E-40 : “I Didn’t Come Up Under Dr. Dre. I Came Up Under E-40.”
So you want to be a successful and respected veteran in the hip-hop game that embodies lyrical dexterity, imaginative creativity and a heart full of gusto and independence? Well, you’re best off taking notes from E-40, one of the few MCs that’s been able to remain relevant and hip for two decades and counting. Whether it’s his penchant for popularizing some of the most creative slang in hip-hop or delivering his distinctive flow over tracks like the hyphy anthem, “Tell Me When to Go,” the Bay Area ambassador is a certified veteran.
After dropping two albums (Revenue Retrievin’: Day Shift and Revenue Retrievin’: Night Shift) on the same day, E-40 spit game to XXLMag.com as he talks about the lack of respect from hip-hop’s new school, his true feelings toward the East Coast and why he deserves a Grammy… or two.
XXLMag.com: Ageism is something that doesn’t often get discussed in hip-hop but many people attest to the idea that hip-hop is a young man’s game. As a veteran, where do you see yourself fitting in the hip-hop landscape today?
E-40: Hip-hop has been around for over 30 years and that’s a long time. It’s like soul music and it’s been around forever. So that’s like saying Stevie Wonder should stop making music. If you’re one of the greats you checked for [and] they still like your music and you rapping just as good, then keep doing it. Some of these youngsters don’t have respect and that’s not classy. You got to respect the seasoned vets ’cause when you a seasoned vet you know more than a rookie and that’s the truth. I respect all the rappers before me like Grandmaster Flash, Run-DMC, Afrika Bambaata and more. That’s how I was raised. So who is it to so say that there is a certain age or point in your life and career when you should stop rapping?
XXLMag.com: Many consider you an underdog. So does that make you concerned about the perseveration and recognition of your legacy?
E-40: I’m not one to knock the next person to make myself look good but it seems like a lot of rap artists do that today. They think the attention will help them. I’m a unique individual in my own lane. So if you a square, goofy, a mark or lame you ain’t gonna catch it. I call myself the greatest game spitter of all time but I also know that a lot agree and a lot don’t. I got a whole coast that rides with me though and a lot in the Midwest and South. There’s a few people on the East Coast that got a lot of game that is woke to this shit. It’s funny to some people but if you come around my parts and say that wack shit you liable to get your top chopped off. Ya smell me, because my coast rides for me.
XXLMag.com: I read in an interview once that you believe the East Coast thinks you’re wack. Do you still feel that way?
E-40: I’m from a hustlin’ era of the ’80s and that’s when hustle was at its best. So I got something in me that a lot of people wish they had. I got the best of both worlds. I got today’s current shit and the ’80s. So if you ain’t never been around it and seen what I spit you gonna think he’s wack. I been in this for 22 years and this is not an accident or gimmick. I’m a real nigga. I ain’t never been no sucker ass nigga. So niggas got it fucked up. They might want to read up on my discography and ask about a muthafucka, ya smell me? I’m not tripping on the East Coast but a lot of niggas think I can’t go but there’s a lot who know a nigga go. I’m one of the pioneers of independent music and sold records without no airplay. I didn’t get a deal from coming up under nobody. No disrespect to Dr. Dre but I didn’t come up under Dr. Dre. I came up under E-40. I didn’t spit a hot 16 to get on.
XXLMag.com: From your point of view what is the state of the West Coast scene? Is there a big underground just waiting to rise to the surface and take over the game?
E-40: We don’t have a BET and MTV and things of that [nature] out here to hear and see the buzz on the West Coast. We got it hard. We only got crossover stations so it’s hard for the new rappers with no urban stations. The closest we got is KMEL and I take my hat off to them ’cause they play our music and they do try. Hopefully the format will change to play more local rappers. In the Midwest, South and East there are a lot of urban stations and they play their local artists. Out here you got to sell your soul and do a different sound so that crossover radio will take heed to you.
XXLMag.com: Hyphy peaked a few years ago thanks in large part to your single, “Tell Me When to Go.” Often when subcultures come to the mainstream they get sugarcoated and the rawness is lost. So in looking back do you think the hyphy movement was sugarcoated in the mainstream?
