Eazy-E: The Legacy Continues article

[STILLDRE IS THE GODFATHER]

Eazy-E: The Legacy Continues
Friday - January 07, 2005
Mecca
Before a skinny white kid from Detroit's 8-Mile Road became hip-hop’s most controversial figure today, before Suge Knight was hip-hop’s version of Mike Tyson, there was one man that finagled the whole game...one man who went against all odds, and changed the atmosphere of not only the Left Coast music scene, but that of an entire nation as well...that man was Eric "Eazy-E" Wright.

During the ‘80s, New York had a Spreewell-esque chokehold on the rap game. De La Soul was everybody’s buddy, Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five told “The Message,” Afrika Bambaataa was living on “Planet Rock,” and the Sugarhill Gang had (allegedly) robbed Grandmaster Caz for his rhyme book and turned it into “Rapper’s Delight".

With acts like the Egyptian Lover, L.A. Dream Team, and Toddy Tee and MixMaster Spade... West Coast hip-hop made less noise than Sam Bowie and Harold Miner combined.

Sure, there was MC Hammer dancing his way to platinum records, but with Public Enemy, Erick B. and Rakim, and KRS-One & Boogie Down Productions spittin’ hardcore "criminal minded, but socially conscious cuts" down our collective throats, nobody took "the west" seriously...and who could blame us.

All that changed in 1987, though. After guesting in a few movies...most notably "Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo the first hip-hop West Coast OG, Ice-T delivered Rhyme Pays, a searing testimonial of the streets he was raised in.

"6'n the morning' police at my door/Fresh adidas squerk across the bathroom floor"

"I'm a self-made monster of the city streets/Remotely controlled by hard hip hop beats/But just livin' in the city is a serious task/Didn't know what the cops wanted
Didn't have the time to ask..."

Suddenly, California wasn’t all about palm trees, sunshine, and parachute pants.

Meanwhile a dynasty was in the making. Connecting with a record presser named Jerry Heller, Eazy would create a union like no other, making him one of the first hip-hop artists to fully own a record label. More than that, it would lay the groundwork for future black-owned record labels, paving the way for giants like Roc-A-Fella, Aftermath, Bad Boy, and Death Row...whose CEO, Marion “Suge” Knight, would actually steal Eazy's blueprints to rule the early-/mid-nineties music scene with an iron fist. It also showed that an independent label could be just as profitable as its major counterparts.

Whereas Ice T put his foot in the door with his “crime rhyme,” Eazy would kick it off the hinges. Joining some local rappers with a local DJ/producer from electro-funk outfit the World Class Wreckin’ Cru, Eazy would transform them into, N.W.A., Niggaz Wit’ Attitude.

Many of you know the rest. Millions of records sold...everybody and they momma suddenly becam "hard". Cats would take their old Caddys and Oldsmobiles and turn them into low riders. White kids from middle-class America threw on black jackets and Raiders caps, screaming “Fuck Tha Police.”

This scared the shit out of middle-class suburban America. Politicians like C. Delores Tucker and others tried to stop the rash this new poster child of antiestablishment had spread.

"These recordings contains all the thuggishly reprehensible lyrics about bitches and hos, niggas and guns, in an offering that glorifies killing and fornicating with another person's wife." -C. Delores Tucker

E's brainchild would be censored, arrested, banned, criticized, and threatened while being praised, loved, copied, and worshipped all in one swoop...Rap music had finally gotten the mainstreams attention...

More than frighten a nation of millions, it damn near made the entire East coast rap scene irrelevant for close to a decade. Suddenly nobody wanted to hear anything Daisy Age...that’s the inner sound y'all of De La Soul, for you uninformed ones.

Record companies were scrambling to duplicate Eazy's success, but to lesser avail remember Tim Dog? BG Knockout and Dresta?. Even our beloved Hammer got caught in the frenzy, dropping the “MC” from his name, balloon pants, and clean-cut image for some baggy jeans and “harder” lyrics in ‘94’s The Funky Headhunter. Remember “Pumps And A Bump?” after that no wonder he started preaching.

Most importantly, it ushered in a new era in hip-hop: The Gangsta Age, a Chuck Taylor’s and Dickies inspired reign of terror on the unsuspecting masses.

E continued to revolutionize the game and crank out hits, even after shady business practices tore N.W.A. apart only a few years after their inception and threatened to put him out of business. Before Eazy, beef was limited to a war on wax. He took that one step further and not only introduced, but mastered, the low blow in musical beef, the act of attacking not only the person...but their street credibility as well.

In 1993, Eazy dropped his second solo outing, It’s On (Dr. Dre)187um Killa,the album’s liner notes contained pictures from Dr. Dre's infamous Wreckin’ Cru days...if you're into Hip Hop you know the shots with the good doctor in the sequined suit and the makeup...

Now everyone tries to cheap shot their lyrical sparring partner. 50 Cent and Ja Rule have skits to accompany their verbal assaults. Benzino used the race card when he revealed to the public old recordings of a young Marshall Mathers rapping racial epithets.

