Yellow Brick Road (an Eazy-E Story)

THIRTY ONE

April 10th, 1995 | 4:12pm

"What's going down?" Eric dapping his right hand with BIG's while a smile spreads across his face, he points behind his shoulder where I was standing.

"This is my wife, Lauren. Say what's up!" Eric motioned me to come closer to him. I was starstruck to see the rapper standing in front of me. He stood tall in his Coogi sweater and Versace Medusa shades. He wore baggy jeans and construction Timberlands. A dark brown leather coat covering the Coogi design on his sweater.

Beside him was a man about my height but taller. He wore a white headband around his line up and a grey Nike sweatsuit. I extended my hand to BIG. "It's so nice to meet you." I said with a wide grin.

"I've been hearing about you. Your name rings bells in the borough." BIG said with a congested tone. He laughed a bit as he shook my hand. "Good things, I hope?" I tilted my neck slightly to the side.

"Of course. You're as thorough as they come. BK to the fullest. I see you holding my nigga E down out in Cali." BIG said with a smile on his face. His eyes hidden behind his designer shades. Eric adjusted his Armani Locs over the bridge of his nose and smiled at me. "That's right." Eric said with composure.

"This is my man, Cease." BIG patted Cease's chest that was covered by his pullover hoodie. "Nice to meet y'all. Love." Cease shook Eric's hand and nodded in my direction out of respect. I nodded back in return.

"So, what's this news I'm hearing about you coming to California?" Eric took a seat across from BIG at the elongated wooden table of the penthouse he was renting for the next two months. We planned on staying here to get things started for Ruthless Records in regards to promoting Bone Thugs here and scouting new talent.

"I got love for Cali. But this whole East Coast versus West Coast bullshit is fucking me up." BIG scratched his head at the other end of the table. I made my way to the kitchen to grab the gentlemen drinks. I poured them a glass of cognac half full and brought it to the table.

"Thank you." BIG tiled his head up towards me and took the glass from my hand. I walked to Eric and served his on a coaster. I took a seat next to my husband and crossed my legs under the table. Eric's left hand wasted no time becoming a magnet to the upper half of my thigh.

"You know the West got love for you, man. If anything, Ruthless is fucking with you. My wife can't stop playing your record around the house." Eric joked as he gripped my thigh tighter under the table. I shot a smile at BIG. "The real problem is Death Row." Eric said bluntly.

"That's who the fuck I'm talking about. Suge has been trying to sign Pac to spite me. I know you know what the word is." BIG leaned forward on the wooden table, leaning against his elbows. Cease took out a rolled up blunt and a lighter.

Cease sparked the blunt. Taking a few hits of the weed, he passed the blunt to his right hand side where BIG was sitting. He took a few tokes to the face as he took in Eric's words.

"You know what Suge's done to me. That's why I'm out here trying to get my shit back right. But yeah, I've been hearing that he's looking for Pac. Lauren, did he mention Death Row when you went to visit him?" Eric turned his head towards me.

"No. He only mentioned his girlfriend. This is news to me." I said with a confused expression.

"Oh, you know Pac personally?" Cease asked as he took the blunt back from BIG. "Yeah. Childhood friends. Ex lovers." I said quickly. I didn't want to get too personal. I know how Pac feels about BIG. I've been trying to tell him that BIG isn't trying to beef with him, that it was all a misunderstanding.

Pac wasn't hearing it at all. "Them niggas set me up that night, and you want to side with that fat ass nigga?" Was the only thing that replayed in my head when I thought about the weeks after Tupac had gotten shot and robbed at a studio session that BIG had booked for them.

Pac and I didn't speak for a good month or two until he called me from Keisha's apartment with a sincere apology. Eric didn't want any parts of their riff. He was concerned with Suge threatening Eric and I every chance he got over Dre.

I find it funny that we now have a common ally in BIG. We both aren't into the drama, but Suge is. We want to put this shit behind us, Suge doesn't. Suge wants to create turmoil between Pac and BIG. BIG wants it to stop.

California is where the money is. If BIG can win the coast over, he can make it everywhere. The only man standing in the way of making that happen is Suge.

"I had no idea you and Pac had history." Cease said as he French inhaled the smoke.

"Yeah. I've been trying to tell him for months that you're not to blame for that night at the studio. He's not hearing me." I said with a sigh. Eric rubbed my thigh under the table as a way to console me.

"Well, the next time you see him, ask him about it." Eric licked his lips while looking at me. I didn't have to see his pupils to know they were darting right through me. "I got you." I said with a heavy borough accent.

The more time I spent at home, the more my accent was coming back. I looked at BIG. "I want you to come out to California. You have people that respect you out there. I don't want you to feed into the media like Pac has been doing." I said to BIG.

"Trust me, the media is the last thing on my mind. I'm just trying to work with the Hip-Hop Thugsta over here, man. I need a bomb ass record from you." BIG pointed his finger at Eric and smiled.

"That's nothing, man. Let's make it happen." Eric said with a smirk. The kind of smirk that said 'Let's fuck shit up' without having to say it. "I might have to hook you up with my boys from Cleveland. They're as real as they come." Eric marketed Bone to BIG.

"Is that right? Well, if you stamp them, they must be some official niggas." BIG smiled before leaning over the edge of the table with his wrists shining in diamond bracelets.

"Look, I have a show at The Tunnel tonight. Y'all should come through. I'll have my people take care of y'all." BIG suggested.

"That's a done deal." I spoke on Eric's behalf. "I haven't been to The Tunnel in a long ass time." I said with excitement.

For the next half hour, we all passed the blunt around the table and conversed about BIG's next project, who he wanted to collaborate with and Faith. He and his wife were on the outs right now.

"She came to the hotel and whopped that bitch ass! Mind you, I had just gotten out of the shower." BIG said with a deep laugh from the gut. We couldn't help but to laugh ourselves. I knew about the groupies all too well, it BIG's retelling is what made it humorous.

"It was the craziest shit I had ever experienced on tour, son. I'm telling you." BIG threw his head back, exhaling weed smoke and laughing his ass off. BIG was a comedian in his past life and this round table meeting convinced me so. He was a genuine guy, showed love to Eric and I and the entire Ruthless family.

BIG leaned in for a hug and kissed my cheek politely before shaking Eric's hand. Cease nodded a goodbye at both of us and left our rental penthouse to prepare for his show tonight.

I stood in front of the floor to ceiling window, looking at the city skyline. Eric stood behind me with his arms firmly holding my waist, staring at the skyline right along with me. I replayed our conversation with BIG.

How was I going to bring up BIG's name at the next visit without pissing Tupac off? Better yet, who was all going to show up at The Tunnel tonight? I was already caught in a sticky situation. Eric and I only want to see this shit get squashed any way it can get done.

There's too much money on the table to let pride get in the way. At least I hope that's the case.