E-40: I think some of the stuff was sugarcoated but my shit wasn’t sugarcoated. The Bay ain’t just hyphy. The Bay is mobbed out and we got all kinds of different rap styles and folks. We got backpackers, political rappers, folks that rap about bustin’ heads and rappers like myself who do it all. My video for “Tell Me When to Go,” was one of the biggest videos of the year. I should have got nominated for a Grammy for either that or “U and Dat,” or “Snap Yo Fingers.” I ain’t get nominated for that and no VH1 Hip-Hop Honors. That’s what happens when you’re an underdog. At the end of the day I know that my identity is carved in hip-hop history and they will look back and see that I did some of the cleanest shit ever. So I’m wigglin’.
XXLMag.com: It sounds like you want more recognition.
E-40: I think my fans want to see me have it and that’s why I want it but I ain’t tripping too bad. I ain’t never won nothing in my life but money on the dice game or roulette. I been an underdog from the time I came in with an unorthodox rap style but you know what, it’s working for me. I’m making a living and doing something I love to do and I’m respected. My fans don’t consider me a Hollywood muthafucka. I talk about things they want to say but can’t say ’cause they not rappers.
XXLMag.com: P. Diddy, Jay-Z and others get a lot of shine for their business endeavors but you’re also a major entrepreneur with businesses from liquor to restaurants. So what do you think of the criticism that the money and capitalism has poisoned the integrity and social message of much of the hip-hop scene?
E-40: Hip-hop is something a lot of us love to do and something a lot of us do just for the money. I have a passion for it and a whole bunch of people have a passion for rapping and it’s rare to make money from something you like to do. I don’t think those who do it just for the money should be doing hip-hop. —Souleo
Issue #83 – E-40 Ozone West Cover Story
By Maurice Garland • May 6th, 2010 • Category: Interviews
E-40 knows that you love him, and he also knows that you hate him. But all he wants you to know is that he’s been in this game for 20-plus years and doesn’t plan on leaving anytime soon.
“I was sellin tapes out the trunk of my car, when you was running ‘round drinking Simalac” – E-40 on ”Record Haters” from the album Hall of Game
The rapper born Earl Stevens is aging quite well. Not a wrinkle in his skin or a grey hair on his head (thankfully, he cut those dreads off last year), E-40 in 2010 looks almost exactly the same way he did on the cover of his 1992 album Federal.
“They tell me I’ve been drinking out the fountain of youth. They say I’m aging backwards,” he chuckles. “I’m not trying to be 21 again, but I do think I’m in my 3rd childhood.”
After years of debating if it wanted to stay young or mature, Hip Hop is finally looking as if it wants to act its age. For the first time the “young man’s game” is seeing some of its stars and most powerful voices achieve success and maintain relevance at and past age 40. Rappers like Jay-Z, Too $hort and most recently Raekwon are showing and proving that being “over the hill” doesn’t mean that their career is headed downhill.
In E-40’s case, age has never really been a factor. He’s been able to stay ahead of the curve by being active in every change and trend that Hip Hop comes up with. When the South was on the rise, he was recording with 8Ball & MJG, Master P and Cash Money. When the South began reigning supreme, he made songs like “Rep Yo City.” When snap music exploded, he hopped on Lil Jon’s “Snap Yo Fingers.” When Hyphy became a movement, he helped lead the charge with his 2006 hit “Tell Me When To Go.”
“I stay woke,” 40 states bluntly. “I don’t use ancient slang. Ain’t no nigga my age rapping like me. I’m on some updated shit, and I got that OG in me. I got that 80s game in me and today’s game in me. I can whup these youngsters with their own game.”
That’s what 40 hopes to do with his new 2-part album Revenue Retrievin’. Similar to what Nelly did in 2004 with his Sweat/Suit concept, 40 will be releasing a Day Shit and Night Shift version of the album separately on the same day, giving consumers three choices at the store.
“I had so much material, I took the budget that I had and squeezed it into two albums,” he says. “It’s two separate albums; two different packages with two different barcodes. Some may like Day Shift but not Night Shift or vice versa. If I was an E-40 fan I’d just snatch both of them. You’ve got to draw interest in selling albums nowadays. A lot of people are curious to see how this pans out, and that’s why I did it. One album wasn’t enough for me. If I did a single album I don’t think it would be this much awareness around it.”
