Episode #131 | 5.30.23
Eazy-E: A Hidden Coke Stash, Domestic Terrorists, and Death Threats
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In this episode
Long before he created a paradigm-shifting hip-hop supergroup, Eazy-E lucked into life as a Compton drug dealer when he discovered a dead man’s hidden stash of money and cocaine. He used the lessons of hustling on the streets when he went legit and became a media mogul. He also became a target. He was extorted. His life was threatened. And it was later discovered that he was on the kill list of a white supremacist group that planned to start a war in the aftermath of the Rodney King trial and the L.A. riots.
Sources
Parental Discretion Is Advised: The Rise of N.W.A. and the Dawn of Gangsta Rap, by Gerrick D. Kennedy
Original Gangstas: Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, and the Birth of West Coast Rap, by Ben Westhoff
Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, by Jeff Chang
Gangs Wage War on Mean Streets of S. Los Angeles (LA Times)
The Mysterious Death of Eazy-E (2021, TV miniseries)
The FBI Agent Who Hunted N.W.A (The Daily Beast)
Authorities Cite Links of Plotters To Hate Groups (NY Times)
How the FBI Tied Tupac's Death to Eazy-E, Death Row Records, and the Jewish Defense League (Atlas Obscura)
Obituary: Eazy-E, who put 'gangsta-rap' and Compton on the pop culture map, dies of AIDS at 31 (LA Times)
Suge Knight on Jimmy Kimmel (2003)
Eazy-E: The Ruthless Life Of An American Gangsta (Vibe)
Rap Research Archive: N.W.A interview Spin Magazine 1991
Rap Star Eazy-E Says He Has AIDS (LA Times)
The Conspiracy Behind the Death of Eazy-E (Highsnobiety)
1990s HIV/AIDS Timeline (APA)
Disgraceland is a podcast about musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. It melds music history, true crime and transgressive fiction. Disgraceland is not journalism. Disgraceland is entertainment. Entertainment inspired by true events. However, certain scenes, characters and names are sometimes fictionalized for dramatic purposes.
Credits
Hosted by Jake Brennan.
Written by Zeth Lundy.
Copy editing by James Sullivan.
Mixed and engineered by Sean Cahalin.
Score by Jake Brennan.
Additional music and score elements by Ryan Spraker.
Additional music services by Bryce Kanzer.
Ad music composed by the late, great Ian Kennedy.
Disgraceland theme song, “Crenshaw Space Boogie” written and produced by Jake Brennan. Performed by Jake Brennan, Bryce Kanzer, Jay Cannava, and Evan Kenney. Mixed and engineered by Adam Taylor.
*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak