Revisiting NWA´s discography part 2; Eazy-E

[Dre-Day]

ayo Chad Vader, D~Nice or anyone else: i don't own Eazy's 5150 LP, but do the credits say anything about the writers?
did MC Ren write Neighborhood sniper?
Ren is on the song + i can picture him rapping Eazy's verses

Someone jacked mine years ago so I will have to pick it up again.

that's fucked up  
i think the original is out of print.
my question is not that important, so i don't need to buy that mediocre EP 2nd hand, but since you're a collector, the cheapest one costs 0.99 $ at amazon  
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000008FAZ/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&qid=1249156170&sr=1-11&condition=used
check the info though

priority has re-released a remastered edition of Eazy Duz It, with the 5150 EP tracks by the way.
the booklet could be different

[D-Nice]

ayo Chad Vader, D~Nice or anyone else: i don't own Eazy's 5150 LP, but do the credits say anything about the writers?
did MC Ren write Neighborhood sniper?
Ren is on the song + i can picture him rapping Eazy's verses

Someone jacked mine years ago so I will have to pick it up again.

that's fucked up  
i think the original is out of print.
my question is not that important, so i don't need to buy that mediocre EP 2nd hand, but since you're a collector, the cheapest one costs 0.99 $ at amazon  
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000008FAZ/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&qid=1249156170&sr=1-11&condition=used
check the info though

priority has re-released a remastered edition of Eazy Duz It, with the 5150 EP tracks by the way.
the booklet could be different

Thanks for the info, I am going to check it out.

[Dre-Day]

^anytime

[Chad Vader]

ayo Chad Vader, D~Nice or anyone else: i don't own Eazy's 5150 LP, but do the credits say anything about the writers?
did MC Ren write Neighborhood sniper?
Ren is on the song + I can picture him rapping Eazy's verses

Ren is on it? What did I miss?
Anyway here's the credits;


^^^ Neighborhood sniper; written by Zig Zag,M.Smooth and Cold 187um ^^^

[Dre-Day]

well i meant just featured on the song, not rappping.
doesn't MC Ren say "boo"?
besides, what about the intro?

thanks for the credits though

[Dre-Day]

well i meant just featured on the song, not rapping.
doesn't MC Ren say "boo"?
besides, what about the intro?

thanks for the credits though

What intro? To the EP or the Sniper track?
you got the track handy? if so beam it over,so I can check myself.

intro to the Sniper track.
not sure if that's MC Ren in the background though.
but i'm 95% sure it's Ren that says boo, later on

track sent.

[Chad Vader]

well i meant just featured on the song, not rapping.
doesn't MC Ren say "boo"?
besides, what about the intro?

thanks for the credits though

What intro? To the EP or the Sniper track?
you got the track handy? if so beam it over,so I can check myself.

intro to the Sniper track.
not sure if that's MC Ren in the background though.
but I'm 95% sure it's Ren that says boo, later on

track sent.

you know I can't tell if it's him that says "boo"... but I'm pretty sure he's not on the intro.

[Chad Vader]

http://hiphopisntdead.blogspot.com/search/label/Eazy-E
My Gut Reaction: Eazy-E - 5150: Home 4 Tha Sick (December 28, 1992)


In 1992, after N.W.A.'s promotional efforts for their final group effort Elif4zaggin had played out, the group disbanded. DJ Yella remained by Ruthless Records president Eazy-E's side, although he had to take on a part time job as an overnight stockboy at OfficeMax, since there wasn't really a whole lot for him to do. MC Ren, the Villain in Black himself, hid in the background and faded into the color of the studio walls. And Andre Young, professionally known as Dr. Dre, left the label in a most colorful way: he had his new friend Marion "Suge" Knight threaten Eazy-E and Jerry Heller with repeated acts of violence until Eazy agreed to release Dre from his contract (although Eazy still retained a portion of Dre's publishing, a fact that a lot of folks tend to forget.)

As the hip hop media was busy wondering what Dr. Dre was going to do with his own label, the newly formed Death Row Records (more on that at a later date), Eazy-E quickly released 5150: Home 4 Tha Sick, an EP which essentially served as his second solo release. It featured four songs primarily written by associates of Eazy-E, such as rap crews Above the Law and, oddly, Naughty By Nature (although Eazy does appear in the video for "Hip Hop Hooray", so that actually isn't too odd, now that I think about it), and an introductory skit, which Max fucking loves. I can't imagine that this shit sold any copies, given the fact that its timing was completely wrong: it was released right after Dr. Dre's The Chronic and was quickly overshadowed.

