Eazy-E
Eric Wright was not the best rapper in N.W.A and never claimed to be. He was the one who funded the label, signed the group, and understood before anyone else that the records would sell precisely because they were unacceptable. Ruthless Records was his, and gangsta rap as a commercial category is largely his doing.
Early life and origins in Compton
Wright grew up in Compton and was dealing before he was recording. He put his own money into founding Ruthless Records in the mid 1980s with Jerry Heller, and recruited Dr. Dre and Ice Cube into what became N.W.A. His thin, nasal delivery was distinctive rather than technically strong, and it worked because it sounded like nobody else.
N.W.A and Ruthless
Straight Outta Compton made the group a national story and drew a warning letter from the FBI over "Fuck tha Police". Ruthless also released Eazy's solo record Eazy-Duz-It, and signed acts including Above the Law, the D.O.C., MC Ren and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, the last of which became one of the label's biggest successes.
Feuds and the collapse of the group
The Ruthless contracts drove Ice Cube out in 1989 and Dr. Dre out in 1991, and the fallout produced a stream of records attacking each other. Eazy's It's On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa was among the most direct. The dispute over Dre's exit involved Suge Knight and remains one of the ugliest stories in the industry.
Death and legacy
Wright, born Eric Lynn Wright on 7 September 1964, was diagnosed with AIDS in March 1995 and died on the 26th of that month, aged 30. The suddenness of it, and his public statement urging awareness, made his death a landmark moment in how the disease was discussed in Black American communities. His influence sits less in his rapping than in his commercial instinct: he proved a rap label could be run independently and win.
Album discography
Eazy-Duz-It (1988), the EP 5150: Home 4 tha Sick (1992), It's On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa (1993) and the posthumous Str8 off tha Streetz of Muthaphukkin Compton (1995). His solo output is small; the label catalogue is the real body of work.
Ruthless Records
Ruthless released N.W.A, the D.O.C., Above the Law, JJ Fad, MC Ren and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. Signing Bone Thugs shortly before his death gave the label one of its largest commercial successes and secured its finances after he was gone. Running an independent rap label profitably in the late 1980s was close to unprecedented.
Influence and legacy
He is the reason the phrase "gangsta rap" describes a market rather than a description. He identified an audience the industry did not believe existed and sold to it directly, and every independent rap label since has followed some version of that model.
Frequently asked
Where is Eazy-E from?
Wright grew up in Compton and was dealing before he was recording. He put his own money into founding Ruthless Records in the mid 1980s with Jerry Heller, and recruited Dr. Dre and Ice Cube into what became N.W.A.
What is Eazy-E known for musically?
Wright, born Eric Lynn Wright on 7 September 1964, was diagnosed with AIDS in March 1995 and died on the 26th of that month, aged 30. The suddenness of it, and his public statement urging awareness, made his death a landmark moment in how the disease was discussed in Black American communities.