His own attitude

THE necklace is remarkable, not only as an exquisitely crafted piece of hip-hop jewelry roughly equal in value to a small condominium, but also as a memorial to the dead.

The diamond-encrusted likeness of the late rapper Eazy-E, the size of a fist, hangs at the end of a thick cable of white gold. His characteristic sunglasses and “Compton”-emblazoned baseball cap are adorned with glittering black “ice.”

The necklace is the property of Eric “Lil’ Eazy-E” Wright Jr., firstborn son of the hip-hop trailblazer Eric Wright, a.k.a. Eazy-E, the frontman of incendiary Compton collective N.W.A and one of the founding fathers of gangsta rap, who died of AIDS-related illness in 1995 when Wright Jr. was 10.

Leading up to the January release of his first album, “The Prince of Compton,” Wright Jr. has become a combative torchbearer for his father’s legacy.

While the deceased rapper Notorious B.I.G. continues to be immortalized on posthumous singles (and an upcoming “duets” album) and Tupac Shakur still outsells most rappers nearly a decade after his death, Wright Jr. thinks the hip-hop music industry owes Eazy-E a debt it has been reluctant to pay.

“That’s what brings the anger in me, when that [stuff] doesn’t get recognized,” he said. “They got the blueprint from him. As a businessman and an artist, he made it possible for them to be saying what they’re saying.”

Thematically, on “Prince,” Wright Jr. revisits many of the familiar Compton touchstones N.W.A chronicled two decades ago: lowriders, malt liquor, drive-by shootings and at least one helicopter newscast of a police car chase. At a time when police estimate that Compton’s escalating murder rate is 90% gang-related, he wants his gritty raps to be a “cry for help” for the city but also a wake-up call about the way people are living “in the ghettos across America.”

In addition to landing a “seven-figure” deal last December with Virgin Records -- which includes his debut as well as a commitment for subsequent albums -- Wright, 21, is quickly establishing his bona fides in a branch of the music biz, hip-hop, that has almost no history of nurturing second-generation talent and in which a performer’s bloodline offers no guarantee of money or fame.

Just last month he signed with the powerhouse Creative Artists Agency, and he has begun maneuvering to land endorsement contracts, make a publishing deal for his autobiography and break into acting. The rapper is being groomed for a role portraying his father in an Eazy-E biopic currently in development.

Street credibility -- real or manufactured -- is the bedrock of hip-hop, and Wright says his immediate responsibility is to return a sense of urgency and “realness” to a form of quintessentially Los Angeles-based music that his father helped create.

In a dimly lighted North Hollywood recording studio where he was finishing up 11 tracks for his album, Wright ran his finger along the necklace and spoke again of his father.

“I’m doing what I want to do,” he said, “keeping his legacy alive but adding to his yardstick.”

No silver spoon

ANY understanding of Lil’ Eazy-E must begin with an understanding of his Compton upbringing. Wright was born and raised by his grandparents in the same one-story stucco home in which his father grew up.

In the mid-1980s, in the Wright residence’s converted garage studio, Eazy-E Sr., O’Shea “Ice Cube” Jackson, Lorenzo “MC Ren” Patterson, Antoine “DJ Yella” Carraby and Andre “Dr. Dre” Young came together to form N.W.A, a group that exploded across popular culture and sold millions of albums.

Their songs, including “F*** Tha Police,” “Boyz-N-The-Hood” and “Straight Outta Compton,” demonized the LAPD and mythologized the deceptively quiet bedroom community where drive-by shootings are a fact of life -- N.W.A received a cautionary letter from the FBI for its efforts in 1989. The group articulated underclass rage in a way that carries on as a guiding force in hip-hop.

Unlike Lil Romeo, the son of rapper and label owner Master P, who grew up in Beverly Hills and was encouraged to begin rapping professionally at age 10, Wright didn’t pull any strings to get where he is. And he was never insulated from the streets by his father’s fortune -- even as Wright Sr. grew rich and influential as co-founder of Ruthless Records, one of hip-hop’s first rapper-owned labels.

“A lot of people assume I grew up in the Valley, but I grew up here, in the streets,” said Wright, seated in the Compton garage where N.W.A spawned gangsta rap. Plush sofas lined the walls, and a bedspread with pink and purple flowers covered the carport door. “I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth.”

“Master P is alive, and he was able to push Lil Romeo,” said Emmanuel “E-Man” Coquia, music director for Power 106, Los Angeles’ top hip-hop station. “Whereas with Lil’ E, all he has is his father’s legacy.”

As a child, Wright was never made fully aware of how much money his father made. Eazy-E, meanwhile, lived in nearby Norwalk. “I don’t know how my father wanted me to grow up,” Wright said. “But my grandmother always said that he said to her, ‘Take care of him.’ Life ain’t perfect.”

Despite their distance, he says Big Eazy was a loving father and a regular presence while he was growing up. Early on, Wright learned to love gangsta rap, in particular his father’s and Ice Cube’s thoughtful, aggressive style. And he gives his father’s child-rearing decisions the benefit of the doubt.

