We've written many times before about how Eric “Eazy-E” Wright was a hip-hop visionary who never got the credit he deserved for turning rap into an international phenomenon (though last year's Straight Outta Compton biopic went a long way toward rehabilitating his legacy). Well, he was a visionary in other ways, too. Decades before it became commonplace for every rapper to have a skateboard or two in his closet, Eazy was practicing kickflips with his young son on the streets of Compton — a hobby now immortalized in a new limited-edition collection of T-shirts and hoodies from legendary skater Stevie Williams' Asphalt Yacht Club (AYC) apparel brand.

Mike Miller snapped the now-iconic image of Eazy-E with his board outside Ruthless Records.; Credit: Photo by Mike Miller, courtesy of AYC

Mike Miller snapped the now-iconic image of Eazy-E with his board outside Ruthless Records.; Credit: Photo by Mike Miller, courtesy of AYC

The new Skateboard Fresh collection features a photo of Eazy-E taken by Mike Miller in the Ruthless Records parking lot in 1992, showing the N.W.A founder brandishing a gun and a classic Natas skateboard. It was a startling juxtaposition at the time. “Back then skating and hip-hop did not mix,” Miller recalls.

Eazy's son, Eric “Lil Eazy-E” Wright Jr., says of the photo (via an AYC press release): “The world doesn’t know, but us inner-city Compton kids in the early age of life enjoyed the sport on the skateboard my father gave me. I learned how to skate from him!” For Wright Jr., the Skateboard Fresh line is a welcome reminder that his father's “impact goes far and beyond just hip-hop.”

The full Skateboard Fresh collection is available via asphaltyachtclub.com.

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