Happy Eazy-E Day, a holiday observed over in Compton by order of the mayor. I'm not sure what customs are attached to the day so I'll just share my Eazy-E story.
I first heard Eazy-E back in 1988 when I was in junior high. Even before I heard him, I'd heard of him. Back then, new music was still mostly disseminated by word of mouth and the trade of mixtapes. Our computers were Apple ][es and the internet was still just one of Al Gore's fantasies. The only rap they played on the radio was harmless (but fun) stuff like Whodini, UTFO and the Fresh Prince & DJ Jazzy Jeff. But just looking around the school hallways it was obvious that there was more to the hip-hop world than what got played on the air. Kids wore enormous clocks around their necks like Flava Flav of the airplay-denied Public Enemy. When teachers distinguished me from another Eric by referring to me as "Eric B.," the question "where's Rakim?" often followed-- uttered by a savvy classmate. The rap that most people listened to as far as I know (with the exception of Ice-T, Too $hort ) was either from the East or South Coasts. Then, seemingly overnight, kids started wearing Raiders and Kings gear. A wind picked up from the west...
One day around that time, my younger brother Evan and I were out riding bikes down past Bill Wolf's property. Bill Wolf was kind of a big man out in the country who built a lot of homes, owned a lot of land and used to shoot copperheads-- plus he claimed to have seen panthers in the woods behind our house, long before they were officially verified to have returned to the area. I remember the tar on Old Mill Creek Road used to bubble in the heat and pop under my Schwinn's deliberately swerving tires. There was probably the loud buzz of cicadas in the air. Down by Mill Creek (where I used to try to catch crawdads) Evan (riding our sister's orange 3-speed) found a chewed up, discarded cassette by the bridge. He said that the tape was unraveled and draped across some weeds. It was labeled "Eazy Duz It." I got excited at the opportunity suddenly afforded us to listen to something we probably wouldn't otherwise hear. Evan wound the tape back up with his finger and took it back to the house.
We went to the Green Room, a room almost entirely furnished in green (hence the name) located safely in the basement since it was the most remote corner of the house. There was a green couch, green walls, a green Persian rug and all of our dad's old Aurora Monster models. Evan tried to repair the tangled cassette. The first song we heard was "Nobody Move." Previously, Evan had christened the massive boombox he received for Christmas exclusively with the likes of Nu Shooz and Club Nouveau. We were both shocked by the depravity and lewdness of the lyrics whilst transfixed by the amazing production and narratives. We knew our outspoken, feminist mother would not approve and yet somehow we snuck enough time, in the months to come, to memorize the entire album, which we both still remember pretty well.
Around that time, N.W.A. and Easy-E made "Compton" a household word even over in far-off Missouri. In reality we had our own gangs to contend with (the homegrown Too Hard Posse and imported gangs like the Vice Lords and Gangster Disciples) and our own cities of Kansas City and St. Louis were plagued which much higher crime rates than any in California although it never affected me any. Anyway, I was fascinated with the colorful, cartoonish tales of this far off possibly mythical South Central locale where Mac 10-toting Crips apparently robbed banks and then almost had sex with trannies, a city where women routinely unloaded submachine Uzis in municipal courthouses and seemingly everyone drove 6-4 Impalas. Critics attacked Eazy-E, N.W.A. and their gangsta rap ilk for glorifying violence and misogyny. The group countered that they preferred not to think of their music as "gangsta rap" but rather "reality music."
Eazy-E, to me, was the perfect anti-hero for the junior high set. Built with a tiny frame and equipped with a distinct, high-pitched voice, he still managed to seem simultaneously menacing and charming while rapping Ice Cube's and Ren's lyrics-- which were juvenile and peppered liberally with earthy language. It probably wouldn't have delighted me so much if I had been any older. At 14, anything that adults hated had some worth. From the point that my brother and I first heard Eazy, we followed N.W.A. casually, at the very least least. I was initially disappointed when Ice Cube left but I remember taping the amazing video for "100 Miles and Runnin'" off the TV and still being a fan. When Dre and Eazy's relationship soured and they seemed to focus solely on bitching about each other, the fun started to fade, like we were kids trapped in a bitter divorce. Eazy went on to discover Bone Thugs, who I also loved, before Eazy succumbed to AIDS. Ren and Yella disappeared and Ice Cube started doing children's films and making appearances on Jay Leno. But for a couple of summers, Eazy E was almost as big as Pee Wee Herman to me.
Other rappers where quick to exploit and capitalize on Compton's name. I remember Compton's Most Wanted, the D.O.C., the West Coast All Stars and DJ Quik. Colors came out around then and, a couple of years later, Boyz N the Hood. Together, they complimented Eazy-E's accounts while remaining decidedly more grounded in reality. It wasn't long before my attention moved back to the south and east.
When I moved to L.A. in 1999, I volunteered in Compton at a community garden. I was nervous at first, given Compton's reputation, but what I found was a mostly Latino neighborhood which didn't at all resemble the war zone I'd seen in Colors and the like. Of course, I thought Echo Park would be like Mi Vida Loca too and it also proved to be pretty mellow... I should've known better. After all, Road House isn't really much like the Missouri that I came from.
I first heard Eazy-E back in 1988 when I was in junior high. Even before I heard him, I'd heard of him. Back then, new music was still mostly disseminated by word of mouth and the trade of mixtapes. Our computers were Apple ][es and the internet was still just one of Al Gore's fantasies. The only rap they played on the radio was harmless (but fun) stuff like Whodini, UTFO and the Fresh Prince & DJ Jazzy Jeff. But just looking around the school hallways it was obvious that there was more to the hip-hop world than what got played on the air. Kids wore enormous clocks around their necks like Flava Flav of the airplay-denied Public Enemy. When teachers distinguished me from another Eric by referring to me as "Eric B.," the question "where's Rakim?" often followed-- uttered by a savvy classmate. The rap that most people listened to as far as I know (with the exception of Ice-T, Too $hort ) was either from the East or South Coasts. Then, seemingly overnight, kids started wearing Raiders and Kings gear. A wind picked up from the west...
One day around that time, my younger brother Evan and I were out riding bikes down past Bill Wolf's property. Bill Wolf was kind of a big man out in the country who built a lot of homes, owned a lot of land and used to shoot copperheads-- plus he claimed to have seen panthers in the woods behind our house, long before they were officially verified to have returned to the area. I remember the tar on Old Mill Creek Road used to bubble in the heat and pop under my Schwinn's deliberately swerving tires. There was probably the loud buzz of cicadas in the air. Down by Mill Creek (where I used to try to catch crawdads) Evan (riding our sister's orange 3-speed) found a chewed up, discarded cassette by the bridge. He said that the tape was unraveled and draped across some weeds. It was labeled "Eazy Duz It." I got excited at the opportunity suddenly afforded us to listen to something we probably wouldn't otherwise hear. Evan wound the tape back up with his finger and took it back to the house.
We went to the Green Room, a room almost entirely furnished in green (hence the name) located safely in the basement since it was the most remote corner of the house. There was a green couch, green walls, a green Persian rug and all of our dad's old Aurora Monster models. Evan tried to repair the tangled cassette. The first song we heard was "Nobody Move." Previously, Evan had christened the massive boombox he received for Christmas exclusively with the likes of Nu Shooz and Club Nouveau. We were both shocked by the depravity and lewdness of the lyrics whilst transfixed by the amazing production and narratives. We knew our outspoken, feminist mother would not approve and yet somehow we snuck enough time, in the months to come, to memorize the entire album, which we both still remember pretty well.
Around that time, N.W.A. and Easy-E made "Compton" a household word even over in far-off Missouri. In reality we had our own gangs to contend with (the homegrown Too Hard Posse and imported gangs like the Vice Lords and Gangster Disciples) and our own cities of Kansas City and St. Louis were plagued which much higher crime rates than any in California although it never affected me any. Anyway, I was fascinated with the colorful, cartoonish tales of this far off possibly mythical South Central locale where Mac 10-toting Crips apparently robbed banks and then almost had sex with trannies, a city where women routinely unloaded submachine Uzis in municipal courthouses and seemingly everyone drove 6-4 Impalas. Critics attacked Eazy-E, N.W.A. and their gangsta rap ilk for glorifying violence and misogyny. The group countered that they preferred not to think of their music as "gangsta rap" but rather "reality music."
