As a popular member of pioneering gangster rap group N.W.A., Eric “Eazy-E” Wright once wore a stark-white hockey mask over his face during an appearance on the “Arsenio Hall Show” in 1991. This odd gesture—a playful homage to Jason Vorhees from the “Friday the 13th” slasher films and a cheeky riff on the rapper’s own reputation as a media “villain”—exemplifies why Eazy-E remains one of the more memorable pop figures of the 1990s. While less successful as a solo artist than other N.W.A. members Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, Eazy-E had the most credible “gangster” past in a group that brought a zeitgeist by hijacking danger to the popular music landscape in a manner akin to the Sex Pistols’ transgressive reign in late ‘70s Britain.

With the current re-release of Wright’s career retrospective, Eternal E, the ironic contrast comes to mind that while Jason Vorhees murdered irresponsible teens in the movies (usually) while they had sex, Eazy-E succumbed to AIDS in 1995, a casualty of his own sexually promiscuous lifestyle. This new edition of Eternal E showcases Eazy’s work with N.W.A as well as his solo career highlights. It also includes an extra DVD of his music videos. Perhaps only sounds and images together can document the rapper’s aesthetically nihilistic achievements.

Gangster rap’s unintended gift to the end of the 20th Century was to problematize the soulless nature of the “American dream” by symbolizing materialist success in its nightmarish end-game conclusions better than any canonical Hollywood gangster film ever did. Additionally, gangster rap’s embrace of stereotypical wrongness, in various forms, arguably forced the liberal left in America to confront the irrelevance of its intellectually p.c. vacuum.

Eazy-E remains an icon of this musical genre, which is now a culturally dominant force. In his brief career, he smartly made boldface the physical idiosyncrasies of his short height and high, whiney voice, which never had to get audibly angry to frighten the white middle class. Triumphantly, the rapper’s presentation and humored self-awareness regarding his violent nature convinced us of its death-dealing legitimacy.

theodore[at]saltshakermagazine.com