Rap Star Eazy-E Dies Of Aids At 31

Singer Eazy-E, whose pioneering “gangsta” rap group N.W.A. brought the rawness of the inner-city to white suburbia, died Sunday of AIDS complications. He was 31.

The rapper, whose real name was Eric Wright, died at CedarsSinai Medical Center, where he was hospitalized Feb. 24 with asthma, the hospital announced.

In announcing his condition on March 16, Wright said he didn’t know how he contracted AIDS.

A Compton-born former drug dealer, Wright brought a brutal vision of Los Angeles-area ghetto life to popular art.

N.W.A. scored a hit in 1988 with “Straight Outta Compton,” which used a thumping beat to tell crude tales of drive-by shootings, drugs and police harassment.