Eazy-E

A hodgepodge of both obscure and well-known Eazy-E recordings, Featuring...Eazy E is ostensibly a compilation of tracks on which the late rapper was featured as a guest. That explains the inclusion of "Trust No Bitch" (Penthouse Players Clique), "Get Yo Ride On" (Mack 10), "Foe tha Love of Money" (Bone Thugs-N-Harmony), and "P.S. Phuk U 2" (Penthouse Players Clique), which are all tracks on which Eazy-E was a featured guest. However, every other song on this 16-track compilation was originally credited to either Eazy-E or his group, N.W.A, so Featuring...Eazy E falls far short of fulfilling its literal billing. If anything, the compilation functions well as a clearinghouse of obscure Eazy-E material in remastered sound: the two aforementioned Penthouse Players Clique tracks, from the long out of print DJ Quik-produced Paid the Cost (1992); "L.A. Is the Place" and "Fat Girl," both produced by Dr. Dre, from the formative N.W.A and the Posse (1987); the 12" remix of "We Want Eazy," which clocks in at nearly seven minutes; "Luv 4 Dem Gangsta'z," a latter-day one-off contribution to the Beverly Hills Cop III soundtrack (1994); and a pair of posthumous productions by L.T. Hutton, "24 Hrs to Live" and "Black Nigga Killa," originally released on the double-disc retrospective Ruthless Records Tenth Anniversary: Decade of Game (1998). Besides this obscure material and the aforementioned guest features, Featuring...Eazy E also includes well-known songs from Eazy-Duz-It (1988) and Niggaz4life (1991) that are among the best songs here, but because they've been so often compiled, they essentially serve as filler. To further muddy the logic of the material compiled, Featuring...Eazy E is sequenced non-chronologically. [Featuring...Eazy E was also made available in a "clean" version with all profanities removed.] ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide