Musicians Who Died At The Age Of 30

Drug dealers, generally speaking, do not tend to make significant contributions to pop culture, let alone massive ones. Compton, California's Eric "Eazy-E" Wright, though, was an overachiever in this respect. Wright had become acquainted with Jerry Heller, a music industry vet who had associated professionally with such legends as Marvin Gaye, Elton John, and Creedence Clearwater Revival. After being introduced to Heller, Wright decided to use his illicit funds to start a record label, Ruthless Records, in which Heller was a partner. Together, they introduced the world at large to legendary group NWA — and thereby, the fledgling genre of gangsta rap.

Despite his famously limited rapping ability, Wright left his mark on hip hop, both as a member of NWA and as a solo artist. His undeniable charisma was enough to make the shockingly violent, misogynistic content of his lyrics seem almost endearing — which is why fans were floored when, in early 1995, Wright announced that he had been hospitalized because of respiratory issues brought on by AIDS. He died of AIDS-related pneumonia just weeks later, and to this day, rumors persist that infamous gangster-slash-music mogul Suge Knight, who had poached legendary producer Dr. Dre away from Wright's Ruthless to form his own Death Row Records, had somehow been responsible for Wright's death. Among those keeping the conspiratorial fires burning are Wright's son, Marquise "Yung Eazy" Wright, who in 2015 insisted in an Instagram post (via The Washington Post) that Knight had done his father in by injecting him with the virus.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qL7Up56eZpOkunB9kWtnbW1iZLq2v8icoJqmo2LEqbuMnaCenF2WwW7Ax55kmp%2BVYryneZJpZg%3D%3D