Eazy-E

Eric Lynn Wright, known professionally as Eazy-E, was an American rapper who propelled West Coast rap and gangsta rap by leading the group N.W.A and its label, Ruthless Records. Wright is often referred to as the "Godfather of Gangsta Rap".

The architect of West Coast gangsta rap never aimed to be a rapper—Eric Wright was a Compton drug dealer who founded Ruthless Records in 1987 and subsequently built N.W.A into hip-hop's most incendiary force. *Eazy-Duz-It* established the blueprint for street narratives that would dominate the genre, though his collaborators Dr. Dre and Ice Cube possessed superior lyrical prowess; when both fled Ruthless, they made sure the world knew it—Dre's departure to Death Row and Cube's vicious *No Vaseline* diss transformed friendly competition into hip-hop's most consequential beef.