AND let’s not forget Jay-Z, who rehashed Eazy's original idea when he pulled Prodigy’s punk card and set it on fire at the now-infamous 2001 Hot 97 Summer Jam.

Although Eazy's physical existence was short-lived, his presence and influence remains eternal as a legacy to not only Gangsta rap...but, hip-hop culture and influence as well. Before NWA’s rampage on the industry, East Coast labels all but refused to sign a West Coast artist. By the mid ‘90s, there were several rappers signed to Def Jam alone, including Warren G, Jayo Felony and Richie Rich. Without Eazy, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony would not have crept on a come up in ’94.

And a rapper named after a Peanuts character would not have been taken seriously and sold millions of records and become a household name if it weren’t for the doctor’s sonic backdrops behind testimonials E re-introduced to the masses.

Perhaps Suge Knight would not leave us shook like Craig and Smokey whenever his Deebo-esque name and stature is mentioned had it not been for his even shadier and at times terrifying dealings (including alleged threats, various scare tactics, and just looking like the wrong one to fuck with) to silence Eazy.

And maybe a Queens-bred rapper’s plan to "get rich or die tryin’" would not have come to fruition had he not headed to the west for the good doctor’s assistance...and spectacular beats to match.

During Eric Wright's brief 31 years on this planet his on-stage persona portrayed the life of a gangsta, but it was his business savvy and marketing genius that sparked a musical movement. Without him, perhaps West Coast hip-hop may have never existed today. So the next time you feel the need to pop in your copy of Encore, or nod your head to the Dre-produced G-Unit or The Game joint, just remember that they would not exist without his efforts. Salute!

[ABN]

but this whole thing can easily be flipped into "if there would´ve been no Dr.Dre there would´ve beeen no Eazy-E and no Ruthless Records"

but still gotta give E his props and it´s a shame that motherfuckers aint giving him the respect that he deserves coz he really was the first person to own his own hardcore hip hop label.

[STILLDRE IS THE GODFATHER]

but this whole thing can easily be flipped into "if there would´ve been no Dr.Dre there would´ve beeen no Eazy-E and no Ruthless Records"

but still gotta give E his props and it´s a shame that motherfuckers aint giving him the respect that he deserves coz he really was the first person to own his own hardcore hip hop label.

yup pac big  etc all get mad props but eazy seems to be like warren g always forgotton when it comes to naming greats

[black nutt]

so

[DonRafaele]

yup pac big  etc all get mad props but eazy seems to be like warren g always forgotton when it comes to naming greats

WORD!!!

[Elevz]

but this whole thing can easily be flipped into "if there would´ve been no Dr.Dre there would´ve beeen no Eazy-E and no Ruthless Records"

but still gotta give E his props and it´s a shame that motherfuckers aint giving him the respect that he deserves coz he really was the first person to own his own hardcore hip hop label.

yup pac big  etc all get mad props but eazy seems to be like warren g always forgotton when it comes to naming greats

Oh, he's with my list of greats anyway. There's no way I would forget about him, naming the ones that were an important part of the history of hiphop.

[Westside Soldier]

Eazy-E: The Legacy Continues
Friday - January 07, 2005
Mecca
Before a skinny white kid from Detroit's 8-Mile Road became hip-hop’s most controversial figure today, before Suge Knight was hip-hop’s version of Mike Tyson, there was one man that finagled the whole game...one man who went against all odds, and changed the atmosphere of not only the Left Coast music scene, but that of an entire nation as well...that man was Eric "Eazy-E" Wright.

During the ‘80s, New York had a Spreewell-esque chokehold on the rap game. De La Soul was everybody’s buddy, Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five told “The Message,” Afrika Bambaataa was living on “Planet Rock,” and the Sugarhill Gang had (allegedly) robbed Grandmaster Caz for his rhyme book and turned it into “Rapper’s Delight".

With acts like the Egyptian Lover, L.A. Dream Team, and Toddy Tee and MixMaster Spade... West Coast hip-hop made less noise than Sam Bowie and Harold Miner combined.

Sure, there was MC Hammer dancing his way to platinum records, but with Public Enemy, Erick B. and Rakim, and KRS-One & Boogie Down Productions spittin’ hardcore "criminal minded, but socially conscious cuts" down our collective throats, nobody took "the west" seriously...and who could blame us.

All that changed in 1987, though. After guesting in a few movies...most notably "Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo the first hip-hop West Coast OG, Ice-T delivered Rhyme Pays, a searing testimonial of the streets he was raised in.

"6'n the morning' police at my door/Fresh adidas squerk across the bathroom floor"

"I'm a self-made monster of the city streets/Remotely controlled by hard hip hop beats/But just livin' in the city is a serious task/Didn't know what the cops wanted
Didn't have the time to ask..."

Suddenly, California wasn’t all about palm trees, sunshine, and parachute pants.