It was overshadowed to such a degree that I didn't even know this thing existed until after I had written about Eazy's debut, Eazy-Duz-It. I had (naturally) assumed that Eazy-E's catalog jumped straight to the EP in which he disses the shit out of Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg, as a response to Dre's "Fuck Wit Dre Day" and its hilarious video (which actually features Steve Berman, Eminem's label foil for numerous albums, as the Jerry Heller-esque evil white guy). Luckily, it wasn't too hard to find: copies of 5150: Home 4 Tha Sick actually littered the used rap CD section of my local shop, and it was super-cheap, although, for the sake of my two readers, you should also know that the remastered reissue of Eazy-Duz-It includes this EP in its entirety as bonus tracks.

1. INTRO: NEW YEAR'S E-VIL
A potshot at Dr. Dre, but not as aggressive as you might assume.

2. ONLY IF YOU WANT IT
The beat, allegedly produced by all three members of Naughty By Nature, is actuality really fucking good. So it's too bad that Eric's screeching is intolerable.

3. NEIGHBORHOOD SNIPER
Whomever is actually willing to take the credit for writing Eric's lyrics on this shit (since MC Ren wasn't doing it, The D.O.C. had defected with Dr. Dre, and we should all be aware of what Ice Cube has been up to by now), should be fucking ashamed of themselves. Cold 187um's beat is also a bit too busy for my liking, but that's just me.

4. N----Z MY HEIGHT DON'T FIGHT
The title is the best trait that this bullshit song carries.

5. MERRY MUTHAFUCKIN' XMAS (FEAT ATBANN KLANN, BUCKWHEAT, & MENAJAHTWA)
Only Eazy-E would have the audacity and sheer nerve to write release a Christmas song that's all about fucking, although with a guest artist named Menajahtwa (say it out loud: come on, you know you want to), I suppose I should have seen this coming. By far, the funniest thing about this track is only amusing because of the artists involved: if the Atbann Klann, who are now known today as the Black Eyed Peas, had not become somewhat popular in the years following this EP release (although the girl is still more famous than the other three guys put together, and she was a late addition), then I can honestly say that I wouldn't give a fuck about will.i.am (known as Will 1x back then) and his gleefully ignorant and misogynistic verse, a far cry from the shit he's known for today. Where is the love?

THE LAST WORD: 5150: Home 4 Tha Sick was a waste of my precious fucking time. (You can elect to take that last sentence literally if you'd like.) It may have simply been released to take the spotlight off of the fact that Dr. Dre had left Ruthless Records and the tight, money-grubbing hands of Eric Wright and Jerry Heller, and to steal fans away from Dr. Dre's solo debut The Chronic, which had dropped only two weeks prior, but all it truly proves is that Dr. Dre was the musical backbone of Eazy's label. Sonically, this shit is pretty fucking terrible, and lyrically...well, I realize that Eazy has never written his own lyrics, so I can only dig him out of his grave and verbally abuse his corpse and/or ashes regarding his recitals of said lyrics, but they're still awful. I have it on good faith that even Eazy-E was embarrassed at the existence of this EP. I will never ever listen to this shit again, and neither should you.

-Max

RELATED POSTS:
Eazy-E - Eazy-Duz-It

Written By: Max 5 comments


July 8, 2008
Eazy-E - Eazy-Duz-It (September 16, 1988)


In an interesting business move, Eric Wright decided to release a solo album about a month after his crew, N.W.A., released their "debut", Straight Outta Compton. Most record labels would consider this to be "over-saturating the market", since there would be no possible way that Straight Outta Compton would have maxed out its commercial viability in one freaking month, but, then again, most record labels aren't owned by the artist in question, so Eazy-E thought that his plan made perfect sense.

Recorded at the same time (and probably in some of the same sessions) as Straight Outta Compton, Eazy-Duz-It was Eric's bid to establish himself as a solo artist that just so happened to also be a part of The World's Most Dangerous Group. Since Eazy was never really known for writing any of his own rhymes or music, the rest of N.W.A. was enlisted to help out. MC Ren provided the rhymes (with assists from Ice Cube and The D.O.C.), and Dr. Dre (and DJ Yella) supplied all of the beats. The end result is an album that sounds like an alternate-universe N.W.A. if Eazy was the leader, which, of course, he always considered himself to be.

Ruthless Records chalked up at least two million sales of Eazy-Duz-It, making it look (on paper) like Eric Wright was a successful solo artist, when in reality every single person that bought the album probably believed it to be some extra N.W.A. material left off of Straight Outta Compton. Although none of its songs reached the levels of controversy "Fuck Tha Police" found, Eazy-Duz-It ended up being the ride-along soundtrack for young men who lived vicariously through Eric's ridiculous tales from his hood and the success he would eventually find as an alleged drug dealer, rapper, and label head (he is the guy that thought Bone Thugs-N-Harmony had commercial appeal, and did sign the Black Eyed Peas, previously known as the Atban Klann, before they became famous, after all).

