“We ought to recognize our own fragility no matter how hard-core we are,” said Henry, standing above photos of Wright, including a life-sized image.Ĭalling Wright “Compton’s favorite son,” Compton Mayor Omar Bradley, who two years ago berated Wright and his associates for portraying black life and Compton in a derogatory manner, declared Friday to be “Eazy-E Day” in the city. “But your (Wright’s) legacy will survive in a type of music that promoted reality and awareness and also by how you paved the way for brothers in the ‘hood with your creative aspirations.”Ĭharise Henry, who was Wright’s personal assistant for four years, expressed her sadness through poetry. “People will talk and say evil and vicious things,” Cross told the crowd.

In the audience, rapper Hutch (Gregory Hutchinson) of Above The Law, one of the best-known rap groups on Wright’s Ruthless Records label, placed his head in his hands as the choir sang “Rough Side of the Mountain.” Later in the service, Hutchinson’s manager, Greg Cross, spoke of Wright’s contributions. won acclaim for painting rap’s most evocative and fierce portraits of life in Los Angeles at street level. Wright, a co-founder of the influential Compton rap group N.W.A., died of AIDS on March 26. Many of the people who showed up at the service were teen-agers skipping school, hoping to catch a piece of history or get a glimpse of the celebrity spectacle as “gangsta” rap’s 31-year-old godfather, whose real name was Eric Wright, was remembered.

The entrance line swirled nearly around the corner as security officials pushed back more than a thousand onlookers. The steady stream of cars, some of them blasting the booming bass guitar and screeching adolescent voice that made him famous, kept rolling slowly down Harvard Boulevard near the First African Methodist Episcopal Church during a funeral Friday for rapper and AIDS casualtyEazy-E.Ī mix of more than 3,000 fans, mothers with their children, longtime friends, casual associates, gang members sporting their colors and record industry insiders watched as church officials and family members wheeled in a gold coffin layered with white roses and lilacs.

Eazy e funeral