1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:14,320 Speaker 1: Disgraceland as a production of Double Elvis. The stories about 2 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:19,320 Speaker 1: Eaze are insane. He looked into life as a Compton 3 00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:22,560 Speaker 1: drug dealer when he discovered a dead man's hidden stash 4 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,680 Speaker 1: of money in cocaine. He was on the kill list 5 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:28,120 Speaker 1: of a white supremacist group that planned to start a 6 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:31,080 Speaker 1: racial holy war in the aftermath of the Rodney King 7 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:35,320 Speaker 1: trial in the La Riots. According to the FBI, he 8 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:38,560 Speaker 1: was extorted by a right wing extremist group that offered 9 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:43,239 Speaker 1: their arm protection following alleged death threats. The trials and 10 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:47,279 Speaker 1: tribulations of Easy's life, both on and off the streets, 11 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:52,200 Speaker 1: were reflected in his music great music, paradigm shifting music 12 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:56,319 Speaker 1: made with his gangster rapp supergroup n WA and as 13 00:00:56,360 --> 00:00:59,720 Speaker 1: a solo artist. Unlike that music, I played few with 14 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:03,440 Speaker 1: the time of the show that wasn't great music. That 15 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:09,119 Speaker 1: was a preset loop for my melotron called Disco Priscilla MK. Two. 16 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:12,320 Speaker 1: I played you that loop because I can't afford the 17 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:15,759 Speaker 1: rights to Take a Bow by Madonna? And why would 18 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 1: I play you that specific slice of bedroom story Cheese? 19 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:23,520 Speaker 1: Could I afford it? Because that was the number one 20 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:27,800 Speaker 1: song in America on March seventeenth, nineteen ninety five, and 21 00:01:27,959 --> 00:01:30,679 Speaker 1: that was the day that Easy announced to the world 22 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:34,440 Speaker 1: that he was suffering from eight, an announcement that shocked 23 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:38,280 Speaker 1: the hip hop community and sent conspiracy theories into overdrive. 24 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:45,360 Speaker 1: On this episode, Hidden Stashes, Kill, This Extortion, Bedroom Story, 25 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 1: Cheese and Easy, motherfucking e I'm Jake Brennan and this 26 00:01:51,880 --> 00:02:19,880 Speaker 1: this Disgraceland. Eric found the money right where Horace had 27 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:23,120 Speaker 1: said it would be. He reached under the abandoned house. 28 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:26,320 Speaker 1: His hand grabbed the paper bag. He opened it up 29 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:30,240 Speaker 1: and looked inside. It was all there, tightly wrapped piles 30 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:33,760 Speaker 1: of cash. But there was more than just money inside, 31 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:38,960 Speaker 1: more than Eric was expecting. There were bindles too, cocaine. 32 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 1: Eric didn't know what the street value would be once 33 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:44,600 Speaker 1: he cooked it up into rocks and separated it into 34 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:47,280 Speaker 1: smaller baggies, but he knew it was more money than 35 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:51,840 Speaker 1: he'd ever seen before, ten twenty thirty grand, even for 36 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:56,440 Speaker 1: a high school dropout. The math was easy. Eric knew 37 00:02:56,480 --> 00:02:58,839 Speaker 1: stolen cars and b and ease, but when it came 38 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:02,480 Speaker 1: to slinging dope, he had a lot to learn. So far, 39 00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 1: his only experience had been delivering drugs to buyers. After 40 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:10,959 Speaker 1: they gave Horace the money. Horace Butler was Eric Wright's cousin, 41 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:14,160 Speaker 1: but Horace Butler no longer had use for the money 42 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:18,280 Speaker 1: or the dope in that paper bag, because Horace was 43 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:23,000 Speaker 1: dead shot seven times in his GMC truck in a 44 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:26,600 Speaker 1: traffic light. While waiting would merge onto the tent. Horace's 45 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:29,160 Speaker 1: foot came off the brake pedal and his truck rolled 46 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 1: backwards and hit a utility pole, which is where they 47 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:36,200 Speaker 1: found him. And now Eric had not just a wad 48 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:39,560 Speaker 1: of a dead man's dough, he had the guy's entire supply, 49 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:43,280 Speaker 1: which meant that Eric Wright's reality was about to change. 50 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:46,640 Speaker 1: No more fucking around with stolen shit. He always said 51 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:49,360 Speaker 1: he'd never worked for someone else. Three dollars and thirty 52 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:52,400 Speaker 1: five cents an hour to mop a floor. Fuck that 53 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:55,960 Speaker 1: Eric Wright was going to make that money real money, 54 00:03:56,240 --> 00:04:00,360 Speaker 1: and it was going to be easy too, because what 55 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:01,960 Speaker 1: the hell else were you going to do? In the 56 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:05,280 Speaker 1: city of Compton, South central LA. In nineteen eighty five. 57 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:10,280 Speaker 1: In Compton, hope was fading fast. Families were being ripped 58 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:13,040 Speaker 1: apart by drugs or by local gangs like the Bloods, 59 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 1: the Crips, and the lapd LAPD's corrupt Crash Unit, that's 60 00:04:17,960 --> 00:04:22,360 Speaker 1: Community Resources against STREETHOODLMS didn't think twice about planting guns 61 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:24,760 Speaker 1: or drugs, not just at the scene of a crime, 62 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:28,039 Speaker 1: but at a scene period. If you were black or 63 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:30,600 Speaker 1: brown and Compton at that time, the chances that you 64 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:34,080 Speaker 1: would be pulled over and unfairly harassed or unfairly arrested 65 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:38,200 Speaker 1: by the police were high, as high as Compton's murder rate, 66 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:41,240 Speaker 1: which at the time was three times per capita that 67 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:45,520 Speaker 1: of Los Angeles as a whole. Unemployment was up, jobs 68 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:49,280 Speaker 1: were down. In the early eighties, President Ronald