HIP HOP NEWS: Compton Celebrates Eazy-E Day

The city of Compton, California celebrates the life of one of it's most famous residents, as Eazy-E Day is held today. Former Mayor of Compton, Omar Bradley, officially declared April 7 to be Eazy-E Day.

The iconic rapper and mogul (born Eric Wright Jr.), who made Compton famous, passed away from complications caused by the AIDS virus on March 26 1995. Many of his family, friends and supporters do not believe the cause behind his death to be accurate.

As a solo artist and member of seminal Hip Hop act N.W.A, Eazy-E established Ruthless Records as one of Hip Hop's first truly successful independently-run record labels, siging a lucrative distrubtion deal with Priority Records.

He went on to discover several important acts including J.J. Fad, Above The Law, Kokane and most recently Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. Eazy’s widow, Tomica Woods-Wright, took over the reigns as CEO of Rutless Records following her husband's passing. Now celebrating it's 20th anniversary, the label recently inked a new distribution deal with Sony/Red.