Eazy-E Eternal E: The Best Of CD

Compiled the same year of Eazy-E's untimely death, ETERNAL E surveys the gangsta rap pioneer's illustrious career, collecting a slew of best-loved tracks that demonstrate his lasting influence on the game. Focusing heavily on Eazy's classic solo debut, EAZY-DUZ-IT, ETERNAL E also contains selections from the N.W.A. group albums, STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON and NIGGAZ4LIFE (though only the ones that have Eazy rhyming alone). For the crate diggers, ETERNAL E also features the hard-to-find "Eazy Street," which appeared on the obscure RETURN OF SUPERFLY soundtrack.

Eazy-E enjoyed only a brief recording career, but the few albums and EPs he did release -- on his own as well as with his group, N.W.A -- were tremendously influential, setting the stage for the proliferation of West Coast gangsta rap in the early '90s. Showcasing some of the pioneering gangsta's most influential recordings, Eternal E serves as a summary of Eazy's solo highlights, including a couple N.W.A songs but only ones that were solo showcases. You get the standout songs from Eazy's debut album, Eazy-Duz-It (1988), as well as the bulk of his follow-up EP, 5150 Home 4 tha Sick (1992). But Eternal E stops there, unfortunately not including anything from the first-rate It's On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa EP or the third-rate Str8 off tha Streetz album. (Eazy's label, Ruthless, left its parent label, Priority, at this point, and Eternal E is a Priority release, meaning that post-Priority recordings such as those on It's On would have to be licensed for inclusion here -- a price the label seems unwilling to pay.) Even if Eternal E doesn't round up a full career retrospective, it does feature Eazy's key songs, namely his earliest ones, which boasted cutting-edge production work by Dr. Dre. So this best-of does serve its purpose fairly well, and might be the only Eazy album you'll need. Still, if it's one and only one Eazy album you want, you'd be better off with Priority's Eazy-Duz-It reissue from 2002, which includes that entire album plus the entire 5150 EP appended as bonus tracks -- giving you mostly everything here and much more. Either way though, you're getting a good portrait of Eazy's best solo music, with the exception of the It's On EP, which you'll definitely want to hear if you're a fan. [In 2005 Priority issued a Gangsta Memorial Edition that goes a long way toward making Eternal E definitive. Like the 2003 reissue, this edition adds a song each from It's On and Str8 (a move that is still cheap and still leaves more to be desired, but is better than nothing).] ~ Jason Birchmeier

Recorded between 1988 & 1996.

Audio Remasterer: Kris Solem.

Liner Note Author: Lynette M. Jones.

Photographer: Dana Hursey.

Personnel includes: Eazy-E, Gangsta Dresta, B.G. Knocc Out, Sylk (rap vocals).

Producers include: Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, Naughty By Nature, Cold 187um, Bobby "Bobcat" Erwin.

Entertainment Weekly (12/1/95, p.77) - "...hits like the groundbreaking `Boyz-N-the-Hood' and the funky `We Want Eazy' are enjoyably raw (and music history to boot). - Rating: B
Melody Maker (1/13/96, p.29) - Recommended - "...those old pre-COMPTON solo tracks...are still the absolute f***ing bomb, even with, in fact, because of, the dated production....[His] was the first voice in hip hop that could be called weak...and thus it was petulantly aggressive in a way that was entirely new..."
Rap Pages (2/96, p.31) - 8 (out of 10) - "...a historical biography of Eazy-E's music that is a must-have for the archives...this compilation documents the life of one of West Coast rap's most important contributors..."
NME (Magazine) (1/6/95, p.33) - 6 (out of 10) - "...is as elegiac as it is capitalistic....[These are] graphic accounts and celebrations of streetlife designed to cause maximum offence to anyone who doesn't try to understand the social context..."