Prior to his death in 1995, Eazy-E reportedly recorded multiple records that have yet to be heard by the public, including songs with legendary rock band Guns N’ Roses, which are still believed to be in existence.
Arnold “Bigg A” White, a childhood friend of Eazy-E and the CEO of Rich & Ruthless Records, spoke with Rock The Bells about the unearthed collaborations at a listening party for the release of Eazy’s son, Lil Eazy-E and Daz Dillinger’s new album The Legacy.
“There is unreleased music still out there,” Bigg A told the outlet. “We know for a fact that he had two or three or four reels in his car when he went to the hospital. Those reels came up missing.” According to White, the master recordings of the Guns N’ Roses collaborations and other songs by the rap icon were discovered in Canada at one point, but he has no knowledge of their current whereabouts.
“He had songs with Slash from Guns n’ Roses — he had songs with Guns n’ Roses on those reels. Those reels have been found ’cause they wound up in Canada. That’s a whole other story, but what happened to them [since], I don’t know.”
Bigg A also added that while he’s unsure if the West Coast icon’s estate has the reels in question, N.W.A. member DJ Yella is believed to be in possession of unreleased music from Eazy-E. He also says that Dr. Dre could possibly have unheard songs from his late groupmate and former rival that have yet to see the light of day.
“I don’t know if the estate got them, but there is unreleased music, and Yella has some, I know for a fact that there is some unreleased acapella vocals, that he was working on some records with a couple of producers I worked with and last I heard was that they were up in Dre’s studio.”
Eazy-E passed away on March 26, 1995 at 30-years-old due to complications related to AIDS, which he was diagnosed with weeks prior to his death. There has been speculation of the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death, which were explored by his daughter in a docuseries released in 2021.
The N.W.A. and Ruthless Records founder appeared on all of N.W.A.’s albums and released his debut solo album Eazy-Duz-It in 1988, which reached No. 41 on the Billboard 200 at the time and yielded the hit singles “We Want Eazy” and “Boyz-n-the-Hood (Remix).”
In 1996, Ruthless Records released Eazy’s second studio album, Str8 off tha Streetz of Muthaphukkin Compton, as well as the Impact of a Legend EP in 2002 on the seventh anniversary of his transition.
In March, Daz Dillinger and Lil Eazy-E released their joint album, The Legacy, which includes appearances from Kid Capri, Kokane, RBX, Eazy’s E’s grandson Baby Eazy-E, and more.
NEWS
Steve Albini‘s bands Shellac and Big Black now have their catalogues available for listening on Spotify.
Albini passed away aged 61 earlier this month due to a heart attack. He was well known for being the producer of major albums such as Nirvana’s ‘In Utero‘, Pixies’ ‘Surfer Rosa’, PJ Harvey’s ‘Rid of Me’, Manic Street Preachers‘ ‘Journal For Plague Lovers’ and more.
Back in 2022, the late producer took his music off the streaming platform. He had previously criticised the company for platforming anti-vaxxers such as Joe Rogan, and tweeted later that they were a “terrible company”, adding: “I don’t want to be part of their business”.
He later told Attack Magazine that Spotify was “one of the few places outside of record stores where recorded music can earn anything at all, and for bands [with] more generous, honest relationships with independent labels not part of the ownership trust, then the payments from Spotify, though meager per-play, can add up to a viable income stream. Nobody’s getting rich, but it could pay for the groceries.”
Now, it appears that Albini’s work with his bands Shellac and Big Black are now available to stream on Spotify. This include’s Shellac’s final album ‘To All Trains’, which was announced shortly before Albini’s death and was released last Friday (May 17).
Tributes have poured in for the legendary producer since the announcement of his death. Our NME obituary hailed him as “a lone voice of anti-industry punk scene ethics, even as he worked with major labels on some of the biggest names in alternative rock.”
Meanwhile, Foo Fighters dedicated a rendition of ‘My Hero’ to the late producer in Charlotte, North Carolina last week.
“Tonight I’d like to dedicate this song to a friend that we lost the other day, who I’ve known a long, long time,” Foos frontman Dave Grohl told the crowd. “He left us much too soon. He’s touched all of your lives, I’m sure. I’m talking about Steve Albini. For those of you who know, you know. For those of you who don’t know, just remember that name: Steve Albini. Let’s sing this one for him.”
PJ Harvey also said he “changed the course of my life” during sessions for her 1993 LP ‘Rid Of Me’., and Joanna Newsom dedicated a version of her song ‘Cosmia’ to him, who engineered her 2006 album ‘Ys’. See further tributes here.
Elsewhere, Yourcodenameis:milo spoke to NME about how the 20th anniversary of their LP ‘All Roads To Fault’ was made all the more profound by the passing of Albini, who engineered the album.
Remembering their time with the punk and production legend, Lockey said: “We paid attention, saw everything he did, asked questions that he would gladly spend ages answering”.
“He once stopped the session and proceeded to give us a lecture on how the peanut built America. He schooled us in billiards, then showed us his favourite cooking shows that he’d recorded. It was all so natural and encouraging, we could do what the fuck we wanted and he’d capture it. That’s the deal, and we fucking loved it.”
