Tidigare i höst avtäcktes “Tupac Shakur Way” i Oakland, Kalifornien. Nu är det dags för en annan västkustlegend att hedras med en egen gata i hemkvarteren. Det handlar om N.W.A-rapparen Eazy-E som drygt tre decennier efter sin bortgång får ge namn åt “Eazy Street” i slutet av november.
I samband med avtäckningen av gatunamnet så närvarade Eazy-E:s mamma Kathie Wright, som under ceremonin sade:
“I would like to thank everybody that had a part in this and I love you and God bless, and he is watching from a distance. Thank you very much. Everybody have a nice day and have a Happy Thanksgiving.”
Redan innan ceremonin har rapparens son Lil Eazy-E uttryckt sin tacksamhet å familjens vägnar till AllHipHop:
“To hear our father Eric ‘Eazy-E’ Wright is being honored during the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop, it’s a testament to his impact and legacy in the genre. His contributions to Hip Hop music and the entertainment business and culture continue to be recognized and celebrated, and we are truly grateful.”
“We will continue to make sure our father’s charitable contributions will continue to be our goal thru our nonprofit, the Eric Wright Foundation. We truly appreciate the honor.”
Staden Compton kommer att ändra namnet på Auto Plaza Drive till “Eazy Street” vid ett speciellt evenemang där just Lil Eazy-E, som själv är rappare, kommer att uppträda tillsammans med N.W.A-kollegan DJ Yella.
Apropå Lil Eazy-E så avslöjades det i våras, vid en förhandslyssning av samarbetsprojektet “The Legacy” med Daz Dillinger, att pappa Eazy har mängder av osläppt musik som eventuellt skulle kunna släppas framöver.
Det var Rock The Bells som catchade up med den bortgångna rapparens gamla vän Arnold “Bigg A” White som påstod att det bland annat finns samarbeten med Guns N’ Roses och mycket annat.
“There is unreleased music still out there. We know for a fact that he had two or three or four reels in his car when he went to the hospital. Those reels came up missing”, bekräftade han och fortsatte:
“He had songs with Slash from Guns n’ Roses — he had songs with Guns n’ Roses on those reels. Those reels have been found ’cause they wound up in Canada. That’s a whole other story, but what happened to them [since], I don’t know.”
“I don’t know if the estate got them, but there is unreleased music, and Yella has some, I know for a fact that there is some unreleased acapella vocals, that he was working on some records with a couple of producers I worked with and last I heard was that they were up in Dre’s studio.”
Gangsterrap-pionjären avled som bekant den 26 mars 1995 av AIDS-relaterade hälsoproblem. Rapparens enda postuma album, “Str8 off tha Streetz of MuthaphukkinCompton”, kom i januari 1996 och flera år senare kom en EP med titeln “Impact of a Legend”.