Meanwhile a dynasty was in the making. Connecting with a record presser named Jerry Heller, Eazy would create a union like no other, making him one of the first hip-hop artists to fully own a record label. More than that, it would lay the groundwork for future black-owned record labels, paving the way for giants like Roc-A-Fella, Aftermath, Bad Boy, and Death Row...whose CEO, Marion “Suge” Knight, would actually steal Eazy's blueprints to rule the early-/mid-nineties music scene with an iron fist. It also showed that an independent label could be just as profitable as its major counterparts.

Whereas Ice T put his foot in the door with his “crime rhyme,” Eazy would kick it off the hinges. Joining some local rappers with a local DJ/producer from electro-funk outfit the World Class Wreckin’ Cru, Eazy would transform them into, N.W.A., Niggaz Wit’ Attitude.

Many of you know the rest. Millions of records sold...everybody and they momma suddenly becam "hard". Cats would take their old Caddys and Oldsmobiles and turn them into low riders. White kids from middle-class America threw on black jackets and Raiders caps, screaming “Fuck Tha Police.”

This scared the shit out of middle-class suburban America. Politicians like C. Delores Tucker and others tried to stop the rash this new poster child of antiestablishment had spread.

"These recordings contains all the thuggishly reprehensible lyrics about bitches and hos, niggas and guns, in an offering that glorifies killing and fornicating with another person's wife." -C. Delores Tucker

E's brainchild would be censored, arrested, banned, criticized, and threatened while being praised, loved, copied, and worshipped all in one swoop...Rap music had finally gotten the mainstreams attention...

More than frighten a nation of millions, it damn near made the entire East coast rap scene irrelevant for close to a decade. Suddenly nobody wanted to hear anything Daisy Age...that’s the inner sound y'all of De La Soul, for you uninformed ones.

Record companies were scrambling to duplicate Eazy's success, but to lesser avail remember Tim Dog? BG Knockout and Dresta?. Even our beloved Hammer got caught in the frenzy, dropping the “MC” from his name, balloon pants, and clean-cut image for some baggy jeans and “harder” lyrics in ‘94’s The Funky Headhunter. Remember “Pumps And A Bump?” after that no wonder he started preaching.

Most importantly, it ushered in a new era in hip-hop: The Gangsta Age, a Chuck Taylor’s and Dickies inspired reign of terror on the unsuspecting masses.

E continued to revolutionize the game and crank out hits, even after shady business practices tore N.W.A. apart only a few years after their inception and threatened to put him out of business. Before Eazy, beef was limited to a war on wax. He took that one step further and not only introduced, but mastered, the low blow in musical beef, the act of attacking not only the person...but their street credibility as well.

In 1993, Eazy dropped his second solo outing, It’s On (Dr. Dre)187um Killa,the album’s liner notes contained pictures from Dr. Dre's infamous Wreckin’ Cru days...if you're into Hip Hop you know the shots with the good doctor in the sequined suit and the makeup...

Now everyone tries to cheap shot their lyrical sparring partner. 50 Cent and Ja Rule have skits to accompany their verbal assaults. Benzino used the race card when he revealed to the public old recordings of a young Marshall Mathers rapping racial epithets.

AND let’s not forget Jay-Z, who rehashed Eazy's original idea when he pulled Prodigy’s punk card and set it on fire at the now-infamous 2001 Hot 97 Summer Jam.

Although Eazy's physical existence was short-lived, his presence and influence remains eternal as a legacy to not only Gangsta rap...but, hip-hop culture and influence as well. Before NWA’s rampage on the industry, East Coast labels all but refused to sign a West Coast artist. By the mid ‘90s, there were several rappers signed to Def Jam alone, including Warren G, Jayo Felony and Richie Rich. Without Eazy, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony would not have crept on a come up in ’94.

And a rapper named after a Peanuts character would not have been taken seriously and sold millions of records and become a household name if it weren’t for the doctor’s sonic backdrops behind testimonials E re-introduced to the masses.

Perhaps Suge Knight would not leave us shook like Craig and Smokey whenever his Deebo-esque name and stature is mentioned had it not been for his even shadier and at times terrifying dealings (including alleged threats, various scare tactics, and just looking like the wrong one to fuck with) to silence Eazy.

And maybe a Queens-bred rapper’s plan to "get rich or die tryin’" would not have come to fruition had he not headed to the west for the good doctor’s assistance...and spectacular beats to match.

During Eric Wright's brief 31 years on this planet his on-stage persona portrayed the life of a gangsta, but it was his business savvy and marketing genius that sparked a musical movement. Without him, perhaps West Coast hip-hop may have never existed today. So the next time you feel the need to pop in your copy of Encore, or nod your head to the Dre-produced G-Unit or The Game joint, just remember that they would not exist without his efforts. Salute!

Dope Read 

[Citizen-Y]

We need more unlreased Eazy shit

[ABN]

We need more unlreased Eazy shit

according to Ren Eazy only recorded the tracks he needed for his album(s)so there aint a whole lot of unreleased Eazy-E tracks.