Eazy-E, to me, was the perfect anti-hero for the junior high set. Built with a tiny frame and equipped with a distinct, high-pitched voice, he still managed to seem simultaneously menacing and charming while rapping Ice Cube's and Ren's lyrics-- which were juvenile and peppered liberally with earthy language. It probably wouldn't have delighted me so much if I had been any older. At 14, anything that adults hated had some worth. From the point that my brother and I first heard Eazy, we followed N.W.A. casually, at the very least least. I was initially disappointed when Ice Cube left but I remember taping the amazing video for "100 Miles and Runnin'" off the TV and still being a fan. When Dre and Eazy's relationship soured and they seemed to focus solely on bitching about each other, the fun started to fade, like we were kids trapped in a bitter divorce. Eazy went on to discover Bone Thugs, who I also loved, before Eazy succumbed to AIDS. Ren and Yella disappeared and Ice Cube started doing children's films and making appearances on Jay Leno. But for a couple of summers, Eazy E was almost as big as Pee Wee Herman to me.
Other rappers where quick to exploit and capitalize on Compton's name. I remember Compton's Most Wanted, the D.O.C., the West Coast All Stars and DJ Quik. Colors came out around then and, a couple of years later, Boyz N the Hood. Together, they complimented Eazy-E's accounts while remaining decidedly more grounded in reality. It wasn't long before my attention moved back to the south and east.
When I moved to L.A. in 1999, I volunteered in Compton at a community garden. I was nervous at first, given Compton's reputation, but what I found was a mostly Latino neighborhood which didn't at all resemble the war zone I'd seen in Colors and the like. Of course, I thought Echo Park would be like Mi Vida Loca too and it also proved to be pretty mellow... I should've known better. After all, Road House isn't really much like the Missouri that I came from.
Relevant Tags
Compton, Gangsta Rap, Holidays, Eazy-e Day, N.w.a., 1980sComments
of course the custom on EAZY-E Day is to...
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pour+one+for+my+homies
To the loving public at large: being enlightened on Eazy is a wonderful thing for all indeed - but please note: if you are not a QUEER of one stripe or another (this blogger EB may or may not be, who can say), it is frequently considered offensive to use the term 'trannies' to describe this delightful group (transsexual, transvestite, and so on) within the gay culture! Wouldn't want anyone to get the wrong idea!
I don't think Colors was ever meant to be based in Compton. In fact a portion of it was shot near Belmont high school; a long way from Compton. Sorry, minor detail...
Well, it's been about 20 years since I watched it but there are definitely scenes that were filmed in Watts. Watts is within walking distance of Compton. The cover even has the Watts Towers on it. It was also filmed in San Pedro. After Oso's arrest the cops look out over the harbor.
its all over the place. They mention "East Los Angeles", though I don't think that's totally accurate either.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094894/
I first heard E's version of "Green Acres" when I was in high school. That was an eye opener...
i want 5min of my life back
rip eazy e
From Wikipedia: Internet pioneers Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn wrote a 9/29/2000 article which described Gore's contributions to the Internet since the 1970s, including his work on the Gore Bill: “[A]s the two people who designed the basic architecture and the core protocols that make the Internet work, we would like to acknowledge VP Gore's contributions as a Congressman, Senator and as Vice President. No other elected official, to our knowledge, has made a greater contribution over a longer period of time. Last year the Vice President made a straightforward statement on his role. He said: "During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the Internet." We don't think, as some people have argued, that Gore intended to claim he "invented" the Internet. Moreover, there is no question in our minds that while serving as Senator, Gore's initiatives had a significant and beneficial effect on the still-evolving Internet. The fact of the matter is that Gore was talking about and promoting the Internet long before most people were listening. We feel it is timely to offer our perspective." Carry on as you were, thanks.