Eazy-E and the President
Exactly 30 years ago today, on March 26, 1995, rapper Eric "Eazy-E" Wright died, about a month after checking himself into Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and finding out that he was suffering from AIDS, not asthma as he had suspected. Eazy-E became a hip-hop legend after bursting out of Compton as the leader of the revolutionary group N.W.A., alongside Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, DJ Yella, and MC Ren. The controversy stemming from N.W.A.'s gangsta rap classics such as "Fuck Tha Police," "Gangsta Gangsta," and "Straight Outta Compton" led to the FBI actually sending a letter to Ruthless Records in 1989 condemning the content of N.W.A.'s music because they felt it encouraged violence against law enforcement.
So, what's that have to do with Presidents?
After a $2,490 donation to the Republican Party, GOP heavyweights Bob Dole and Phil Gramm invited Eazy-E to the National Republican Senatorial Committee Inner Circle's "Salute to the Commander-in-Chief" luncheon on March 18, 1991 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. Senate Minority Leader Dole sent the gangsta rapper and former drug-dealer the invitation himself on February 8th, writing, "Elizabeth and I are looking forward to seeing you in Washington on March 18."
Rocking a black leather suit topped off by his trademark Los Angeles Raiders hat, Eazy-E (accompanied by his controversial manager/business partner Jerry Heller) headed to the nation's capital and enjoyed lunch with some of the Republican Party's top brass -- people like Dole, Senator Gramm of Texas, GOP celebrity supporter (and future California Governor) Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Secretary of State George Shultz, and Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton -- as well as a speech by President George H.W. Bush. While the voice behind "Boyz-N-The-Hood" didn't get a chance to actually meet President Bush, Eazy-E made it clear that he was a fan and was even disappointed that Bush didn't speak longer. Although he once famously rapped, "Don't quote me, boy, cuz I ain't said shit" in "Boyz-N-The-Hood," Eazy-E's spokesperson later said that the rapper, "Loves the President. He thinks he's a great humanitarian and that he did a great job with Desert Storm."
That might seem like something that would take away Eazy-E's street cred. Ice Cube certainly thought so, as he made clear after leaving N.W.A. with his scathing diss song, "No Vaseline", where Cube repeated "I never had dinner with the President!" and accused N.W.A. of ditching Compton ("Yellin' Compton, but you moved to Riverside!").
But maybe Eazy-E and George H.W. Bush had far more in common than most people would imagine.
See, Eazy-E and Dr. Dre aren't the only people to come "Straight Outta Compton." In 1949, George Herbert Walker Bush and his family (including another future President, George W. Bush) lived in the Santa Fe Gardens apartment complex in the heart of, yes, Compton, California. The second child of George and Barbara Bush, Robin, who tragically died of leukemia at the age of 4, was born in Compton. So, while Compton was a far different place in that era, two Presidents of the United States -- at least briefly -- represented "the CPT". And, as the photo at the end of this post demonstrates, young George W. Bush even rode around strapped -- more cowboy than gangsta, not surprisingly -- as many young people have long been in Compton and South Central Los Angeles.
