller mentioned in his memoir titled, Ruthless, Eazy-E owned 80% of the rights to the company.
Yeah, I was a brother on the streets of Compton doing a lot of things most people look down on but it did pay off. Then we started rapping about real stuff that shook up the LAPD and the FBI. But we got our message across big time, and everyone in America started paying attention to the boys in the hood.
Ruthless Records would present Dr. Dre to a national audience, as well as Ice Cube. Their method; Gangsta Rap. It would be the harsh lyrics and gritty portrayal of the gang activity, crime, racial discrimination, police brutality, and day-to-day life in a predominately black area during the Reagan/Crack-era that would solidify not only the record company but the groups and acts associated as hip-hop royalty.
In nine short years after, 1995 to be exact, the world would lose Eric “Eazy-E” Wright to complications from AIDS.
During and after the emotional memorial of basketball icon Kobe Bryant, many fans and notables have spoken publicly about their memories of the NBA star, but none have a memory of the “Mamba” quite like rap ver LL Cool J.
In an exclusive interview with Entertainment Tonight, the “Mama Said Knock You Out” emcee talked about the time that Bryant played an album for him and needless to say, Mr. Smith wasn’t giving the project the nod.
Two decades ago, Kobe did drop a full-length studio album entitled K.O.B.E., which featured supermodel Tyra Banks on the title track. LL says that this wasn’t that. See the interview below.
O’Shea Jackson, better known to the world as Ice Cube, mad a lot of people mad when he was fed with the bs and released this scathing album, appropriately entitled Death Certificate 27 years ago on this date.
The album cover itself speaks volumes. A Caucasian corpse with a toe tag that reads “Uncle Sam” draped with the stars and stripes with the recently self made solo artist pledging allegiance is as anti-establishment as you can get. Not only had Ice Cube been freed from his situation with the legendary Niggaz Wit Attitudes, but he had also been released into a sea of information that would make his metamorphosis from a mere emcee and rhyme writer of a “gangsta” rap group to an unparalleled entertainer unlike anyone else. The LP’s insert is just as powerful as the cover, with Ice Cube and his Lench Mob crew doing the knowledge to the Nation Of Islam’s Final Call newspaper.
The album features melodic, yet truthful messages from the late Dr. Khalid Abdul Muhammad throughout the duration of the album. Songs like “I Wanna Kill Sam” and “Horny Little Devil” echo NOI sentiments, but that doesn’t take away from the surgical lyricism from the former NWA frontman coupled with production from Sir Jinx, the Boogiemen and Cube himself. Timeless gems like “Black Korea” and “A Bird In A Hand” tackles real life issues in the urban community and the scenarios he addressed still ail our society today, yet are significantly ignored by today’s artists.
One of the most memorable tracks from Death Certificate is of course the infamous “No Vaseline” aimed at Eazy-E ,Dr. Dre, Ren Yella, and their financial arm Jerry Heller. In the song, Cube spits darts like, “..lookin like straight bozos/ I saw it comin’ that’s why I went solo/ and kept on stompin’/ while y’all motherfuckers moved straight outta Compton..” and went straight at Heller’s neck with rhymes like, “..it’s a case of divide and conquer/ ’cause you let a Jew break up my crew/ house nigga gotta run and hide/ yellin’ Compton, but you moved to Riverside..”. N.W.A. never recovered from Cube’s blow, which made this record the ultimate diss record of all time. Ice Cube’s continued success which is still evident today, is just the icing on the cake of how he “dropped four niggas, now he’s makin’ all the dough”.
The Source sends a supreme shout out to Cube, the Lench Mob(you too Kam), Dr. Khalid(RIP) and everyone else involved with this timeless classic!
