Yellow Brick Road (an Eazy-E Story)

SEVENTEEN

April 15th, 1992 | 3:45pm

"Yeah, and you don't stop

'Cause it's 187 on an undercover cop!"

I nodded my head to the new cassette tape in the deck of my new Mercedes Benz as I drove away from my house. My high from being promoted to junior accountant hadn't left me yet and the house I had purchased in October of 1991 still smelt of brand new paint and pinewood. It seems like everything was falling into place for me and falling apart for Eric since I rid myself of him. 

I rolled my windows down and turned the volume up high, letting the bass bang and my subwoofers rattle the streets beneath me. 

"Creep with me as I crawl through the hood

Maniac, lunatic, call me Snoop Eastwood

Kickin' dust as I bust, fuck peace

And the muthafuckin' punk police!" 

Dre was a beast at what he does. Since he left NWA and started Death Row with Suge, he released his first record for a movie score. He signed an artist named Snoop that was smooth with his delivery. I heard that after I left, Cube dissed the hell out of NWA with the release of No Vaseline around the time I had purchased my home. 

Tonya said that Yella found it hilarious. But Ren, Dre and Eric didn't crack a smile. Eric sent some of his boys from Kelly Park to jump Cube and Da Lench Mob at a convention. Of course, shit got sticky. I was glad that I wasn't there to calm Eric down. I actually thought the diss record was harder than the shots they put out to Cube on their album, EFIL4ZAGGIN. 

I continued my route to Tonya and Ren's place. I hadn't seen them in weeks and I wanted to lay eyes on them, as well as show off my new ride. It was a white 300 SL drop-top '92 model, fully loaded. I was proud of it and thought about how proud my brother would've been if he were here. 

I stopped at a red light with both hands on the wheel. I was in familiar territory. Compton, California. I looked over to my left to see a white convertible stop next to my car. The windows were down with rap music blasting. The song was Late Night Hype by Compton's Most Wanted. I squinted through my Gucci shades and recognized who it was. 

Eric's was looking dead at me. "Lauren!" He yelled out. The light turned green and I was gone. I peeped my rearview mirror and noticed him tailing me in his BMW 850i. His hair had gotten longer, I noticed from the rearview. I snapped out of it and made my way to Tonya and Ren's apartment complex. 

I changed the cassette tape at the next red light. Eric purposefully stopped in the right lane this time. I could hear his nasal voice calling over for me over his music. I sighed, looking through tapes until I found one I wanted to hear. I popped in an Isley Brother's tape and fast forwarded to 'Here We Go Again'. Ironically enough, it described our situation perfectly and happened to be my favorite from the album. 

I turned the volume up purposely, letting the beat shake my body in my leather seats. The light turned green and Eric switched lanes to get behind me. 

"What do you do when you love somebody

And everything is going wrong

Nobody knows the way you feel about it

'Cause only you know, you can't leave it alone