Reagan pulled 69 00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:51,640 Speaker 1: the plug on a federal initiative to train workers and 70 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 1: provide them with jobs in public service. And this was 71 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:57,400 Speaker 1: the exact same time that Reagan also declared a war 72 00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:00,599 Speaker 1: on drugs. But Eric wasn't going to be like Ronnie 73 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:03,520 Speaker 1: Reagan's wife Nancy and just say no to a career 74 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:06,200 Speaker 1: as a drug dealer, especially when he was handed that 75 00:05:06,279 --> 00:05:09,159 Speaker 1: career on a silver platter, or rather in a paper 76 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:13,880 Speaker 1: bag hidden underneath an abandoned house. Plus, dealing drugs was lucrative, 77 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: so he measured out Horace's stash and started slinging rocks 78 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:21,600 Speaker 1: in a neighborhood controlled by different factions of crips, and 79 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:24,720 Speaker 1: he made that money. He bought nice clothes, he bought 80 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:28,080 Speaker 1: nice cars. But he was successful because he played it safe. 81 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:31,600 Speaker 1: He sold only wholesale, and he sold only to people 82 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:34,880 Speaker 1: that he knew. He was gangster, but didn't get involved 83 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: in the gang shit. He didn't give a fuck about 84 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:39,360 Speaker 1: the violence and all the bullshit that went along with it. 85 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 1: Some days he didn't even wear blue, with the traditional 86 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:44,240 Speaker 1: color of the crips. He just wanted to get rich. 87 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:49,200 Speaker 1: But just because Eric steered clear the violence of the 88 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:52,200 Speaker 1: streets didn't mean that he was safe from street violence. 89 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:55,839 Speaker 1: Dealers had beef with other dealers, and the more successful 90 00:05:55,839 --> 00:05:58,479 Speaker 1: you became, the more your competition wanted a piece of you. 91 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:02,120 Speaker 1: They wanted your money, they wanted your women, they wanted 92 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:07,880 Speaker 1: your life. In nineteen eighty six, someone said Eric's Volkswagen 93 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:10,719 Speaker 1: on fire. And when someone pulls something like that, it 94 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:14,160 Speaker 1: stings your pride hurts like a motherfucker. But maybe your 95 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:16,360 Speaker 1: first instinct is to keep your head down, stay out 96 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:18,560 Speaker 1: of the violence and bullshit like you have all along, 97 00:06:18,839 --> 00:06:21,400 Speaker 1: and just keep making that money. What does it say 98 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:24,000 Speaker 1: about you if you do let it slide. It doesn't 99 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 1: say you're a neutral Switzerland motherfucker. It says you're a 100 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:29,719 Speaker 1: fucking pussy, a punk ass bitch. So you only have 101 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: one option. You hit back. Eric had the guy's car 102 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:37,719 Speaker 1: burned in retaliation, and suddenly he was in it. Business 103 00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:41,480 Speaker 1: wasn't just business anymore. Business was protecting yourself and protecting 104 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:45,159 Speaker 1: your shit. Eric sold the remainder of Horace's stash, and 105 00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:47,520 Speaker 1: now he was buying his coke from other suppliers, which 106 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:50,480 Speaker 1: took him deeper into the network of Compton dealers, deeper 107 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:53,239 Speaker 1: into the fucked up game that was Compton street life. 108 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:56,880 Speaker 1: It was a life of allegiances and territories and backstabbings, 109 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:00,920 Speaker 1: a life of survival, and sometimes one man survival meant 110 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:04,120 Speaker 1: that another man had to die. Eric knew all it 111 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:06,920 Speaker 1: took was one crazy motherfucker with a gun for his 112 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:09,680 Speaker 1: life to end, and then some young hustler would take 113 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:11,520 Speaker 1: Eric's place, just like he had taken the place of 114 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:16,280 Speaker 1: his dead cousin. So like any good businessman who examines risk, 115 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:18,840 Speaker 1: who monitors the volatility in the market, and who is 116 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:23,119 Speaker 1: wary of increased competition, Eric Wright, just twenty three years old, 117 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:26,200 Speaker 1: knew it was time to pivot. He couldn't play this 118 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:29,760 Speaker 1: game forever. He needed a new game, one that wasn't 119 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:34,760 Speaker 1: so dangerous. He knew exactly what that would be. It 120 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:37,720 Speaker 1: was already happening all around him. It was booming out 121 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:40,640 Speaker 1: of the sound system at Ease after Dark, a nightclub 122 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:43,600 Speaker 1: right there, and Compton rappers like Ice Cube and his 123 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:47,800 Speaker 1: Crew CIA aka Criminals in Action, Well, the record label 124 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:50,440 Speaker 1: made them change to Crew in Action, DJ Yella and 125 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:52,840 Speaker 1: Doctor Dre, the world class wrecking crew fucking with your 126 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:57,840 Speaker 1: ear drums. But the music needed something else. It needed authenticity, 127 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:01,720 Speaker 1: which Eric had a denticity mixed with the raw talents 128 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 1: and the musicians Eric watched in the club every weekend, 129 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:07,960 Speaker 1: could create something new, something that the market wasn't expecting, 130 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:10,760 Speaker 1: something that reflected a reality that no one outside of 131 00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:14,400 Speaker 1: Compton knew anything about. It would bear witness to the 132 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:18,160 Speaker 1: strength of street knowledge. It would take Eric Wright straight 133 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:21,000 Speaker 1: out of Compton and straight into the lives of millions 134 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:23,720 Speaker 1: of people all over the world. And just like dealing 135 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:27,280 Speaker 1: drugs used to be, this new business venture was gonna 136 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:57,080 Speaker 1: be motherfucking easy. NWA, the hip hop supergroup that shocked 137 00:08:57,120 --> 00:09:00,840 Speaker 1: Americans and made Doctor Dre an ice cube hold names 138 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:03,640 Speaker 1: was supposed to be the thing that helped Eric Wright 139 00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:07,280 Speaker 1: go legit and keep him safe, and at first it did. 140 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:10,520 Speaker 1: It turned him from Eric Wright, the Compton drug dealer, 141 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:15,040 Speaker 1: into Easy E, the group's libidinous, street tough, pint sized ringleader. 