Eazy Street: Compton renames street after late rapper Eazy-E

COMPTON, Calif. (KABC) -- The city of Compton on Wednesday honored the late rapper Eazy-E by renaming the 100 block of Auto Drive South after him -- officially dubbing the stretch Eazy Street.

Eazy-E, whose real name was Eric Wright, is best known as a member of the landmark hip-hop group NWA., along with Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, MC Ren, DJ Yella and Arabian Prince. He also achieved success as the founder and owner of Ruthless Records and as a solo artist. He died in 1995 at age 30 from AIDS- induced pneumonia.

To celebrate the honor, the city held a renaming ceremony open to the public to show off the new street sign, and to recognize what Eazy-E's impact has had on the city and all of hip-hop.

The renaming of the street is especially timely given hip-hop is celebrating its 50th year anniversary this year.

Compton Mayor Emma Shariff and several city council members were in attendance, along with some of Eazy-E's family.

"My father finally got what he deserves, a monumental street in the city he put on the map," Eazy-E's son Eric Darnell Wright told reporters at the event. "It's a long time coming, but again, I always say it's God's timing."

Alonzo Williams, president of the Compton Entertainment Chamber of Commerce, played a major part in spearheading the renaming, city officials said.

"Compton has a lot of history, but nobody knows about it. I figured the most recent history is hip-hop history," Williams said at the event. "Being this is the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, I thought it'd be a great idea to approach the City Council, talk about possibly doing this and they loved the idea."

The newly minted Eazy Street runs off Alameda Street and into the Gateway Towne Center shopping plaza.

City News Service contributed to this report.