GET TO KNOW THE RAPPER EAZY-E
Who Was Eazy-E
Eric Lynn Wright, popularly known as Eazy-E, is an American rapper, musician, record producer, and businessman who has helped to popularize rap and gangsta rap in the West Bank. The band NWA and its record company, Ruthless Records, have released music that pushes the bounds of lyrical material. Wright, who was born and reared in Compton, California, faced a series of legal troubles before forming Ruthless in 1987. They got united after a brief solo career that included regular collaborations with Ice Cube and Dr. Dre. Later that year, NWA was founded. Straight Outta Compton, the N.W.A's debut studio album, was released in 1988. It was controversial when it was released, but it is now regarded as one of the best and most influential albums of all time. Niggaz4Life, their third and last studio album, was released in 1991, and the band split soon after. During the disbandment of NWA, which was partly due to a money disagreement, Eazy-E was in strong rivalry with Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, who both left independent careers in 1989 and 1991, respectively.
With fellow rappers Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, Eazy-E co-founded Ruthless Records and formed the group N.W.A. The controversial act, noted for its violent and sexist lyrics, released albums such as Straight Outta Compton, with Eazy going solo. On March 26, 1995, he died of AIDS-related symptoms while hosting a radio show.
Background and Early Career
Eric Wright, the rapper Eazy-E, was born on September 7, 1963, in Compton, California, a city in Los Angeles County. He quit school and briefly worked as a drug dealer, using his earnings to co-found Ruthless Records with music industry insider Jerry Heller. He formed a group with two other young people from the area, O'Shea "Ice Cube" Jackson and Andre "Dr. Dre" Young, and began writing songs for Wright's company. After another Ruthless group declined to record a Jackson and Young song, Wright collaborated with the two guys to record "Boyz-n-the-Hood" as Niggaz With Attitude, popularly known as N.W.A.
Hit With 'Straight Outta Compton'
With the addition of more rap artists like DJ Yella, MC Ren, and the D.O.C., the band released its debut album, N.W.A. the Posse, in 1987, followed by Straight Outta Compton the following year. The album, which went double platinum, also included the single "F—- tha Police," prompting the FBI to write a warning letter to the firm that housed Wright's label. The same year, Eazy-E released his solo album Eazy-Duz-It, which was a joint effort amongst several members of N.W.A, with Eazy acting as the lead performer. Following the departure of Ice Cube in 1989, N.W.A. released the EP 100 Miles and Runnin' in 1990, followed by the full-length Efil4zaggin the following year, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts.
Misogyny and Violence
The group became notorious for excessively violent and sexist lyrical material, with much of its sales generated by adolescent male suburbanites, and was seen as a key influence on the gangsta rap themes that would eventually dominate commercial hip-hop. N.W.A. disbanded in the early 1990s, with Eazy and Dr. Dre mired in legal squabbles that saw the two criticizing and lampooning one other in their individual oeuvre. Eazy, a skilled businessman who commented on how rap controversies might be exploited to boost record sales, continued to manage Ruthless Records and discovered groups such as Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. He released his first solo EP, 5150 Home 4 tha Sick, in 1992, followed by another the following year.
AIDS-Related Death
Eazy instigated a different kind of controversy by attending a 1991 Republican fundraiser featuring President George H.W. Bush (the rapper was reportedly invited after his name was reportedly drawn from a list associated with charitable donations) and after speaking out in support of one of the officers involved in the Rodney King beating. He'd also become the presenter of a Los Angeles radio music show on KKBT-FM by 1994. After Eazy was sent to the hospital for serious respiratory problems in 1995, it was discovered that the rapper had AIDS. He quickly announced his illness to the world and died on March 26, 1995, from complications connected to cancer, at the age of 31. Eazy's unfinished album was finally published in 1995, and an EP of unreleased tracks was released on the seven-year anniversary of his death. A Ruthless Scandal, a documentary about her father's dying days, was created by one of his children, singer E.B. Wright. Straight Outta Compton, F. Gary Gray's 2015 film about N.W.A, also depicts his story.
