If you know hip hop, if you know rap, you can't possibly not know them.
If you've seen last year's biographical film "Rush out of Compton" by this hip-hop legend group n.w.a., there is one person in the group who has to mention.
His name was Eric Lynn Wright, and more people called him Eazy-e. Founder of West Coast rap group N.W.A, the core of the team, and one of the most influential figures in the history of American gangster rap.
He's from the West Coast of the United States, from Compton, California, where police call him a "husky gangster" in the rap world. ”
Eazy-e was born in 1963 in Compton, a suburban area of Los Angeles known for gangsterism and crime.
The father was a postman, while the mother worked as a school administrator. In that era of discrimination against blacks and the era of drunkenness, eazy-e, like most underage blacks, chose to drop out of high school in his first year of high school and followed his cousin on the road of drug trafficking due to his material pursuits and vanity satisfaction.
Eazy-e believes that if he wants to gain a foothold in society, he must join the local gang, and in order not to be harassed by other gangs to sell drugs, he chooses to join the "Lame Gang." ”
With extraordinary courage, eazy-e dropped out of school and instantly gained prestige on the road of drug trafficking. Although he is under the pressure of being arrested every day, he has already made as much as $250,000 at the age of 22.
Just when everything was going well, his cousin was accidentally shot, eazy-e began to perceive that drug trafficking is not a long-term solution, good at finding "business opportunities", he began to try to find a safe and gold-sucking way to make a living, during which West Coast rap is developing rapidly, he feels that rap has a larger market in Los Angeles to let him get a better life.
After a long period of cruising in major underground bars, underground concerts and underground competitions, he eventually discovered a rare genius and andre Romelle Young, which is what everyone calls dr.dre.
In his youth, Dre was a troublemaker, often relying on writing songs and composing music to pay off debts. Once, when he was in traffic trouble, his agent chose not to help him carry the pot, and Eazy-e became a savior to bail Dre out of prison and pay him all the bills, including the liquidated damages for the termination of Dre's contract with the agency.
Afterwards, Dre burst into tears and boasted that he wanted to break out with Eazy-e. By chance, Dre recommended another good friend to him, ice cube. The three of them met and hated each other late, chatted happily, and began a journey of making music together, and the initial n.w.a was officially established.
Eazy-e, who was obsessed with gold, had no intention of getting involved in the production of the song at first, and he asked Dre and Ice to sing the first song that had just been released to rap group H.b.O.
Unexpectedly, the h.b.o group refused to sing the song, eazy-e was very upset, but dre and ice always believed that the song would be popular. After listening to the eazy-e oratorio, dre stalked and let him join it, so the third brother began to record it himself.
Since the technique of eazy-e rap is indeed average, Dre and Ice taught him little by little, and made a lot of jokes during this time. Well, the song is the famous "boyz n the hood."
After the release of the song, it was instantly sought after and discussed by countless people, and the ambitious eazy-e began to look for a partner to set up a record company, and it was surprising that he found a well-known agent at the time, Heller.
The most important thing is that he is Caucasian, the two have little communication, and black people in that era were often discriminated against and oppressed by whites, so eazy-e only said how to make money in the whole process. Since they were all aimed at making money, the two finally opened a company together, and the ruthless records that sensationalized the entire West Coast rap industry were officially established!
As the team developed step by step, N.W.A also slowly began to incorporate more talents, dj yella, mc ren and the arabian prince joined, undoubtedly adding a few sharp musical "weapons" to the whole team, and finally the n.w.a combination was fixed at 6 people.
In 1988, N.W.A officially released its first album, Straight Outta Compton.
As soon as the album came out, the black race on the entire West Coast was full of blood and began to resist from the oppression of the white race, and riots large and small were also because of this album. The lyrics in the song, almost both front and back, are aimed at white people, and many white people are "frightened." ”
The voice of n.w.a undoubtedly led to the rapid rise of the west coast of very rap, and Compton gradually took a place in the rap industry.
Speaking of albums, the most powerful single is undoubtedly "fuck the police", which contains a lot of extreme remarks about the police, women and homosexuals. Accidentally N.W.A was hit by a disaster, the FBI began to block them, and what the police did not expect was that the result was counterproductive. N.W.a became more popular and the album sold more.
At one concert, the police refused to provide them with safety protection, forcing every member, including the staff, to wear firearms. When the song was performed, the police could only be "humiliated" to watch them perform the song.
Not satisfied with the status quo, eazy-e seized the business opportunity and released his first solo album "eazy-duz-it", which actually sold more than two million copies and directly appeared on the double platinum album. In just two months, the entire portfolio made a net profit of 10 million US dollars.
There will be a sweet period in the combination, and there will also be a period of infighting and contradiction. In 1989, ICE left N.W.A because of the imbalance in income, which indirectly triggered a diss war and was directly torn in public. Not only that, but Dre discovered that Eazy-e had embezzled public funds and withheld his own royalties, and also left N.W.A. in 1991. The uneven distribution of money, the former brothers turned against each other, and eazy-e suddenly fell into a situation of rebellion.
By this time, n.w.a had died in name only and was officially dissolved in 1991. At this time, eazy-e began to change, actively doing charity, showing his attitude towards his former brothers, he wanted to repair each other's relationship, and with such a heart, he had been looking forward to the day when the former n.w.a would reunite.
Unfortunately, he did not wait, in 1995, Eazy-e sudden bronchitis was admitted to the hospital, he did not expect to be diagnosed, he was suffering from AIDS.
The former members who heard the news came to the hospital to visit him, and everyone officially shook hands and made peace. Eazy-e died on March 26, and as for the funeral, only Dj Yella appeared as a coffin protector, but the other members did not appear, and no one knows why.
Eazy-e's death had a great impact on the rap world, and his fans cried bitterly. Although he attacked society as a whole, it was he who made people all over the world know Compton. The then mayor addressed his funeral by saying, "He made the world know Compton, not just California," and the mayor declared April 7 of each year as eazy-e's anniversary.
Eazy-e's songs and practices have always been controversial, but as a rapper, he not only vigorously promoted the development of gangster rap, but also influenced groups of teenagers to break away from drug trafficking and move towards a better lifestyle.
The establishment of ruthless records has also set an example of success for rap masters such as Jay-z, p.diddy and snoop dogg! Although he's not perfect, remember him, his name is eazy-e!