He talked the talk; he walked the walk. Eazy-E knew first hand the
life of a gangsta from the streets of Compton. Been there, done that. No one
could fool him and few tried. But there were other sides to Eazy’s personality
that sometimes made the headlines and sometimes did not.
Eric Wright loved children. He would talk to
them-not talk down to them. Few knew that he contributed large amounts of money
to charities that directly affected the lives of children in need-physically,
financially, or both. He was so gentle with kids and would speak to them in
that soft-spoken voice of his-unlike the voice on the rap albums. And kids
loved him. No, not because he was Eazy-E, a very famous man, but because he was
a good man. Children have a way of cutting through the bull.
He stood up for what he believed in and in typical
Eric fashion, it didn’t have to be the most popular cause and most of the time
it wasn’t. When he stood up for the police officer Theodore Briseno, who was
involved in the Rodney King beating people were shocked. According to Eric: “He
was the only one I saw who was trying to stop the beating.” That lead some
critics to call him a sell out, but Eric could have cared less. He believed in
it, so he did it. Simple as that.
He also wanted to shoot his videos about Compton in
Compton. The City Council had other ideas because they didn’t like the way
Compton was being portrayed across the nation. Eric documentary-style videos
showed the life he knew with all the grim realities and that wasn’t popular
with the city fathers. So, Eric went to a council meeting to convince them and
also brought along some news cameras and crews.
Eric could be as kindhearted as he was tough, as
gentle as he was hard, and those who were in his circle of friends loved him.
And so did his fans. There are a lot of unknown people out there who have
wonderful memories of Eazy-E because he touched their lives. And if you touch
one person’s life and change it for the better, isn’t that what we are all here
for?