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Eazy's legacy remians, from Compton to NYC

"It's still hard to believe. It's hard to believe from seeing him in that club to one month later, he's dying and dead from AIDS." -- Ice Cube

Eleven thousand, five hundred and twenty-three days. A lot can happen in that time. A person can be born with a mission to shake the "establishment," to reshape opinions and influence countless numbers. That person can overcome mountains of adversity and earn equal amounts of respect and scorn, only in the end to succumb to death's unavoidable grasp.

Even if you've never listened to a single rap song, it's highly unlikely that you've never before come across the name Eazy-E. He is the man who took rap music to another plateau and legitimized gangsta rap. His formation of the immortalized group Niggaz With Attitude (NWA), which simultaneously put West Coast rap and the city of Compton on the map and propelled the future solo careers of then-members Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, will forever garner him a special place in the hearts of rap historians -- even those who cared little for him and his music.

Make no mistake, long before the tattooed twins Dennis Rodman and Tupac Shakur began to publicly lose their minds, Eazy-E was already the center of a swirling mess of self-contradictions and external allegations. Here was a man who once sold crack to make a living, yet eventually became an avid Republican who, in 1991, paid $2,490 to attend a GOP brunch where former President Bush was speaking. Here was a man who, along with the other four members of NWA, evoked swarms of controversy, protest and even fiery debates on Capitol Hill with their 1991 mega-smash single "Fuck the Police," and defended officer Timothy Bruseno, one of the Los Angeles policemen videotaped beating Rodney King.

Here was a man who gloated about drive-bys and his general disrespect for human life, but invested heavily in his hometown. As his Ruthless Records label grew, Eazy-E hired many Compton natives. His large donations have benefited a Who's Who list of charities including the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Athletes & Entertainers for Kids, The City of Hope and United Colors. His dying wish for the formation of a safe-sex outreach program for black children prompted Motown president Andre Harrell to establish Urban Aid 4 LIFEbeat.

Eazy-E, after only 31 years -- 11, 523 days -- of hell-raising and eye-opening, is no more. Exactly one year ago last Tuesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles at exactly 9:35 p.m. EST, the invincible Eazy "Muthafuckin'" E dropped his protective robes of immortality, became the very human Eric Wright and breathed his final farewell to his fans.

Actually, we'd already witnessed Eazy's self-stripping a month earlier when he first released a statement confirming his being HIV-positive. But it was his death that solidified that realization. No more would we see his Napoleon-esque stature decked with dried-out jheri curls and a black Compton or Raiders baseball cap in person. Eazy-E was dead.

Eazy-E was indeed the grandfather of gangsta (now "hardcore") rap music. Throw in some Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, some Ice Cube, some Dogg Pound; therein lies E's essence. He helped open the floodgates for a continuing hip-hop revolution. Yet, he is also an ideal representative for much that is wrong within the rap community. His underhanded financial dealings eventually led Ice Cube, and later Dr. Dre, to leave NWA in disgust.

To treat those who were supposed to be his boyz this way was a most unforgivable act. The years of pot shots the members of the now-defunct NWA took at each other on their solo albums and videos can be viewed as an impetus for the more publicized rap music rivalries of today (DJ Quik vs. MC Eiht, 2PAC vs. Notorious B.I.G., Suge Knight vs. Shawn "Puffy" Combs).

Nevertheless, I write about him. I write not because I'm one of Eazy-E's most die-hard fans. He never struck me as an overwhelming, creative force on NWA; Dre and Cube easily outshined him there. He rarely even wrote the lyrics he rapped, and his voice, a unique blend between that of some random cow-farmer named Bud and Gary Coleman's, never quite seemed to fit the gangsta persona he worked so hard to maintain. I'm not out to give the usual "he was a good man" speech that even Hitler would have received at a funeral because it's the PC thing to do.

I write because, regardless of his faults, Eazy-E was a brave man. He faced societal pressure, government and legal attacks, even an assassination attempt, just to "kick the real." As a person, perhaps his success was limited. But the reverberations of his ground-breaking entrepreneurial work can be felt to this day. Such names as JJ Fad, Michel'le, D.O.C and, of course, Bone first came through E's Ruthless Records label. Not bad for a man who dropped out of high school in the 10h grade (he earned his GED later).

Eazy-E was raised in a neighborhood festering with dangerous elements, jacked-up cops and never-to-be-fulfilled dreams. This "uneducated" man full of street savvy pulled out and above this life, and he never held any ill-will. He instead inspired rebellion, constructive rage and thoughtful radicalism. Yet, he is also well-remembered for his never-ending sense of humor. To simply demonize his "bitches and ho's" lyrics without considering the total, revolutionary Eazy-E is sadly shortsighted.

One mustn't take the way in which Eazy-E died -- complications resulting from the AIDS virus he acquired through unprotected sex with untold numbers -- and use it as ammunition against his legacy. As Public Enemy's Chuck D told Rap Sheet magazine last year, "Eazy-E wasn't a bad person because he died of AIDS. We have to get that out of the formula." AIDS is a horrible disease that nobody deserves.

Eazy E's life was tumultuous, and the lawsuits that were filed after his death will undoubtedly bring out more of Eazy's background than many of us care to know. Yet, one must always remember to separate Eazy-E the rapper from Eric Wright the person. Maybe E was a far cry from being perfect, but he wasn't a bad person. He was both a product of his environment and a defiant bulwark against blind acceptance of the status quo. He pushed limits that no one else had the guts to push. He deserves our understanding for that.

Maybe what he did wasn't as great as finding a cure for cancer or writing a masterpiece novel, but E made a contribution to American society that will hopefully remain even after we have all gone to meet at the crossroads on the other side. He deserves our respect for that.

Maybe he did hurt others, but E also tried to help people, especially kids. Maybe he hoped to make up for his earlier wrongs; maybe he just wanted to quit contributing to the problems and become part of the solution. Regardless of his reasons, he cared when many choose not to. He deserves our admiration for that.

Maybe he made more than his fair share of mistakes, but E was a black man trying to make a life for himself when all the odds were stacked against him. He died a terrible death, yet from the moment of his revelation until the second some random doctor pronounced him dead, Eazy-E had already begun to set into motion a game plan to teach the children, whom he so greatly loved, to avoid the death trap he had jumped into.

Sadly, he didn't live long enough to do it all, but in his short time he seems to have done more in terms of AIDS awareness than even Magic Johnson, who is a far cry from impending demise, has since making that shocking announcement some time ago. Sadly, Eazy-E wasn't given the time to complete this mission, but at least he tried with all his heart. He deserves our love for that.

We prayed for Liberacci,

Cried for Rock Hudson,

And held hands with Ryan White,

But when you died we laughed, ridiculed,

and let you go, alone.

Was it fear of reality that you were our friend,

our brother, uncle, and father?

Or do we really just not care?

The pain of knowing that it finally hit home,

none of us are invincible.

Nobody argued for a memorial, nobody shed a tear,

nobody donated money.

We just laughed, shrugged our shoulders,

turned our backs from the example,

and moved on,

continuing with our careless lives.

But, with MY opened eyes I say to you

GOOD NIGHT, GOOD BYE, and REST IN PEACE

Eazy-E, my beautiful Black man.

-- "Ode To E-Z, Just Another Man,"

Ebony Dawn Howard