17 years ago today, March 26, the hip-hop culture would lose a legend. Eazy E, from Compton, California, would become a pioneer of the sub-genre ‘Gangster Rap’, succumbed to AIDS.
Born Eric Lynn Wright, Eazy was a founding member of the iconic NWA, the super-group that would include Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, DJ Yella, MC Ren, and Arabian Prince.
Eazy E’s brand of music would go on to change hip-hop forever. While other genres gave Black America a voice, it wasn’t until Eazy came along and gave it ATTITUDE and a whole lot of it.
Eazy E, would eventually leave NWA to expand his brand with Ruthless where he would sign acts such as JJ Fad, Bone Thugs N Harmony, Atban Klann (who are currently known as The Black-Eyed Peas) and current XXL Freshman Class honoree, Hopsin.
However, his greatest contribution to society would be AIDS awareness. Before his passing and shortly after he discovered he had contracted the deadly virus he released a statement where his only option left was “to turn my own problem into something good that will reach out to all my homeboys and their kin because I want to save their asses before it’s too late. I’ve learned in the last week that this thing is real and it doesn’t discriminate.”
RIP Eric ‘Eazy E’ Wright -September 7, 1963 – March 26, 1995.