142 00:09:15,679 --> 00:09:19,200 Speaker 1: It also turned him into a music mogul. Ruthless Records, 143 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:22,360 Speaker 1: the label he co founded with industry veteran Jerry Heller, 144 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:26,839 Speaker 1: released NWA's unprecedented debut album straight out of Compton, an 145 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:30,000 Speaker 1: easy solo debut Easy Does It, in nineteen eighty eight. 146 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:34,680 Speaker 1: Both sold millions. Music made Easy E richer than the 147 00:09:34,679 --> 00:09:37,840 Speaker 1: streets ever did. He bought more cars, he bought more 148 00:09:37,920 --> 00:09:41,280 Speaker 1: houses and women. If Easy thought he was swimming and 149 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:44,520 Speaker 1: pussy before, he was drowning in it now. His sexual 150 00:09:44,559 --> 00:09:48,720 Speaker 1: appetite was never satisfied. They called him the community dick 151 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:51,319 Speaker 1: because he fucked a lot. He fucked when he was 152 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:54,079 Speaker 1: supposed to be doing other things, like working, and he 153 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:58,120 Speaker 1: fucked because he liked to fuck. He fucked to win bets. Seriously, 154 00:09:58,120 --> 00:09:59,800 Speaker 1: he had an ongoing competition with a friend that they 155 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:02,000 Speaker 1: called baby races, where the guy who got the most 156 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:06,880 Speaker 1: women pregnant was the victor. Shocker easy one. He rarely 157 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:10,120 Speaker 1: used protection and slept with countless women, which led not 158 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:12,960 Speaker 1: only to his fathering at least ten children, but to 159 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:19,040 Speaker 1: a steady stream of paternity suits. Unlike Eaze's sexual stamina, however, 160 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:23,080 Speaker 1: NWA wasn't built to last. Ice Cube left the group 161 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:26,680 Speaker 1: first convinced he wasn't getting properly compensated. He was even 162 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:28,920 Speaker 1: more convinced that Jerry Heller was a snake and was 163 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:32,600 Speaker 1: fucking him over. Then Doctor Dre bounced too, with the 164 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:35,520 Speaker 1: help of a blood street gang affiliate, a former defensive 165 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:38,760 Speaker 1: end for the Los Angeles Rams turned music mogul, Sug 166 00:10:38,840 --> 00:10:41,800 Speaker 1: Knight brought that gangster shit to the world of gangster rap. 167 00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:44,600 Speaker 1: If he wanted you to do something, you did it, 168 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:48,920 Speaker 1: and if you didn't, something bad happened, which is why Eazye, 169 00:10:49,040 --> 00:10:51,600 Speaker 1: one of the most fearless dudes in the game, signed 170 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:54,400 Speaker 1: on the dotted line to release Doctor Dre from his contract. 171 00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:58,280 Speaker 1: When Shug told him to hold up. If you're thinking, 172 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:01,200 Speaker 1: Jake your glossing over all this, nwas well, okay, true, 173 00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:03,480 Speaker 1: I am glossing over it, but only because we already 174 00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:06,240 Speaker 1: released a two part episode on NWA. If you're interested 175 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:08,160 Speaker 1: in learning more about the group that put West Coast 176 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:10,320 Speaker 1: Rap on the musical map. You can hear all about 177 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:13,600 Speaker 1: that in season four Disgrace Lam. Okay, now back to 178 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:19,920 Speaker 1: our story about Easy. Easy took Drey's departure personally, but 179 00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:24,559 Speaker 1: not just as friends, as business partners. Per their original contract, 180 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:28,400 Speaker 1: Drey still owed Ruthless More records, even if showing strong 181 00:11:28,520 --> 00:11:31,480 Speaker 1: armed Easy into signing some bitch ass paper that said otherwise. 182 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:36,360 Speaker 1: Enter Jimmy Iavien, co founder of Interscope Records. Jimmy had 183 00:11:36,360 --> 00:11:39,559 Speaker 1: a solution. Interscope would pay Ruthless and death Row for 184 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:42,320 Speaker 1: the right to release Dre's solo debut album, The Chronic, 185 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:45,240 Speaker 1: and Easy would further benefit by receiving a percenter to 186 00:11:45,280 --> 00:11:48,920 Speaker 1: the royalties. Drey used the Chronic to lob disses at Easy, 187 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:51,600 Speaker 1: but Easy laughed all the way to the bank. He 188 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:55,439 Speaker 1: pocketed somewhere between twenty five and fifty cents per unit sold, 189 00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:58,319 Speaker 1: and the Chronic went on to sell over three million copies. 190 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:01,720 Speaker 1: So you knew the math. Sug did the math, and 191 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:05,359 Speaker 1: he didn't like the solution to that particular equation. Furthermore, 192 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:07,280 Speaker 1: Easy knew that a guy like Suge Knight was going 193 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:08,560 Speaker 1: to do what he had to do in order to 194 00:12:08,559 --> 00:12:10,480 Speaker 1: make things better for Dre and for anyone in the 195 00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:14,520 Speaker 1: death Row family by any means necessary. It was the 196 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:17,240 Speaker 1: same bullshit Easy thought he'd left behind when he stopped 197 00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:19,640 Speaker 1: selling dope. He and sug may as well have been 198 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:23,360 Speaker 1: letting each other's cars on fire. Once again, Easy found 199 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:26,240 Speaker 1: himself playing that game of survival. But once again his 200 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:29,440 Speaker 1: haters were knocking on his door, and once again he 201 00:12:29,480 --> 00:12:32,640 Speaker 1: didn't feel safe. And I'm not just talking about Suge Knight. 