Thanks to The Martorialist for reminding me that today is the anniversary of Eric Wright's death. This seemed a good opportunity as any to re-up this Megamix that dropped as promotional 12" for the 'Eternal E' album.
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While 2Pac and the Bigs (Smalls, L and Pun) get a full Twitter timeline takeover on their respective anniversaries, Eazy E seems to be overlooked by the Hip Hop community. Its possibly due to the fact he died of HIV instead of something more glamorous like getting shot the fuck up for no real reason. Also, he'd made his impact before the online generation (for whom Rap starts with Illmatic and Reasonable Doubt) were really paying attention.
All those rap fans who constantly whinge that their favourite artists never gets their due should consider this: Jay Dee (or Dilla if he 'changed your life') gets mixtapes, t-shirts and club nights in his name when all he did was drop a few decent beats here and there and turn A Tribe Called Quest into the blandest group imaginable. On the flipside, Eazy is one of gangsta rap's godfathers, is responsible for the careers of Ice Cube and Dr Dre, and by extension Snoop Dogg. So thats 4 of the best albums of the early 90s under his belt right there, and Ruthless was getting paid off all of that. He also signed Bone Thugs N Harmony, a group who at one point had back catalogue sales rivaled only by 2Pac. If you really want to take it there, you could say he inadvertantly facilitated the rise of Eminem and 50 Cent, and even the fucking Black Eyed Peas. despite being dead by the time all that happened. Imagine a world today, where all those dudes were signed to Ruthless and pay homage!
(NB: I originally posted this Megamix up about 3 years ago without the lengthy pro-Eazy rant)
Amen.
ReplyDeleteLest we not forget he gave the world Above The Law too.
Definitely, Above The Law were 'instrumental' (if you'll forgive the pun) in forming that G-Funk sound that Dre took and ran with on The Chronic.
ReplyDeleteEazy is a legend and agree with you 100% that he shouldn't be so criminally underlooked. His were the first solo albums of all the NWA alumni (not including The Posse, whatever happened to them) that I picked up.
Totally disagree with you on the Dilla front though. The late-to-the-party stannery annoys the hell out of me but he did more than simply drop a few dope beats here and there.
Who's to say Tribe wouldn't have dropped The Love Movement (because despite the hate BR&L is actually a hot album IMO) regardless of the new addition to the team? Count yourself lucky they didn't pick up a young Swizz Beatz!
yeah, its probably the Dilla stans that annoy me more than the man himself - I dont necessarily dislike his beats but I also dont see how he can considered to be up there with Dre, RZA, Marley, Primo, Peet Rock, Large Pro etc when he doesnt have a certified classic to his name. I'd put Easy Mo Bee, Alchemist, Diamond D, Q Tip and a good few othes above him in the rankings.
ReplyDeleteGood lookin` on this one homie! Just wish that there was more Eazy-E material out there. I remember reading some ish about how his "Str8 Off Tha Streetz Of Muthaphukkin` Compton" was supposed to be two CD`s worth of tracks. Maybe if we are lucky some of the joints that didn`t make it to the final version of the album will be released. An Eazy fan can only wish huh?......LoL
ReplyDeleteSTaY BLeSS`n...