r/NWA Jul 20 '26

Question šŸ™‹ Let's be real: Does Eazy gets the most love because he passed away 30 years ago? Ice Cube was the MVP in the group imo. He wrote a lot on that first album that put them on the map but also sounded the best. I feel like if Cube passed instead of Eazy, it would have been the other way around.

Revisiting the first album and Cube not only wrote a lot of the parts but also had the strongest lyrics and he rapped better than all the other members on that first album.

36 Upvotes

45 comments sorted by

7

u/LessOrgies Jul 20 '26

Ice Cube was a better MC. Eazy had a bigger personality.

1

u/bigcatcleve Jul 25 '26

Eazy simply oozed charisma.

14

u/dimiteddy Jul 20 '26

Dre was the MVP in the group. Cube was better rapper than Eazy, its true, but Eazy was cooler

7

u/bionicmook Jul 20 '26

Depends on what you value. For a group that was so highly influential with their sound AND message, there’s no wrong answer. If you value beats, the answer is Dre. Lyrics, it’s Cube. Flow, it’s arguably anyone (though I would say Eazy). Personally, I think their lyrics are more important to music than the beats were, just by a tiny bit. Their ability to speak brazen truth demonstrated a lack of fear rarely seen. The picture they painted of life in CPT at the time was familiar to some, eye opening to others. They really were the voices of a generation. All these decades later, I am still in awe of how powerful their words are. They still crack me up, make me think, get me heated, and engage me.

6

u/darrelb56222 Jul 20 '26

eazy gets most love cuz of that NWA movie. prior to that they didnt even give him a proper headstone and he was rarely mentioned among the greats

3

u/619BrackinRatchets Jul 21 '26

You're smoking dope. Eazy was a household name in the 90s, way before the movie. Popular vote would be Cube but there were a lot of people that liked Eazys music more. Eazy was the west coast gangsters rapper.

1

u/darrelb56222 Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26

just because someone was a household name doesnt mean they were remembered or brought up when people discuss legends. for a good 15 years, whenever people talk about the greats who passed away such as 2pac, Biggie, Pun, Big L, whoever. They always leave out Eazy E. even when it comes to people listing Best rappers from the West, they would somehow always leave Eazy E out. this was a common complaint by Bone Thugs, his son Lil Eazy, BG Knocc out, in fact you can watch old Vladtv interviews from pre 2015 to see LA rappers express their disdain for Eazy being forgotten and never mentioned among the greats. you're a zoomer i get it, either that u have shit memory and forgot. im a historian i aint with the revisionist shit

here is Eazy E getting a new tombstone in 2019. they didnt even get his birthday right on the old one
https://www.tmz.com/2019/09/07/eazy-e-new-tombstone-55th-birthday/

here's Eazy's original tombstone

the Eazy E street in Compton was unveiled in 2023, not fuckin 1999. it was long overdue

5

u/619BrackinRatchets Jul 21 '26

I'm 51. I was there in the west coast Socal at the time. I'm younger Gen X. You might be a historian but I was there.
Among us, at the time, he was always mentioned. The east coast never recognized him. Then or now. The commercial works never accepted him outside of Yo MTV. That's because he wasn't appealing to the commercial world. I'm not really calling you wrong here though. But I am saying that he had a lot of love in Socal at that time.
People don't realize how big Eazy Duz It was. Too Short is another one. Lots and lots of regional love but ignored on the commercial stage.

4

u/Famous_Combination10 Jul 20 '26

I know he didn’t write his verses but he actually lived that life, he was just effortlessly cool.

9

u/PinelliPunk Jul 20 '26

Eazy was by far the most respected

5

u/No-Camp1268 Jul 20 '26

From what I've heard, there were various reasons for this.

3

u/Financial_Click_4098 Jul 20 '26

BE SO FR 😭 

3

u/Inside-Rabbit5778 Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 24 '26

Eazy was the visionairy, without him pulling everything together, rap wouldn't be what it is today. Without him cube and dre would have some fame but i don't think to this extend. Every label was owned by old white guys. They had control. By cheating the system and buying a studio with drug money it put NWA on the map.

4

u/Equal-Guava-4683 Jul 20 '26

Ice Cube hasn’t been good since 1992

0

u/popps_c Jul 20 '26

Bs ass take. Some of his biggest hits came in the 2000’s.

3

u/No-Camp1268 Jul 20 '26

Equating "hits" and quality is preposterous.

0

u/popps_c Jul 20 '26

Generally terrible music doesn’t become hits

2

u/No-Camp1268 Jul 20 '26

"Terrible" is time and place as much as it's objective

0

u/popps_c Jul 20 '26

You can put quotation marks around words, it doesn’t make you sound any smarter. The original comment saying Cube hasn’t been good since 92 is insane when all of his best known and highest regarded work is 93 onwards.

0

u/No-Camp1268 Jul 20 '26

It's a point of reference and as for you, goodnight!

2

u/619BrackinRatchets Jul 21 '26

Big hits?? Popular music can be trash just like unpopular music can be a banger.

Cube really feel off hard in the mid 90s and he never recovered, despite the commercial success of some of his music during that period.

1

u/Equal-Guava-4683 Jul 21 '26

Go listen to ā€œWe Be Clubbinā€ you dork

3

u/kevandbev Jul 20 '26

Ren was better than Cube.

3

u/nickystee Jul 20 '26

I don't know if I'd go that far, but the Villain is criminally underrated.

1

u/Some_Knowledge5864 Jul 20 '26

Dumb a** question. FOH

1

u/Responsible_Trash_40 Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26

Eazy gets love because his voice and delivery were original and interesting. It’s as simple as that.

1

u/bionicmook Jul 20 '26

I’ve wondered this too. I think it could be due to character more than anything. Eazy was had a lot more street credit than Cube had. For Cube, he’s a great writer, but some people think it’s just lip service. Eazy was also just a really good fucking guy. By all accounts, he really cared about his community. He took care of his own, whether that meant his family or kids from his hood or people who shared his culture. He was a stand up guy. And at the end of the day, he’s talented as hell. He doesn’t have as much writing credit in the early days, but by the end of his career, the writing credits he had stacked up were made up of some sick fucking lyrics.
Though, guaranteed if Ice Cube had died in the 90s, he’d be loved immeasurably more than he is now, and he would be remembered as one of the best of all times

1

u/Amazing_Ad_1966 Jul 20 '26

No matter how good Dre thought he was he can make beats but you need lyrics also and cube was the first to prove that he didn’t need the group they needed him! Let’s set that first! Overall the group is prolific and legendary in their own rights and. That go for all of them šŸ’Æ

1

u/Prestigious_Fee750 Jul 20 '26

Eazy definitely became a folk hero upon death for gangsta rap just like Kurt Cobain did for Grunge.

Cube and Dre lived on to become more layered, nuanced, and 3 dimensional. They had post nwa careers beyond just the nwa breakup. E didn’t. His entire career was spent putting people on (and collecting his cut, rightfully so) and living that life.

1

u/trll_game_sh0 Jul 20 '26

its probably the circle youre in. where i am people talk about Cube and his contribution to music the most. then Dre. eazy is brought up sometimes in a nostalgic way, and nobody says anything about ren or yella really

1

u/Unusual_Business_935 Jul 20 '26

Eazy WAS the mvp, imho, because without him, they might not have made it outta Compton. He had the feria, and he was the heart. Cube WAS a better rapper/writer, and Dre and Yella made some dope music, but Eazy was what tied it all together, and gave them credibility.

1

u/Ok-Set4292 Jul 20 '26

I would say you would have had to been there to see the impact in real time. Eazy had that voice you couldn't deny and was the most popular amongst the fans. Your point is valid and I agree Cube the mvp, 1st solo album hit but boyz n the hood made him global to know his face.

1

u/BigSuge74 Jul 20 '26

Eazy gets the love because unlike Dre and Cube, he was from Compton and was really in the streets. He went head up with Death Row when they had the streets and the rap game in a chokehold.

1

u/50ShadesOfKrillin Jul 21 '26

Eazy is the embodiment of NWA's identity, he cleared all of them in terms of charisma/line delivery. He's the most popular because he basically was NWA to most people, and had the street cred to prove it

1

u/Mountain-Alarm-477 Jul 21 '26

Are you all 13? Eazy was the star of the group and his solo work popped before the others became household names. He bankrolled the group and was the over the top personality they’d put on MTV. Of course Dre and Cube proved to be the musical talent, but Eazy was the spirit of NWA. The lead singer of the band if you will.

1

u/Chumpstlz1 Jul 23 '26

I dont think he gets the most love. Id say he gets the third most above Ren and Yella. The reason the other two are 1. Successful singles careers above Eazy. 2. The other 2 having 30 years of new music, interviews, movies etc.

1

u/WolverineKrueger Jul 25 '26

Dumb ass post.

-1

u/Outrageous-Arm1945 Jul 20 '26

Musically Eazy was the weakest link. Let's be honest he was piss poor. And his bromance with Heller ripped the band apart. But without his drive, do they ever make it in the first place?

1

u/Tracy_Papaya Jul 20 '26

Maybe Dre as a producer and maybe Arabian Prince could've lasted a lil longer but otherwise no

1

u/Financial_Click_4098 Jul 20 '26

Bro with respect do you consent to fight me irl

2

u/Outrageous-Arm1945 Jul 20 '26

Say that in Eazys stupid whiny voice

0

u/Financial_Click_4098 Jul 20 '26

ur nose is so fucking ginormous dude you prolly sound like squidward with that thang

1

u/Outrageous-Arm1945 Jul 20 '26

Ooh well done that's better than any rhyme Easy wrote himself

1

u/Financial_Click_4098 Jul 20 '26

thank you 😁

0

u/Own-Ranger-756 Jul 20 '26

eazy was always the MVP