202 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:36,360 Speaker 1: There were plenty of people who wanted to see Easy dead. 203 00:12:39,559 --> 00:12:42,080 Speaker 1: The twenty year old leader of the Fourth Reich Skinheads, 204 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:44,920 Speaker 1: a white supremacist group out of Long Beach, thought he 205 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:47,360 Speaker 1: was talking to a friend of the cause. He thought 206 00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:49,400 Speaker 1: the guy was a fellow believer in a large scale 207 00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:52,120 Speaker 1: racial holy war, a war that would, as the twenty 208 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:55,000 Speaker 1: year old himself put it, really stir up the masses. 209 00:12:55,640 --> 00:12:57,720 Speaker 1: But the guy he was talking to was nothing of 210 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:01,400 Speaker 1: the sort. The guy was unundercover Federal Asian, and he 211 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:04,000 Speaker 1: listened as the leader of the Fourth Right told him everything, 212 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:06,599 Speaker 1: like how they tossed them all tof cocktail at a 213 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:09,720 Speaker 1: synagogue in Orange County. Even though the fucking thing wouldn't explode, 214 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:12,320 Speaker 1: and how pipe bombs were better, like the one they 215 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:14,240 Speaker 1: used to blow up the car of an Asian family 216 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:17,840 Speaker 1: in Lakewood. That shit went off hard. Even harder, though, 217 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:20,400 Speaker 1: was what they planned next. They were going to bomb 218 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:23,640 Speaker 1: the first African Methodist Episcopal Church, and then they were 219 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:26,120 Speaker 1: going to shoot any members of the congregation who didn't 220 00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:29,080 Speaker 1: perish in the blast. The twenty year old leader of 221 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:31,760 Speaker 1: the Fourth Riike showed the agent they were capable. He 222 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:35,559 Speaker 1: showed off semi automatic rifles, an arm jaeger in an SRS, 223 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:40,640 Speaker 1: smokeless black powder ski mass fucking bayonets. If the Fourth 224 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:43,360 Speaker 1: Reich had its way, the summer of nineteen ninety three 225 00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:48,240 Speaker 1: was going to be all kinds of fucked up. Three 226 00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:52,120 Speaker 1: months earlier, in April, one year after four LAPD cops 227 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:54,040 Speaker 1: who were quitted of all but one of the charges 228 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:56,640 Speaker 1: brought against them, and the savage beating of Rodney King, 229 00:13:56,920 --> 00:13:59,599 Speaker 1: one year after Los Angelinos took to the streets in 230 00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:03,240 Speaker 1: prot in frustration and disgust and literally set the city 231 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:05,959 Speaker 1: on fire. One year after a white trucker was pulled 232 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:09,320 Speaker 1: from his trailer and beaten relentlessly of beating that like 233 00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:12,840 Speaker 1: the Rodney King beating NWA and straight Out A. Compton 234 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:15,559 Speaker 1: had predicted in their music. One year after all that, 235 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 1: almost to the day, two of those acquitted LAPD cops 236 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 1: were convicted in federal court of violating Rodney King's civil rights. 237 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:26,560 Speaker 1: Their sentencing was set for that summer. Tensions were once 238 00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:30,200 Speaker 1: again high throughout Los Angeles, and radical extremists like the 239 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:33,440 Speaker 1: Fourth Reich Skinheads used that attention to continue to pummel 240 00:14:33,480 --> 00:14:36,800 Speaker 1: Southern California with fear. They planned their church bombing to 241 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:40,600 Speaker 1: coincide with the announcement of the cops sentencing, but they 242 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:44,520 Speaker 1: never got the chance. In July nineteen ninety three, the 243 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:47,840 Speaker 1: Bureau wrapped up its eighteen month investigation and arrested three 244 00:14:47,880 --> 00:14:50,200 Speaker 1: the alleged fifty members of the hate group, including its 245 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:53,120 Speaker 1: twenty year old leader. The Fourth Reich was flying so 246 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:55,720 Speaker 1: far under the radar that many of the Southern California's 247 00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:58,480 Speaker 1: preeminent hate crime investigators had never even heard of them, 248 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:01,680 Speaker 1: and their plots of violence destruction were so fucked up 249 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:05,320 Speaker 1: that another hate group, the White Arean Resistance, actually issued 250 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:09,040 Speaker 1: a statement to distance themselves. Imagine that a hate group 251 00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:13,360 Speaker 1: so despised that even other hate groups hate you. As 252 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:16,280 Speaker 1: it turns out, the Fourth Reich had other plans besides 253 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:19,840 Speaker 1: bombing a church. They had a list, a kill list. 254 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:24,119 Speaker 1: On that list were prominent male members of the black community, 255 00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:31,400 Speaker 1: Rodney King, Lewis Farakhan, Reverend Al Sharpton, and Easy, motherfucking E. Easy. 256 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:33,120 Speaker 1: You never got a heads up that he was on 257 00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:35,640 Speaker 1: any list. The FEDS didn't pick up the phone to 258 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:37,800 Speaker 1: alert him that his life was in danger. You heard 259 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:39,280 Speaker 1: about it the way the rest of the world did 260 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:44,720 Speaker 1: in the newspaper after the arrests. And why was it Because, 261 00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:47,280 Speaker 1: as the FEDS later explained, that the Fourth Reich so 262 00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:50,320 Speaker 1: called kill list was just that, a list of names 263 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:52,840 Speaker 1: with no proof of an actual plot, and therefore it 264 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:56,640 Speaker 1: was not considered a serious threat, or, as Easy E 265 00:15:56,880 --> 00:16:00,480 Speaker 1: himself suspected, did the US government simply not give a 266 00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:04,480 Speaker 1: fuck if he lived or died. Remember this is the 267 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:07,920 Speaker 1: United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. We're talking about the 268 00:16:07,960 --> 00:16:11,400 Speaker 