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About Eazy-E: Eric Lynn Wright (September 7, 1963 - March 26, 1995) aka Eazy-E was an American rapper, hip hop producer, record excutive, and a founder of gangsta rap from Compton, California who initially rose to fame as a member of the group N.W.A. Eazy-E's style is gangsta rap, marked by his relatively high-pitched voice and his lyrics focusing on guns , drugs , the police , pimps , prositutes , violent acts against those who disrespected him , and abundant sexual activity.

Music: Eazy-E was born in Compton, California to Richard Wright and Kathie Lolis. As a teen, he was bussed from South Central Los Angeles to Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California, under enrollment there prior to fellow hip hop listener and future N.W.A. crewmate O'Shea Jackson a.k.a. Ice Cube. During those years, he was a Kelly Park Compton Crip, also known as CPT K-Rhider Crips, from Southeast Compton and began selling drugs such as Cocaine, Marijuana and Crack.

Following this period, his grandmother died and he used some of his inheritance, along with the drug money, to start Ruthless Records with his business partner and manager Jerry Heller. He recruited Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, MC Ren, DJ Yella, The D.O.C. and Arabian Prince to form the group N.W.A.: the first act signed to the label.

When N.W.A. was first started, Eazy-E never planned on rapping in any songs; he was set to provide the money, not the talent. After hearing Eazy rap, however, the other N.W.A. members liked his distinct, almost child-like voice and Ice Cube gave some lyrics he had already written (for the song "Boyz-N-The-Hood") to Eazy for him to rap.

Eazy-E/Death Row Rivalry:

In August 1991, Eazy-E filed a state court complaint against Dr. Dre, Death Row Records executive Suge Knight, and The D.O.C. alleging that the defendants used "duress" and "menace" to get Eazy-E to void his exclusive contracts with Dre and The D.O.C. In October of the next year Ruthless Records sued Dr. Dre's Death Row Records and accused Dre's label of racketeering. The suit was dismissed on August 9, 1993, and is currently under appeal. During the feud, Dre and his cohort Snoop Doggy Dogg blasted Eazy-E on his famous solo debut The Chronic, most notably in the hit single "Fuck Wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin')".

In response, Eazy-E released a second solo album, It's On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa which eventually sold over 2,000,000 copies and was certified double platinum. One of Eazy-E's videos shows Dre during his days as a member of The World Class Wreckin' Cru, dressed in drag and wearing eyeshadow, lipstick and sequins. Eazy-E slammed him and Tha Dogg Pound in songs such as It's On, Real Muthafuckin G's, and Down 2 Tha Last Roach. In turn, the words "HIV pussy having Motherfucker" and "Eazy come, Eazy go" appeared on Doggystyle, an album produced by Dr. Dre that was released 16 months before Eazy revealed he had AIDS.

This rivalry with Death Row Records and Dr. Dre carried well into 1995, when on their debut album Dogg Food Tha Dogg Pound dissed Ruthless act Bone Thugs-N-Harmony with the line "Ain't got no love for no hoes in harmony," though Bone never responded and later collaborated with Kurupt and Snoop. Tha Dogg Pound also dissed B.G. Knocc Out on What Would You Do on one line saying "Oh yeah, fuck B.G. Knocckout and every nigga down with him".

In 1996, prominent Death Row artist 2Pac was featured on Bone Thugs' second album Art of War, signaling to many the end of the feud.

In 2006, Suge Knight called an AIDS blood transfusion as being an Eazy-E thing.

Death: In 1995, Eazy-E entered the hospital with what he believed to be bronchitis. Instead he was diagnosed with AIDS, and almost immediately announced his illness to the public. He died soon after, on March 26, 1995 at approximately 6:35 PM at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

This is due to his history of unprotected sex with multiple partners, exemplified by the fact that Eazy had fathered seven children with six different women. During the week of March 20, the star drafted his last message to fans. One week after making that announcement, Eazy succumbed to the disease. He was 31 years old when he died.

Some believe that before his death, Eazy had made amends with Ice Cube and Dr. Dre (although others believe that only DJ Yella saw Eazy while he was in hospital). Dre believes that their history together overshadowed the feud. Four years later, Dr. Dre publicly discussed the death of Eazy in the song "What's the Difference" from 2001 with his lyrics, "Eazy, I'm still wit' you. Fuck the beef, nigga I miss you. And, that's just bein real with you."

Legacy:

Two posthumous albums were released, Eternal E in 1995, and Str8 off tha Streetz of Muthaphukkin Compton in 1995. Both releases proved to be successful. Following Eazy's death, his record label was taken over by his wife, Tomica Wright. It is currently a division of Epic Records. Ruthless Records has also found considerable success with Above the Law, MC Ren, B.G. Knocc Out & Dresta and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, among others. The last group has dedicated a few of its songs to Eazy, mainly their 1997 Grammy Award winning single "Tha Crossroads" and also their performance at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards.

Eazy's oldest son, nicknamed "Eazy-E, Jr." or "Lil Eazy-E", released a documentary about his father entitled The Life and Times of Eric Wright. Another documentary called Impact of a Legend was produced and sold along with the CD of the same name. Lil' Eazy also plans to release his own rap album in honor of his father, working with Bone Thugs and some of Eazy-E's old N.W.A. cohorts. The album is scheduled for release in August 2006.

Today, many of Eazy-E's rare and posthumous materials have been remixed by fellow Compton rapper The Game, notably Still Cruisin' and Still Cruisin Part 2 featuring 50 Cent. The combination of Eazy's rare vocals and original material from The Game became an underground hit and helped The Game early in his career. The track "Still Cruisin'" has appeared on several mix tapes including G-Unit Radio Part 8. "How We Do (Remix)" is another rare track featuring Eazy and 50 Cent. The Game often mentions Eazy-E in his songs, most notably on his album The Documentary.

In 2001, post-grunge band Dynamite Hack released "Boyz-N-The-Hood", a cover of the 1986 original written by Ice Cube and performed by Eazy-E. Eazy is also mentioned in the songs "Pass Me By", "The Staleness", and "Terrible" by Insane Clown Posse. Rapper South Park Mexican has released a song called "Boyz On Da Cut" which is a Houston, TX version of Eazy-E's "Boyz-N-The-Hood".

Before Eazy-E died, he was scheduled to make music with artists such as Guns N' Roses, Tupac Shakur, Brownside, Scarface, Dirty Red, Brotha Lynch Hung, Kid Frost and Bizzy Bone. The character of Lance "Ryder" Wilson in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was modeled after Eazy-E.

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