EAZY-E

Released shortly after Straight Outta Compton, Eazy-Duz-It was the first N.W.A spinoff album. Years before Ice Cube went solo with Amerikkka's Most Wanted in 1990, before Dr. Dre changed the rap game with The Chronic in 1992, before MC Ren struggled to establish himself with Shock of the Hour in 1993, and before Yella simply fell into obscurity, Eazy-E rose to immediate superstar status with his solo debut. And for good reason, because Eazy-Duz-It has a lot going for it, above all yet more cutting-edge production work from Dr. Dre, who really steals the show here. He melds together samples of P-Funk and Def Jam, along with the leftover electro sounds of mid-'80s Los Angeles and the concurrent hip-hop motifs of New York City, in the end creating a dense, unique, and funky style that sounded absolutely revolutionary in 1988 when Eazy-E rode this album to much success. It helps too that Eazy has an exceptional batch of songs to work with here, including a remix of "Boyz-n-the Hood," which had originally appeared on N.W.A and the Posse. Granted, Eazy isn't an especially gifted MC, to put it mildly, but his perverse sense of humor compensates, as does the support he gets from his N.W.A associates. Again, Dr. Dre simply steals the show here. Don't be surprised if you find yourself enjoying Eazy-Duz-It more for the production than for the rapping, all the more so if you don't share Eazy's sense of humor, which is generally sexist, violent, and unconstructive to society in general (making him the prototypical "gangsta"). In the end, Eazy enjoyed only a brief recording career, with this album standing head and shoulders above anything else he'd ever record apart from N.W.A. When he'd return for his next go-round, 5150 Home 4 tha Sick, he wouldn't have Dr. Dre on his side, let alone Ice Cube, and the difference couldn't be starker. The 2002 reissue appends the 5150 Home 4 tha Sick EP as bonus tracks. The composite of these two releases makes this two-fer about the best single-disc Eazy solo collection you're liable to find on the market.

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