1: same organization that subjected NWA to a humiliating drug surge 269 00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:14,720 Speaker 1: at a show in Cincinnati, the same organization that accused 270 00:16:14,720 --> 00:16:17,000 Speaker 1: Easy in his band of using their music and their 271 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:20,200 Speaker 1: tour merely as a front to sling crack the same 272 00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:23,600 Speaker 1: organization that sent NWA a letter. I mean, hold up, 273 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:26,200 Speaker 1: that wasn't a letter. Easy wasn't fucking pent palace with 274 00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:29,680 Speaker 1: the FBI. That was a thinly veiled threat. The FEDS 275 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:33,480 Speaker 1: had wanted Easy to disappear for years if some racist 276 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:35,320 Speaker 1: piece of shit arm't to the gills, wanted to hunt 277 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:37,680 Speaker 1: easy E down and blow them away, while they'd just 278 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:40,640 Speaker 1: be doing the US government a favor, right. I'm speaking 279 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:42,440 Speaker 1: from the point of view of the FBI, of course, 280 00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:46,520 Speaker 1: or soon Eas's thinking it didn't matter that Eze of Gomachen, 281 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:49,440 Speaker 1: or that he was building ruthless records into a major 282 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:52,160 Speaker 1: player in the music industry that empowered not just black 283 00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:56,480 Speaker 1: artists but women in Latinos too. The FBI, the police, 284 00:16:56,560 --> 00:16:58,760 Speaker 1: the media, they didn't see the other side of Eaz. 285 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:01,320 Speaker 1: They didn't see that he was a devoted father to 286 00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:04,280 Speaker 1: all of his children, that he took busloads of underprivileged 287 00:17:04,359 --> 00:17:06,600 Speaker 1: kids to Magic Mountain, that he gave him make a 288 00:17:06,600 --> 00:17:09,639 Speaker 1: wish and city of hope on the regular. Of course, 289 00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:13,040 Speaker 1: there were two sides to Easy. There was the provider side, 290 00:17:13,160 --> 00:17:14,840 Speaker 1: the side that took care of his family and the 291 00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:17,040 Speaker 1: others who were less fortunate, And then there was the 292 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:19,800 Speaker 1: flip side, the side to prove that his violent and 293 00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:22,840 Speaker 1: misogynistic lyrics weren't just quote unquote street talk, as he 294 00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:25,440 Speaker 1: once wrote them off ass and that Easy E lit 295 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:28,200 Speaker 1: gophers on fire for entertainment and fired a BB gun 296 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:31,880 Speaker 1: into the head of one of his many girlfriends. Complicated, 297 00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:39,360 Speaker 1: nuanced duality going legit did not tame Easye. He remained 298 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:43,320 Speaker 1: authentic to a fault for better and for worse, not 299 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:46,920 Speaker 1: or for worse and for worse, a real Compton City 300 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:49,399 Speaker 1: g unlike doctor Dre, who in Easy's mind was a 301 00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:52,840 Speaker 1: phony nothing but a studio gangster. But that didn't stop 302 00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:55,399 Speaker 1: Dre from talking shit about E and ruthless Records like 303 00:17:55,440 --> 00:18:00,439 Speaker 1: they had done him wrong. Easy hit the studio. He 304 00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:02,760 Speaker 1: cooked up a new track. It had the laid back 305 00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:06,080 Speaker 1: vibe of Dre's new shit, that same high pitched ghetto whistle. 306 00:18:06,359 --> 00:18:08,119 Speaker 1: He knew that would get und Dre's skin when he 307 00:18:08,119 --> 00:18:11,679 Speaker 1: heard it, and if that didn't, Easy's versus would. The 308 00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:15,000 Speaker 1: track was one big diss, the whole fucking song, not 309 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:17,359 Speaker 1: just Dre, but all the other phony bitches he was 310 00:18:17,359 --> 00:18:21,200 Speaker 1: hanging with. Now, mother fuck Dre, Motherfuck's NWP, and motherfuck 311 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:25,160 Speaker 1: death Row. The track titled Real Motherfucking G's or Real 312 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:27,640 Speaker 1: Compton City G's for the radio edit, was a hit 313 00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:30,520 Speaker 1: in the fall of nineteen ninety three. The EP it 314 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:33,520 Speaker 1: was featured on sold over two million copies. The song 315 00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:36,080 Speaker 1: held Easy saved face from the humiliation and getting eaten 316 00:18:36,119 --> 00:18:38,920 Speaker 1: alive and a beef with his former bandmate, but it 317 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:42,040 Speaker 1: didn't clear all that worry from Easy's mind and it 318 00:18:42,119 --> 00:18:49,520 Speaker 1: didn't help him sleep at night. We'll be right back 319 00:18:49,720 --> 00:19:00,280 Speaker 1: after this word word word. Although Ruthless Records continue to 320 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:03,120 Speaker 1: grow in the mid nineties, continued to develop a deep 321 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:06,359 Speaker 1: roster of diverse talent like the Jewish rap group Blood 322 00:19:06,359 --> 00:19:10,880 Speaker 1: of Abraham, the female duo Manajer Twa, Latinem, se Kid Frost, 323 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:14,320 Speaker 1: and then unknown Boone Thugs and Harmony. Easy EA's record 324 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:18,200 Speaker 1: label was also in need of developing its non musical payroll. 325 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:22,760 Speaker 1: I'll give you three reasons why White Supremacists, the FBI, 326 00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:26,040 Speaker 1: and death Row Records. It was only a matter of 327 00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:29,080 Speaker 1: time before someone or something made a real threat on 328 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:33,639 Speaker 1: Easy's life. First came Mike Klein. Jerry Heller hired him 329 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:38,160 Speaker 1: as Ruthless as security director. Klein was ex Israeli security forces, 330 00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:40,760 Speaker 1: or so they said. No one really knew exactly where 331 00:19:40,760 --> 00:19:42,720 Speaker 1: the guy came from, but it was clear he didn't 332 00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:46,120 Speaker 1: fuck around. According to a story and Vibe magazine, before 333 00:19:46,119 --> 00:19:49,040 Speaker 1: he relocated to La Klein led a group of commandos 334 00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:51,240 Speaker 1: in Lebanon to captured terrorists who had blown up a 335 00:19:51,240 --> 00:19:54,280 Speaker 1: bus full of children. You breathed a little easier with 336 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:57,280 Speaker 1: big mikes standing next to you in the room. Ditto 337 00:19:57,400 --> 00:19:59,959 Speaker 1: for the three hundred pounds Samoan dudes Jacob