Well, then.

1. (PRELUDE) / STILL TALKIN'
This song is pretty terrible. And not just because Eric states that he "may be a woman beater, but not a pussy eater", as if the two were even remotely related to each other. He also talks about saving some pussy in his freezer. It's almost like Cube, Ren, and/or The D.O.C. decided to dare each other to wrote the most ridiculous shit they could think of, and Eazy just recited it simply because he wasn't in on the joke.

2. NOBODY MOVE
This is more like what I was expecting: N.W.A.-style songs, but with the rest of the crew in the backseat while Eric drunkenly drives down the freeway. I'm fairly certain the gay-bashing in the second verse wouldn't come close to even being considered for a mainstream rap record today, so think of this song as a homophobic time capsule.

3. RUTHLESS VILLAIN (FEAT MC REN)
MC Ren and Eazy-E always seem to compliment each other. Sure, Ren completely outraps his "host", but still...

4. 2 HARD MUTHA'S (FEAT MC REN)
In case you really loved the tag-team on "Ruthless Villain" and was foaming at the mouth for a sequel, well, here you go, sequenced immediately following its predecessor. It's not better that the original, but it's certainly not any worse.

5. BOYZ-N-THE-HOOD (REMIX)
I always thought it was cool that Dr. Dre referenced the original version of this track in the intro, as if we could have ever forgotten it in the first place. This song may have like eighteen verses from Eazy (I seriously lost count), but it's considered essential Eric Wright for a reason.

6. EAZY-DUZ-IT
Whenever I hear the beginning of this song, my mind always tracks back to Masta Ace's "Sittin' On Chrome", but there's a good chance that a lot of my two readers won't get that reference right away, so I'll say this: I wasn't impressed with this title track, but at least Dre (and Yella, I suppose) tried to keep things lively on its instrumental.

7. WE WANT EAZY (FEAT MC REN & DR. DRE)
Never thought I would ever hear a reference to Gene Autry on a goddamn rap record. Some of the jokes on this track are corny, but a couple of them still hit today. Overall, though, the beat is big, but the final product is underwhelming.

8. EAZY-ER SAID THAN DUNN
This is the second reference in a row to Eazy's supposed age. I wasn't really following N.W.A. like that in the late eighties, but I never really thought it was that much of an issue.

9. RADIO
I guess it makes sense that a song with this title would end up being the most radio-friendly track on Eazy-Duz-It. The thing is, this track is actually pretty good, and it proves that Eazy was a shrewd businessman, as he was clearly aware of what he needed to do to get some airplay and promote his product. Dr. Dre handling the phone calls toward the end of this song also made me chuckle.

10. NO MORE ?'S
Call me crazy, but I really liked Eazy's second verse, where he drops his voice to a low rumble, sounding like a completely different (and slightly better) rapper in the process. I wonder why he didn't do this more often.

11. I'MMA BREAK IT DOWN
This song rocks. The tightly-constructed instrumental forces Eazy to keep a steady pace, with fantastic results.

12. EAZY CHAPTER 8 VERSE 10
I still don't like interludes with pseudo-preaching, but the beat offsets Eazy's message anyway, so it's at least a little bit amusing. Still, though, this is a really strange way to end your album.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Eazy-Duz-It can't really be compared to the N.W.A. album that preceded it because it's a whole different species. However, on Straight Outta Compton, Eazy's verses were tolerable, and even damn near brilliant in spots, because the collaboration with other artists forced him to reign it in. On his solo debut, his shtick gets old very quickly. Unlike most rappers out today, though, Eric Wright was fully aware of his limitations, and leaned heavily on his rap partners, but the end result is a solo album that has a singular focus which grows tired.

BUY OR BURN? You can burn this disc if you're a fan of Dr. Dre's production work and absolutely must have every single beat he's ever had a hand in: otherwise, let it be. Some of these songs are good, maybe even great, but they can grow more and more annoying with subsequent listens.

BEST TRACKS: "I'mma Break It Down"; "Boyz-N-The-Hood (Remix)"; "Radio"

-Max

[Chad Vader]

Classic lyrics,makes me laugh to this day 
original written by; The D.O.C and Ice Cube
Dru Down; Crack Muzic Vol. 1

Dru Down; Talkin shit (dedicated to Eazy-E)