Eazy-E (29)

Eazy-E
1964-1995
N.W.A founder, Gangsta rap godfather
Cause of Death: AIDS-related pneumonia

Wicked Stepmother: Days before his death, Eazy (born Eric Wright) married girlfriend Tomica Woods in a bedside ceremony at Los Angeles's Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and made her CEO of his Ruthless Records and co-trustee of his estimated $35 million estate. Less than 24 hours after Eazy's death, a Ruthless employee sued Woods for claiming wrongful ownership of Ruthless. Other women (E had nine children by seven mothers) retained lawyers to make sure E's children were taken care of after his death.
Gone but Not Forgotten: Despite Eazy's pivotal role in the late-'80s rise of Cali hip-hop, his passing didn't spark the obsessive national media remembrance that Tupac's later did. However, his hospitalization occasioned more calls to the Cedars-Sinai switchboard than any other celebrity patient, including George Burns and Lucille Ball. Legac-E: More than 10 years after Eazy's death, there has been little in the way of new material; Ruthless released one posthumous album, a 1995 greatest-hits collection and a 2002 album/DVD. However, his oldest son, Lil Eazy-E, is prepared to carry the torch with his own album, Prince of Compton.