Brownside is a Chicano Hip-Hop group founded in 1994 by the late Eazy-E. The group originally consisted of rappers Toker (Gilbert Izquierdo), Wicked (Pierre Lamas), Lil Danger (Heder Hernandez Jr.) and Danger (Angel Hernandez), who was shot dead in 1997 from a drive-by. Originally, Eazy-E’s intentions on signing Brownside to Ruthless Records was to create a Chicano version of the critically acclaimed rap group N.W.A. Toker had attended high school in Compton, CA where he later met Eazy-E, and the two developed a great friendship until Eazy-E’s untimely death in 1995. It is said that towards the end of Eazy’s life he was attracted to Chicano rap in California and saw this as a new market to break into. Brownside was one of the most promising Latin Hip-Hop groups coming straight out of Los Angeles. Brownside’s line-up included members Toker, Danger and Wicked. In 1994, they were signed to Eazy’s Ruthless Records and released only one single entitled Gang Related. However, they did record one [known] track with Eric entitled Eastside Drama which was not released at that time. After Eric died on 26 March 1995, Brownside, among many of their label mates, was dropped from the label.
Their debut album Eastside Drama, released early 1997, was recorded at the G-Spot Studio and featured a Chicano version of Eazy-E’s Boyz n the Hood called Vatos In The Varrio. Brownside’s main image was that they aren’t ‘rappers trying to be gangbangers’, they are ‘gangbangers trying to be rappers’ Toker stated on a live interview with Julio G from radiostation KBRN. Their greatest hardship came in 1997 when member Danger was gunned down in a drive-by shooting in South Central L.A., CA. As a result of the shooting, Brownside’s Toker and Wicked had to make their 1997 LP Eastside Drama without Danger. The first single off of that LP was Life On The Streets. The dedication song on the album entitled Rest In Piece AKA Firme Memories, samples The Temprees’s Love (Between A Boy and Girl) Can Be So Wonderful. This sample was also used by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony on track 10 of disc 1 of The Art Of War released the same year.
In 2002, they released Payback which contains tracks which sound like they were recorded in 1994 whilst still on Ruthless. In 2006, they released The Takeover, and in 2008 they released 13 Reasons AKA Trece Razones.
Brownside has been known to use Sureño slang in their lyrics, as well as album covers. Brownside has collaborated with numerous West Coast artists such as Dirty Red, Slow Pain, Mr. Gee, and Lil’ Rob.
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