and ja 338 00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:06,160 Speaker 1: On aka the twins that had one job protect easy. Allegedly, 339 00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:08,240 Speaker 1: that was the same reason Klein and Heller hired the 340 00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:12,040 Speaker 1: Jewish Defense League. The JDL state admission was to protect 341 00:20:12,119 --> 00:20:16,000 Speaker 1: Jews from anti Semitism by any means necessary. That those 342 00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:18,639 Speaker 1: violent means got them labeled an extremist group by the 343 00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:21,960 Speaker 1: Southern Poverty Law Center and domestic terrorists by the FBI. 344 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:25,800 Speaker 1: Witnesses who visited the Ruthless office during this time recall 345 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:29,840 Speaker 1: seeing quote Israeli soldiers wielding oozy machine guns, which is 346 00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:31,920 Speaker 1: probably not the first thing you expect to see when 347 00:20:31,920 --> 00:20:35,480 Speaker 1: you step foot inside a record label's headquarters. Just a 348 00:20:35,480 --> 00:20:38,879 Speaker 1: few years later, however, in nineteen ninety seven, the FBI 349 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:41,520 Speaker 1: launched an investigation into the group that found that they 350 00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:45,639 Speaker 1: had actually been extorting Eze, and not just Easy, but 351 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:49,520 Speaker 1: also the recently murdered Southern California hip hop star Tupac Shakur. 352 00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:53,520 Speaker 1: The elaborate scheme involved phony death threats via a phone call, 353 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:56,320 Speaker 1: followed by an author of armed protection for a FTPE, 354 00:20:56,480 --> 00:20:58,639 Speaker 1: of course, and ended with the assurance that the so 355 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:01,479 Speaker 1: called threat had been a limited in one form or another. 356 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:06,360 Speaker 1: The FBI never filed charges. After the investigation was closed, 357 00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:09,760 Speaker 1: a spokesman for the JDL reiterated that the organization had 358 00:21:09,800 --> 00:21:13,000 Speaker 1: great working relationship with the EASE. But if the FBI's 359 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:15,960 Speaker 1: findings were actually true, if the JDL was running a 360 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:18,520 Speaker 1: scam that had easy thinking, these days were numbered, it 361 00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:20,800 Speaker 1: wouldn't have been all that hard to pull off. Just 362 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:23,040 Speaker 1: look at easy state of mind at that time. He 363 00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:25,720 Speaker 1: was constantly looking behind his back. He was convinced that 364 00:21:25,760 --> 00:21:27,600 Speaker 1: people were out to get him, as if he was 365 00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:32,320 Speaker 1: hustling on the streets of Compton all over again. But 366 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:35,080 Speaker 1: he wasn't a twenty something hustler. He was thirty years 367 00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:39,959 Speaker 1: old and still motherfuckers wanted his money, his women, his life. 368 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:45,920 Speaker 1: Despite all the increased protection around him, the paranoia settled in, 369 00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:49,760 Speaker 1: so did the sleep deprivation. Easy didn't know who to 370 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:53,520 Speaker 1: trust anymore. He started to smoke weed, like a lot 371 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:56,880 Speaker 1: of weed, which honestly probably wasn't the greatest idea, seeing 372 00:21:56,920 --> 00:22:00,600 Speaker 1: that he battled bout to bronchitis since he was a kid. Paranoia, 373 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:03,520 Speaker 1: the exhaustion, the chronic it all started to take its toll, 374 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:06,080 Speaker 1: and it got him thinking, what the fuck was it 375 00:22:06,119 --> 00:22:09,040 Speaker 1: really going on with Jerry Heller. He never knew which 376 00:22:09,119 --> 00:22:10,760 Speaker 1: route Jerry was going to take when he went home 377 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:13,200 Speaker 1: from the office each day. There was a time when 378 00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:15,800 Speaker 1: being in business with Jerry was good, back when he 379 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:19,280 Speaker 1: leveraged his extensive career to open doors for Easy in NWA. 380 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:23,320 Speaker 1: But now Jerry was closing his door, tucked safely inside 381 00:22:23,359 --> 00:22:25,720 Speaker 1: a house with a growing gun collection and a brand 382 00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:30,360 Speaker 1: new security system. Meanwhile, Easy kept hearing the same shit 383 00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:33,399 Speaker 1: about Jerry Heller that he'd heard for years. Dude is 384 00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:35,560 Speaker 1: a snake, Dude iss fucking you just like you, fuck 385 00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:38,280 Speaker 1: Cube and Dre and everyone else you think your equals 386 00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:41,040 Speaker 1: with Jerry Heller. Motherfucker makes you work twice as hard 387 00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:44,679 Speaker 1: and pays you half as much for the pleasure. So 388 00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:47,840 Speaker 1: in February of nineteen ninety five, Jerry Heller received a 389 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:51,919 Speaker 1: letter ending his partnership with EASYE and Ruthless Records. Easy 390 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:54,080 Speaker 1: may have written it himself, but it would soon become 391 00:22:54,119 --> 00:22:56,000 Speaker 1: apparent to Jerry that it may have been written by 392 00:22:56,000 --> 00:23:02,960 Speaker 1: a man who wasn't all there. Damn Easy, You're going 393 00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:06,080 Speaker 1: to freeze to death out there the Saint California. You 394 00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:09,639 Speaker 1: get to cover your shit up. Easy ignored the warnings 395 00:23:09,640 --> 00:23:11,800 Speaker 1: of the guys in Bone Thugs and Harmony and ventured 396 00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:13,800 Speaker 1: out into the winter night with no jacket and his 397 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:16,920 Speaker 1: Jerry curls still wet. He was in New York City 398 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:20,080 Speaker 1: to promote Bone Thugs with an appearance on MTV raps, 399 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:22,920 Speaker 1: and the air was cold and the wind was biting, 400 00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:26,800 Speaker 1: but Easy was tough. Besides, his crew soon found their 401 00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:29,080 Speaker 1: way off the street and into a warm club called 402 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:32,120 Speaker 1: the Tunnel and Chelsea, where DJs spun an eclectic mix 403 00:23:32,119 --> 00:23:35,600 Speaker 1: of tunes across five rooms. It was there that Easy 404 00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:39,200 Speaker 1: ran into his former WA group member Ice Cube. There 405 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:42,440 Speaker 