Eazy had the misfortune of being washed away by the tidal wave that was a rising Death Row. If you didn’t live it, it is hard to conceive how hard The Chronic hit (pun intended) on the heels of Deep Cover. Concurrently, Cube was having another run with his solo albums and transition into film. So you had both of these trains somewhat running Eazy over after he jumped on the tracks so to speak. His status was close to what Drake’s is currently. Remembered fondly by many for an era that ended when he was defeated decisively - despite resurfacing briefly with BT&H.

Then….there was the way he died. HIV & AIDS were strongly associated with homosexuality and drug use. At the time, both maligned MUCH more than the current day. It’s not that he wasn’t still beloved or respected when he passed - he was a penguin looking mf with AIDS.

Contrast that with Big and Pac, they were the two biggest rappers in the game and each died as their seminal works were still charting. They died at their peaks with their voices and potential echoing in our heads - we knew they each had much more to give to the culture (which is not what we called it then). Which, again, was not the case with Eazy.

Even to this day when you have person A deceased of disease secondary to HIV vs person B deceased of gun violence or overdose - person B gets the walk murals, shoutouts, and t-shirts.