Eazy-E - Impact of a Legend (March 26, 2002)

Twenty-six years ago today, rapper-slash-entrepreneur Eric “Eazy-E” Wright passed away due to complications from AIDS. This is still a weird concept for many hip hop heads to reconcile, especially for a musical genre that is, unfortunately, still marred by the violent deaths of many of its artists even to this day, but it was even more of a shock in 1995, especially since the man was known as one of the godfathers of gangsta rap, thanks to his Ruthless Records label and being a founding member of N.W.A.

Counting his N.W.A. output, Eazy-E only managed to release five albums (one posthumously) and four EPs, which isn’t a ton of music to parse through when debating the man’s lasting legacy on the sound of an entire coast. Eazy’s bandmates Dr. Dre and Ice Cube are obviously more well-known and have made a lasting impact on our chosen culture, while MC Ren and DJ Yella have also managed to eke out a few bucks using the group’s name to their benefit, but whenever anybody thinks of N.W.A., they’re really thinking of Eazy-E, whether it’s for his contributions to tracks such as “Fuck The Police” or “Straight Outta Compton”, or for his business acumen, which runs the gamut from ripping off the artists on his label (including the other members of N.W.A.) to signing the likes of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and the Black Eyed Peas (well, before they called themselves that, anyway).

One of those four EP’s was the posthumous Impact of a Legend, was released on the seventh anniversary of the man’s death. It was bundled with a confusingly massive amount of content, including a DVD filled with the man’s best-known video appearances; a comic book; a documentary about the man; at least two different PC video games; and this eight-track EP, which goes by the alternative title The Godfather of Gangsta Rap, a name which I will not be using.

Impact of a Legend allegedly consists of unreleased verses Eazy-E had recorded for his last full-length project, 1996’s Str8 off tha Streetz of Muthaphukkin Compton, although you’ll quickly discover that isn’t true. It was fully produced by Rhythm D, a frequent collaborator for not just Eric, but every artist in Ruthless Records, and features guest appearances from a gaggle of gangsta rappers that you’ve definitely never heard of, since all of Eric’s actual famous friends either performed their own tributes to the man or were extra-wary of the financial side of Ruthless’ business, since his widow, Tomica Wright, took over the label and quickly alienated its remaining artists.

1. INTRO (FEAT. RHYTHM D & STEFFON)
(eyeroll emoji)

2. EAZY 1,2,3 (FEAT. LOESTA & PHALOS MODE)
It’s certainly a curious choice when an Eazy-E song that seems to denigrate Snoop Dogg (and Dr. Dre, although neither name is outright mentioned, which is so unlike Eric) relies on an interpolation of a song from Tha Eastsidaz, one that features Snoop Dogg at that, for its bridge. It’s the complete antithesis to our late host’s whole “’Dre Dre’ only meant Eazy’s payday” attack on Andre Young and the circumstances surrounding his abrupt defection from Ruthless Records to form Death Row. So it goes. “Eazy 1,2,3” purportedly features two unreleased verses from Eric, the second one seemingly recorded in a much different era than the first, since he’s specifically pissed at two unnamed individuals during the latter, but more generally, but vaguely, aggressive during his opener. Neither verse truly fits producer Rhythm D’s instrumental, however, for obvious reasons, but even still, “Eazy 1,2,3” should at least house the illusion that the man recorded to the beat, ya know? Accomplices Phalos Mode and Loesta, whose rap name doubles as a prescription appetite suppressant, fare slightly better but not really, as both men contribute some of the blandest gangsta rap I’ve heard this side of B.G. Knocc Out and Gangsta Dresta. Loesta offers up a “Show my face on the block, I give a fuck about a cop” while Phalos Mode (one of the worst rap monikers I’ve ever seen) claims to be “still gangsta and Ruthless”, in case that somehow sells this crappy song for you. Eric Wright deserved better.

3. COCK THE 9 (FEAT. LOCO S.A.B., PHALOS MODE, & THE GENIE)
It’s an Eazy-E love song dedicated to the gun he keeps tucked “next to [his] dick”, and one that has a writing credit attributed to MC Ren, interestingly enough (no, he doesn’t appear in any capacity, but you can hear his cadence within Eric’s performance), but the man isn’t singularly focused here; in between sessions of murdering gang members in cold blood regardless of the set they claim (“Some shit was said about blue or red / But I’m colorblind”), he and his boys enjoy, and this is a direct fucking quote, “sweatin’ all the bitches to blow our weenies”, which, look, that shit took me right out. That is the absolute worst description of fellatio to have ever transpired within our culture, and it occurs four lines into “Cock The 9”. I completely understand anybody who just couldn’t be bothered to stick with this Rhythm D production after that shit – the only reason I’m still writing about the track is because I’m a trooper and this review will complete my obligation to the Eazy-E discography. Guest verses are provided by Loco S.A.B. (yeah, me neither) and a returning Phalos Mode, while something called The Genie recites a dumb hook that merely repeats the song’s title multiple times. The beat is better than his work on “Eazy 1,2,3”, but there’s no getting past that Eric Wright bar. I refuse to believe Ren actually wrote that line for our host, especially when the rest of the performance (Eazy has two short verses here) actually sounded decent. Did Rhythm D actually hold a grudge against Eazy-E and felt the need to tarnish his legacy by any means necessary as vengeance or something?

4. SWITCHEZ (FEAT. ROC SLANGA)
Rhythm D provides yet another rushed instrumental for “Switchez”, a bad song that still could have been kind of catchy had the man taken the time to make this production sound fuller. This extends to the verses as well: while at least there’s a valid excuse for Eazy-E’s two stanzas to not fully mesh with their sonic environment, guest Rhythm D appears to be rapping on an entirely different channel, as his energy doesn’t match any of this at all. “Switchez”, aside from being an unsubtle dis toward Dre, Snoop, and Tha Dogg Pound, is an ode to cars that, unsurprisingly, shifts gears to talk about fucking for no discernible reason. (Was Eazy-E the forefather to Lil Wayne? Discuss.) Rhythm D’s beat, as mentioned, is incomplete and rather meh about it, exhibiting none of the flair proper G-Funk tends to carry, and the performances follow suit, although there’s a bridge that rips off Bix Markie’s “Make the Music With Your Mouth, Biz” and a section of Eric’s second verse that, no lie, finds him aping Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner”, which is why Vega’s name appears in the writing credits. This was intentional, folks, and it was hilarious, but not because it was actually funny.

5. THE REV (SKIT)
At least this interlude actually features Eazy-E, and he’s even actively trying to be funny here to boot, and it’s wild to think that our host had so little unreleased material that a skit was considered to be an exclusive track for Impact of a Legend. But still, this deserves nothing more than my usual “…”.

6. NO MORE TEARS (FEAT. PHALOS MODE, SACRAPHYCE, & THE GENIE)
Older hip hop heads criticize the modern-day output of our chosen genre for its eschewing of drums in favor of trying to create a “vibe”. I happen to be one of those heads, so it especially irks me when I find those missing heavy drums attached to terrible fucking songs such as “No More Tears”. Rhythm D’s instrumental is garbage, but the drums hit, which will just confuse your neck and soul. The rest of the song seems to have been compiled in a haphazard manner: Eazy-E’s verse, cribbed from an unreleased track from Ruthless Records group G.B.M. also called “No More Tears”, kind of clomps around on top of the music, and the hook is made up of two Eazy bars culled from said verse, bars that sound terrible as a “chorus”. (They really don’t work together well at all. They’re like peanut butter and cancer.) “No More Tears” is about dead female acquaintances, apparently, with odd asides about how the women look in their respective caskets coupled with lessons on how one can’t cheat death, and it’s a muddled message made all the murkier with the second verse, which describes actually killing a woman who ran afoul of drug dealers. There’s literally no direction this song doesn’t go toward, and its only bit of self-reflection comes in the form of the outro, where the numerous references to a “dead bitch” are followed up with a “I don’t mean to call her a bitch, but…” as though an inability to think of a better description absolves them from the track’s flaws. Ugh.

