Long Beach rapper Snoop Dogg has had a career of ups and downs. Upon joining Death Row and achieving fame with the help of the legendary G-funk pioneer Dr Dre, the emcee (real name Calvin Broadus) decided to take on some of his comrade’s gripes, one of which was with the Ruthless Records founder and former N.W.A. member, Eric ‘Eazy-E’ Wright.
Following N.W.A.’s messy fallout and eventual dissipation, former crew mates were suddenly rivals, and one feud that emerged was between Eazy-E and Dr Dre (real name Andre Young). Young departed the Compton collective in 1991 to launch Death Row Records alongside Michael ‘Harry-O’ Harris and Suge Knight. However, feeling betrayed, Wright took issue with Dre and his decision, and mutual resentment consumed the pair.
To prove a point, Eazy belittled the entirety of the Death Row roster on live TV, labelling them as “studio gangsters” and “not real.” Furthermore, Wright highlighted that he was making money from Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg’s music by explaining, “I had Dre signed [to Ruthless] as exclusive producer, so when Dre tried to make his deal over at Interscope, I was included for the next six years so, you can say all you wanna say! Basically, he can diss me all he wants, but that’s why I say Dre Day is only Eazy’s payday!” He then went on to continue with a live performance of his Dr Dre diss track ‘Real Compton City G’s’.
In retaliation, Snoop Dogg sent subtle shots at Eazy-E on Arsenio Hall in 1993 during a freestyle as he rapped, “You can’t see me, You wanna be me / I gotta message to the Cpt (Compton), What’s Up Eazy?!” However, the 1993 single ‘F*ck Wit Dre Day’ from The Chronic was far less subtle in its approach to dissing Eazy-E with its music video featuring a lookalike of Wright pandering to his manager, who labelled him as “Sleazy-E.”
The ongoing feud was a series of tit-for-tat jabs. However, while on the Death Row tour, Broadus screamed at the crowd, “Who likes Eazy-E?! F*ck Eazy motherf*ckin E! We don’t love the n*gga!” However, Snoop has since revealed that he “loved Eazy-E, despite making records about him and getting at him sideways” and put it down to him being “young and with Dr Dre as a rider.”
You can watch a clip of Snoop Dogg addressing Wright on the Death Row tour in the video below.
