Eazy-E

The rapper born Eric Wright was negligibly taller than Gary Coleman, sported a Jheri curl greasier than cheap pizza, and rapped about being a hardcore gangsta in a laughable pipsqueak monotone -- yet as Eazy-E, the N.W.A member became a bona fide hip-hop icon. Eazy got by more on charisma and pottymouthed humor than by actual rapping talent or creative inspiration, which made for some spotty solo albums. Easy-Duz-It, recorded with Dr. Dre, is a quickie N.W.A spinoff, but Dre keeps the quality level up, most notably on the thundering remix of "Boyz in the Hood." Money disputes and mistrust of Eazy's Ruthless Records' partner Jerry Heller led to N.W.A's dissolution and a falling-out among its members; Dre subsequently sniped incessantly at Eazy on The Chronic, and the beef inspired the best music of Eazy's career, the It's On EP. Str8 Off tha Streetz of Muthaphukkin Compton came out shortly after Eazy died of AIDS in March of 1995; its monochrome thuggish lyrics posed a bizarre contrast to the poignant reality of Eazy's death. His legacy is the gangsta rapper archetype, as well as the artists he discovered: both Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and the D.O.C. owe him their careers. (PETER RELIC) From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide