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DEAD CELEBRITIES: EAZY-E (ERIC WRIGHT) Page 1 of 1 | Eazy-E (Eric Wright) 1963-1995 Eric Wright was born in Compton, California to a middle-class family in 1963. As a teenager, Eric had trouble with the law, but he found that life as a small-time gangsta didn't give him much hope for the future. Eric finished school and in 1986 became Eazy-E as he teamed with Ice-Cube, Dr. Dre‘MC Eni Yl fring one of the most controversial rap groups in history, N.W.A. NWA Tput gang On the map with their hit album Boyz n’ the Hood, and gave Los Angeles/Compton rap credibility in the rap scene. Eazy-E's Ruthless Records, started with money he collected as a small-time thief and drug dealer, found its first hit with Boyz n' the Hood, but that was just the beginning. Straight Outta Compton was Ruthless Records next release, and it proved as big a hit as Boyz and just as controversial. Songs like Fuck the Police and Gangsta, Gangsta rubbed police and politicians the wrong way and gave rap a bad name in non-rap circles. This only proved a challenge to Eazy, who thought that hip-hop had a responsibility to shed light on the violence that Latin and African Americans were living with every day. At this time, V. WA. started to fall apart. Ice-Cube was the first to leave, planning a solo-career, and Dr. Dre wasn't far behind. Dre went on to start Death Row Records, and the animosity between Eazy's Ruthless Records and Dre's Death Row had begun. Lawsuits between N.W.A.'s members and public battles between the now estranged rappers made more headlines then the artists themselves. Eazy-R's second solo album It's on (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa, released in 1993, was a direct attack on Dr. Dre and the public lost interest as the original vision of Eazy's work was lost. Eazy got back on track when, in 1994, Ruthless Records signed Cleveland rap-artists Bone Thugs n' Harmony. As Eazy was climbing back onto his feet, he was diagnosed with the AIDS virus. Two months later, on March 26, 1995, Eric Wright, better known as Eazy-E, was dead. Eazy-E biography edited from the Eazy-E: The Hip-Hop Thugster page. With special thanks to Nils Hagmark Dead Celebrities logo, design and layout © 1996, Christopher M. Bowley. A r Ut POR. 2aTION CONTAINED panels , YAO toMy Ao uul a lA Oct 18 1996 08:49 AM