“Compton’s not a [very safe] city to be growing up in,” Wright said. “[But] if I have a son, of course he’s gonna stay with his family down here. Get tough. Get rough. He’s gonna know where his father and grandfather came up. It made me who I am.”

At 18, Wright Jr. moved to Las Vegas. But when it comes to his formative years there, he refuses to divulge specific details -- apparently what happened in Vegas stays in Vegas. “I was just hustling,” he said. “I was living to the fullest, making money.”

“But,” he added, “you can’t hustle forever.” Two years ago he decided to turn his attention to rap. A meeting with then up-and-coming Compton rapper the Game led to Wright’s appearance on the “G-Unit Radio Part 8” mix tape from influential DJ Whoo Kid last year. Word spread quickly across the underground: Eazy’s son can rap.

Credibility in question

WRIGHT’S lineage didn’t do any favors, however, when it came time to get a record deal. At the outset, he couldn’t even arrange a meeting with label executives.

“A lot of people didn’t know his history,” remembered Lil’ Eazy-E’s business partner, Pete “P-Luv” Farmer, a former vice president of artists and repertoire at Virgin Records. Farmer brought Wright to Virgin’s attention and is a partner in the newly launched Kings of L.A. label, which was started as part of Wright Jr.’s Virgin deal. “When they’d hear about Lil’ E, they’d automatically think, ‘His dad’s famous. He grew up rich.’ ”

With his street credibility in question, executives were more interested in marketing Wright as a gimmick -- until Farmer played them a demo. “He got the deal based on one verse,” said Bruce “Bruiser” Bible, Wright’s manager and a partner in Kings of L.A. “The song was about being Eazy’s son.”

Since Wright landed his deal, his relationship with the Game has soured. That rapper (real name Jayceon Taylor) has a large likeness of Eazy-E tattooed on his right forearm and in interviews has called Wright Sr. “a father figure” But in light of some of Taylor’s recent lyrics, Wright thinks the Game is trying to cash in on his father’s legacy.

“It’s not homage and it’s not respect,” Wright said of the tattoo and some remarks attributed to the Game. “To say things like ‘I’m living Eazy’s dream’ or you’re the ‘rebirth’ of my father -- you can’t do that.”

He added: “Am I gonna walk around with a picture of your father on my body?”

Wright’s commitment to perpetuating his father’s legacy is most apparent on “Prince of Compton.” While his rapping voice sounds slightly deeper than Eazy Sr.’s trademark high-octave wheeze, their sonic resemblance is unmistakable.

Poignantly, on the as yet unfinished song “They Killed You,” Wright raps, “Pops, without you, the game ain’t the same.... I feel you near me.” The rest of the album is similarly laced with autobiographical details.

“He’s rapping about what he’s been through,” Bible said, “about how when you get outside that door, you don’t know what’s going to happen.... Compton? It’s a danger zone.”

Viewed in that light, Wright’s man-of-the-people accessibility -- his public image consists of creased khakis, simple sneakers, crisply laundered T-shirts and a conspicuous blue bandanna folded into his back left pocket -- can be seen as a turn away from the decadent bling-centrism of hip-hop’s last few years.

“To be singing about fancy cars and what kind of Cognac you drink is totally dissonant of reality for most people,” said Samuel Roberts, a professor of African American history and public health at Columbia University. “It’s been a long time since hip-hop was socially conscious. And Top 40 hip-hop hasn’t been that thought-provoking.”

Wright believes his father’s death from AIDS-related illness has contributed to a conflicted legacy. “It would have been different if he’d gone out in a bang-bang-type situation,” Wright said. “The type of person he’s remembered as -- Compton gangbanger, drug dealer, no heart, [impregnated] women -- they don’t understand how much he gave to the community.”

Sputtering with anger, he recalled the time his father courted controversy by attending a 1991 Republican fundraising luncheon in Washington, D.C., with the then-president: “He got to the White House and met George Bush! How hard is that?”

Growing buzz

LIL’ Eazy-E’s single “Gangsta Sh -- “ went into rotation on Power 106 three weeks ago and has been generating positive buzz. The single won’t be for sale until November, but its slinky “G-funk” backing track -- and Wright’s assertion, “I’m the son of a rap legend, Eazy-E!” -- have created a wider consciousness about his intentions.

“Lyrically, he’s dope,” said Coquia, the station’s music director, giving the rapper one of hip-hop’s highest compliments. “It sounds just like young Eazy.”

According to Coquia, excitement has been building for a rumored N.W.A “reunion” track.

“A lot of the feedback I’ve been hearing in the streets is about him getting back with the original members of N.W.A,” he said. “That’ll be big. People have been waiting on that -- not just on the West Coast, across the whole country. If that record comes out, it’ll be an event.”

So far, only Ice Cube has participated on the album; he functions as a kind of gangsta narrator on the song “Drive By.” But according to Wright Jr., MC Ren and Dr. Dre have expressed an interest in appearing on “Prince” and are trying to find time to join him in the studio.

“This is a new generation of gangsta rap,” said Wright, hunched behind a vast mixing board at the recording studio. “Gangsta rap died with the person who started it -- my father. It needs a second coming.”