1: was no animosity, no beef. Cube never had any beef 406 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:45,240 Speaker 1: with Easy in the first place. His beef was with Jerry, 407 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:47,600 Speaker 1: and now that Jerry was out of the picture. They 408 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:50,679 Speaker 1: could talk about the future, and so the conversation between 409 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:53,280 Speaker 1: ice Cube and Easy that night at the tunnel turned 410 00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:58,560 Speaker 1: to an unexpected but natural topic, reuniting Nwa. Cube said 411 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:01,480 Speaker 1: he was down. That part was the hard part would 412 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:03,800 Speaker 1: be convincing Dre, or maybe the hard part would be 413 00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:06,320 Speaker 1: Easy working up the nerve to ask Dre, given their 414 00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:10,160 Speaker 1: years of standoffs and diss tracks, give me a call, 415 00:24:10,320 --> 00:24:12,879 Speaker 1: Cube said, if you can work out your feud, and 416 00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:15,800 Speaker 1: that was a huge fucking yif it was an if 417 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:19,800 Speaker 1: that Easy didn't even get a chance to explore. He 418 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:22,920 Speaker 1: returned to LA with a bad cough. Fucking New York. 419 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:25,280 Speaker 1: Probably should have listened to his crew after all when 420 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:28,199 Speaker 1: they told him the bundle up for weeks. It lingered, 421 00:24:28,359 --> 00:24:30,960 Speaker 1: and then it got worse, so bad that Easy could 422 00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:32,440 Speaker 1: hardly breathe and he was in the middle of a 423 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:36,159 Speaker 1: coughin fit. Then the pains in his chest started, like 424 00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:39,160 Speaker 1: someone at his lungs and a vice. Mike Klein did 425 00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:41,439 Speaker 1: what he was hired to do. He drove Easy to 426 00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:45,840 Speaker 1: the Norick Community Hospital at emergency room. Everyone doctors included, 427 00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:49,640 Speaker 1: figured it was Easy's history with bronchitis. Maybe chronic asthma, 428 00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:53,479 Speaker 1: or maybe it was just all that chronic period. He 429 00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:56,280 Speaker 1: was released to go back home, but the cough never 430 00:24:56,280 --> 00:25:01,200 Speaker 1: went away. On February twenty f or nineteen ninety five, 431 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:04,280 Speaker 1: Easy went back to the hospital, this time the Cedar 432 00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:08,520 Speaker 1: Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Grove. Doctors gave him antibiotics 433 00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:11,000 Speaker 1: to treat an infection in his lungs, but they were 434 00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:14,359 Speaker 1: still perplexed by what was causing the problems. They ordered 435 00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:17,119 Speaker 1: a full panel of tests, and those tests gave them 436 00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:20,719 Speaker 1: an answer. But it wasn't bronchitis, and it wasn't asthma, 437 00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:22,879 Speaker 1: and it didn't have anything to do with the amount 438 00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:26,480 Speaker 1: of weed Easy was smoking. The test showed that Easye 439 00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:29,840 Speaker 1: was HIV positive. It was in a matter of days 440 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:36,359 Speaker 1: his condition escalated from HIV to full blown AIDS. It 441 00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:39,840 Speaker 1: wasn't just shocking. It was hard to believe that a 442 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:42,800 Speaker 1: person who exhibited no symptoms of HIV for so long 443 00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:46,640 Speaker 1: suddenly found himself with full blown AIDS. That Timika Woods, 444 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:50,040 Speaker 1: Easy's girlfriend of four years, tested negative for the virus. 445 00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:53,920 Speaker 1: The children tested negative too, who was also hard to 446 00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:56,560 Speaker 1: believe because in the mid nineties, even though AIDS was 447 00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:59,160 Speaker 1: the leading cause of death for Americans age twenty five 448 00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:01,960 Speaker 1: to forty four, and even though around thirty million adults 449 00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:06,200 Speaker 1: and children worldwide had HIV, routine screening for HIV was 450 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:09,600 Speaker 1: yet to be commonplace, and the stigma surrounding the virus 451 00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:13,639 Speaker 1: remained rooted in fear and homophobia. AIDS was still labeled 452 00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:15,880 Speaker 1: as a gay man's disease, even though anyone who had 453 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:21,200 Speaker 1: unprotected sex was at risk. Now, after years of increasing 454 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:24,239 Speaker 1: his protection in the form of bodyguards, after living in 455 00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:26,440 Speaker 1: fear of a clear and present danger in the form 456 00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:29,080 Speaker 1: of one of his rivals, it was his failure to 457 00:26:29,160 --> 00:26:33,360 Speaker 1: use protection during his prolific sexual conquests that actually got him. 458 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:37,280 Speaker 1: He never saw it coming. Easy was thirty one years old. 459 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:40,399 Speaker 1: He couldn't even sit up in his hospital bed. On 460 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:43,720 Speaker 1: March sixteenth, nineteen ninety five, he shocked the hip hop 461 00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:45,840 Speaker 1: community in the world when he announced to a written 462 00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:50,280 Speaker 1: statement that he had contracted AIDS. Ten days after that 463 00:26:50,920 --> 00:27:13,240 Speaker 1: he was dead. Easy was dead, but the FBI was 464 00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:16,400 Speaker 1: still following him, or rather they were following a lead 465 00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:19,960 Speaker 1: to chase down tapes tapes of Easy's unreleased music that 466 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:23,280 Speaker 1: Ruthless Records planned to issue and as posthumous records by 467 00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:26,720 Speaker 1: beloved artists often do make the label a shitload of money. 468 00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:31,320 Speaker 1: But the tapes were gone. Two titanium suitcases of recording 469 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:34,159 Speaker 1: stolen right out of the trunk of Easy's Mercedes. The 470 00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:36,879 Speaker 1: FEDS tracked down the thief all the way to Ontario, Canada, 471 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:39,440 Speaker 1: and when he was confronted, he swore he wasn't actually 472 00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:41,920 Speaker 1: a thief. He claimed that Easy gave him those tapes 473 00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:45,120 Speaker 1: before he died, and that furthermore, someone are Ruthless gave 474 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:47,760 Speaker 1: him twelve five hundred dollars to set up a satellite 475 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:51,840 Speaker 1: office in Canada. Whether or not that was the truth, 476 00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:55,400 Speaker 1: it quickly became obvious that someone was attempting to undermine 477 00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:58,960 Speaker 1: the post Easy era of Ruthless records, which was currently 478 00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:01,879 Speaker 1: worth around thirty million dollars. It was being overseen by 479 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:06,880 Speaker 1: an unlikely person. Easy's widow, Tamika Woods, now known as 480 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:11,120 Speaker 1: Tamika Wood's right Easy's longtime girlfriend, though certainly not Easy's 481 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:14,320 Speaker 1: only lady friend, married Easy in a small ceremony in 482 00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:17,200 Speaker 1: his hospital room, after which a will was drafted that 483 00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:20,680 Speaker 1: made Tamika an Easy's attorney co executors of his estate. 484 00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:24,760 Speaker 1: The next morning, he was transferred to the ICU. Less 485 00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:28,640 Speaker 1: than two weeks later, he was gone. The rumors kicked 486 00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:32,040 Speaker 1: up immediately Tamika was making a brazen cash grab for 487 00:28:32,119 --> 00:28:35,120 Speaker 1: Easy's fortune. Easy wasn't of sound mine when he signed 488 00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:38,440 Speaker 1: those papers and said, I do Easy, motherfucking e a husband, 489 00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:41,840 Speaker 1: No fucking way. And then there were the allegations. Easy 490 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:44,880 Speaker 1: owes me money, Easy knocked me out, Easy gave me aids. 491 00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:49,080 Speaker 1: Jerry Heller accused Tamika of not operating an Easy's best interests. 492 00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:52,440 Speaker 1: Mike Klein said Easy was forced to sign his trust 493 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:56,520 Speaker 1: and his marriage certificate opinions like assholes. Tamika said in 494 00:28:56,520 --> 00:28:59,800 Speaker 1: a nineteen ninety eight interview, her tone echoing her late husband's. 495 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:02,120 Speaker 1: As far as anybody else who might be saying stuff, 496 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:06,600 Speaker 1: I could give a damn Still, Jerry Heller sued, so 497 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:09,680 Speaker 1: did Mike Klein. Tamika settled with Klein out of court. 498 00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:13,719 Speaker 1: She countersued Jerry Heller, claiming fraud a misuse of company funds. 499 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:17,040 Speaker 1: She later settled for an undisclosed sum and a clause 500 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:20,680 Speaker 1: that prohibited either party from talking shit. As for those 501 00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:24,600 Speaker 1: missing tapes of unreleased Easy music, the FBI never found them. 502 00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:30,160 Speaker 1: No charges case closed. When it comes to the case 503 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:32,479 Speaker 1: of Eas, many of his friends and family are not 504 00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:35,360 Speaker 1: satisfied with the narrative that he simply contracted AIDS from 505 00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:39,200 Speaker 1: unprotected sex. Those in doubt often point to the fact 506 00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:41,960 Speaker 1: that he didn't pass the virus on to his many partners, 507 00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:44,400 Speaker 1: though there have been claims by some over the years. 508 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:48,240 Speaker 1: And there's also the culture of conspiracy that surrounds nineteen 509 00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:51,480 Speaker 1: nineties gangster rap and hip hop. Look no further than 510 00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:54,400 Speaker 1: a Tupac secure gone down a year after Easy died, 511 00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:57,320 Speaker 1: or than Notorious Big who med a similar fait six 512 00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:00,800 Speaker 1: months after Tupac, And just like the con smpiracy theories 513 00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:04,000 Speaker 1: about the suspicious deaths of Tupac and Biggie, the wild 514 00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:07,880 Speaker 1: stories about what people think really happened to Easy continued 515 00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:11,320 Speaker 1: to make the rounds. Jerry Heller did it, the US 516 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:15,800 Speaker 1: government did it, White supremacist did it. Acupuncture needles contaminated 517 00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:19,080 Speaker 1: with HIV did it. That last theory actually gained some 518 00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:21,880 Speaker 1: traction when in two thousand and three, after his release 519 00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:24,760 Speaker 1: from his latest stint in California prison, Shug Knight made 520 00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:28,480 Speaker 1: an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. If You Shoot somebody 521 00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:31,280 Speaker 1: you go to jail forever, Shuk said, reflecting on his 522 00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:35,040 Speaker 1: lifestyle and his recent incarceration, before offering up his own 523 00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:37,720 Speaker 1: crazy take on the sign of the times. They got 524 00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:40,080 Speaker 1: this new thing out. People sell them all the time. 525 00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:42,520 Speaker 1: They get blood from somebody with a's and then they 526 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:45,040 Speaker 1: shoot you with it. He made a gesture like he 527 00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:48,520 Speaker 1: was pushing a syringe in a Kimmel's arm. It's a 528 00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:54,600 Speaker 1: slow death, an easy thing, and then he laughed, I'm 529 00:30:54,720 --> 00:31:12,920 Speaker 1: Jake Brennan and this this disgrace Land. Disgraceland was created 530 00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:16,200 Speaker 1: by Yours Truly and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis. 531 00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:18,720 Speaker 1: Credits for this episode can be found on the show 532 00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:22,479 Speaker 1: notes page at disgracelampod dot com. If you're listening as 533 00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:25,840 Speaker 1: a Disgraceland All Access member, thank you for supporting the show. 534 00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:28,640 Speaker 1: We really appreciate it. 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