All of the worst people in the world have my email address. The majority are just UK dub producers and Dominos Pizza, but last week I received the most distressing email since that one time a guy from Crawley sent me a five-part video series of him deconstructing the space mythology of the new Kid Cudi album.
NWA Resurrected, also known as the Sons of NWA, is a thing that exists. The group consists of DJ Yella (original NWA member), Dre JR (son of Dr Dre), Eazy-E JR (son of Eazy E) and Eazy E JR II (who, I’m guessing, is probably the second son of Eazy E, but I don’t want to assume).
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According to the email, they’re looking to tour the UK. The guy says, “they are looking to tour across Europe July & August. Club shows, festivals etc. It’s not cheap naturally but you wouldn’t expect it be, right?” I dunno, I guess I kind of would.
The idea of children following the path of the human that birthed them is not a new one. Lil Wayne’s daughter, Snoop Dogg’s daughter, Biggie’s son, they all make music – but they also have their own names. They’re not called Notorious B.I.G. 2 – The Comeback, because that sounds like a game for Xbox.
NWA Resurrected is probably the sort of thing that a hip-hop fan once had a wet dream about as a teenager. It’s Dre, Eazy E and Yella back together, without Ice Cube, staying true to the group’s latter-day roots. But the reality is a little depressing. Here’s a song that they recorded for the 25th anniversary of Straight Outta Compton, called “Straight Outta Compton”.
You’ve got to wait until the end of the video to hear a “free sample of the song” but basically, it uses the beat of “Straight Outta Compton” and ruins “Straight Outta Compton” because no one should be allowed to touch “Straight Outta Compton”.
I tried to find a little bit more information on the group beyond a shady press release and a 15-second sound clip that provided no incentive to make a purchase. I found an article on OC Weekly, which was about five-pages too long, but provided a bit more of a back-story.
Dr Dre’s son (Curtis Young, who only found out Dre was his Dad at the age of 12) and Eazy E’s son (Eric Wright Jr) did not talk to each other until they were much older, something that the article fashions as an extension of the fall-out between Eazy and Dre, but was probably just because they were kids, going to different schools, with different friends. The same reason why I don’t talk to the children of someone that my Dad maybe once worked with back in 1988.
The Sons of NWA want to step out of their fathers’ respective shadows, something which, although I can’t be sure, is probably quite hard to do when you call yourself The Sons of NWA and re-record “Straight Outta Compton”. They work out of Serious Pimp Studios – founded by Snoop Dogg and Warren G – and state that this is not an effort to re-hash their fathers’ legacies, but to re-push the legacy of Compton (despite recording in a quiet Orange County suburb).
While digging a little deeper, I came across this plea, posted on some random classifieds section of MTV.com.
Wanting to find out more about the “epioc” tour by a group that was finally back “togather”, I emailed the address listed but Mailer Daemon told me that delivery to the following recipient failed permanently. I could not reach anyone else for comment :(
In the interview with OC Weekly, Lil Eazy said – “The talent is in our blood and it is our birthright. We are very happy and excited that we have this capability to continue what our fathers imprinted the game with.”
:(
Follow Ryan on Twitter: @RyanBassil
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