7. RUTHLESS LIFE (FEAT. CASHISH & LOESTA)
The composition “Nutz On Ya Chin” (this is already not a good start to any sentence), from the posthumous Str8 Off Tha Streetz Of Muthaphukkin Compton, is one of the best tracks from that particular project (okay, the sentence has recovered nicely) due to how fluidly Eazy’s vocals flow over the Naughty by Nature instrumental. (I mean, that’s how it’s credited, but more than likely it was split between Kay Gee producing and Treach writing Eric’s verses.) So the geniuses over at Ruthless Records thought lifting Eric’s vocals and placing them over an altogether unrelated Rhythm D beat would be a “good” idea. In case it wasn’t clear by my use of quotation marks and my prevalent sarcastic nature, it was most definitely not a “good” idea. “Ruthless Life" takes our host’s yearning to hangers-on constantly on his jock and places it within the context of generic-ass gangsta rap, with D’s musical backing not matching Eric’s energy even remotely, whereas guests Cashish and Loesta sound bored and boring by comparison. Nothing of note is spoken on here, and the (garbage) chorus is repeated too many times for anyone to ever care. If “Ruthless Life” had featured legitimate unreleased Eazy-E vocals, then I could see a reason for this to exist, but taken as is? What in the mother fuck was this?

8. STILL FUCKEM (FEAT. PAPERBOY, PHALOS MODE, & THE GENIE)
Impact of a Legend ends with a direct sequel to N.W.A.’s 1988 magnum opus “Fuck The Police”… or at least it would if you cut the song off immediately after Eazy’s first verse. Everyone else featured on this track didn’t seem to be a part of that group text, however, so their respective off-beat (not a compliment) verses peddle generic gangsta water to quench the thirst of the masses. Neither (rapping) guest seems to be invested in anything aside from “appearing on a posthumous Eazy-E project”, as Paperboy and Phalos Mode attempt conversational flows that fall flat over Rhythm D’s diet G-Funk. I certainly hope these guys were paid handsomely for their cameos, because based on performance alone it’s clear that absolutely none of them should ever hold any position within the music business again. So glad this kick to the dick of Eazy-E’s legacy is finally over.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Impact of a Legend is so fucking useless as a piece of musical history that I’m upset that it’s even taking up space on the shelves of used CD stores all over the country. There is no need for this shit to exist: every actual song on here is a bizarre pastiche of old Eazy-E performances (some of which were legitimately unreleased, but the others not so much) mashed uncomfortably into a space they don’t fit into, with Rhythm D instrumentals that feel like I put more thought into writing this sentence than he did crafting the beats. Every guest appearance on this project also feels like the result of an open casting call, with Rhythm D and Tomica Wright snatching up every verse they could get away with stealing before anybody noticed, since you’ve never heard from any of these motherfuckers ever again. Eazy-E’s is a complicated legacy, in that he truly is responsible for an entire era in West Coast hip hop history (by merely signing Above the Law, he helped create the G-Funk blueprint the subgenre thrives on to this day) while directly responsible for the direction the culture went in by fucking over his friends financially (there would be no Ice Cube and Bomb Squad collaborations if it weren’t for the guy), but Impact of a Legend would have served more of a purpose if it had been just a greatest hits compilation. The master recording should be destroyed as soon as possible. I cannot stress to you two enough how fucking awful all of this is.

BUY OR BURN? Musically, there’s no reason for this shit to even exist – it even fails as a transparent way of expanding Eazy-E’s back catalog. But perhaps you want a DVD collection of Eazy’s videos, since you somehow have enough access to the Interweb to read these words but not enough to jump over to YouTube. Or maybe you’re a collector of weird PC games, I don’t know. But as an EP, fuck this shit.

BEST TRACKS: None.

-Max

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