Revenue Retrievin’ isn’t 40’s first crack at dropping a double album. He released the 1997 compilation SouthWest Riders on his Sic Wit It label that featured two discs worth of music with UGK, 8Ball & MJG, The Luniz, Twista, Three 6 Mafia and virtually every artist from the South, West and Midwest that was hot at the time. In 1998 he dropped his first solo double, and perhaps his most hyped album, The Element of Surprise. So if anything, this should prove that 40 knows what he’s doing.
However, releasing a double album in today’s musical climate does raise eyebrows. With most fans growing either accustomed to or annoyed by the constant barrage of free music via the internet and mixtapes, asking fans to buy one album is a hard sell, so how can you expect them to buy two?
“A lot of people who do mixtapes do it to keep their name hot, and that’s cool,” says 40 when asked why he elects to release albums and not mixtapes. “But my music needs to be documented in the history books and barcoded. I don’t like wasting music because I put my all into my raps. There’s certain things you have to do for free, like shows for radio or shows when you’re first starting out. But I’m already a well-known dude, so I feel like that’s not something I have to do. But I understand why the newer artists do it.”
“In case you suckers didn’t know, I told you once before / I ain’t rapping too fast, see y’all just listening too slow.” – E-40 on “Fallin Rain” from the album Grit & Grind
Call it a gift or a curse, but there is no such thing as a fair-weather E-40 fan. You either love him or you hate him. If you have one E-40 album, you probably have at least four more. If you have none, you probably won’t be planning on get one anytime soon. Though he didn’t mean to become it on purpose, E-40 is secretly one of the most polarizing and most unappreciated figures in Hip Hop.
While he has a fanbase that has supported him for nearly 20 years strong, he’s yet to appear on the cover of a mainstream music magazine (excluding OZONE). He has four gold albums and one platinum, but he’s rarely invited to sit on the couch of your favorite talk show. He had two of biggest hits of 2006 with “Tell Me When To Go” and “U And Dat” but wasn’t nominated for any awards that year. Only BET was nice enough to realize their oversight and invite 40 to narrate their Hip Hop Awards show the following year.
“People don’t like what they can’t comprehend,” shrugs 40, comparing himself to the likes of Roger Troutman and George Clinton, artists who weren’t fully appreciated until decades after their prime. “It goes right over their head like the balloon boy. They’re game goofy; they don’t get it until years later. They want everybody to rap the same, but I’m in my own lane and I’m comfortable in my lane.”
“[E-40 is] the most original MC to ever record,” says Bun B of UGK, who has had a working relationship with 40 since the mid-90s. “[He is] the most copied MC ever to spit. One of the most underrated lyricists in the game, with the most credited and uncredited additions to the Hip Hop and world lexicons of slang. One of the best natured guys in the game.”
It’s probably that same good-natured spirit that’s kept E-40 from griping about not getting more props for his props and contributions. Sure, he addresses it occasionally on songs like “Why They Don’t Fuck With Us” (“partly from the fact that I’m a force / they never put me on the cover of The Source”). But he’ll never fix his own mouth to talk down on anyone or say that Snoop Dogg stole his slang or that Jazze Pha copied his swag, even though his fans will.
“I’m probably the most bitten rapper in the game, and people don’t even realize they’re biting me,” he says, mentioning that he has love for those that acknowledge, but none for those who don’t. “Every rapper got a little E-40 in them and don’t even know it. I’m not knocking, I’m just letting it be known that a few pages been ripped out of my book.”
40, who was the first rapper to feature T-Pain on a hook, continues, “I put it all in the hands of God. I know I’m unorthodox and not like everybody else. I’ll be griping all my life if I started griping. I just know they’re gonna appreciate me later. In due time they will look back and say, “That was a sick muthafucka rapping.” That griping shit don’t get you nothing. It makes you sound like the mad rapper.”
“I got the gift of gab I’m off the choo choo tracks / I want the fetti, fuck the fame, y’all can have that” – E-40 on “Earl, That’s Your Life” from Charlie Hustle: Charlie Hustle: The Blueprint of a Self-Made Millionaire
Revenue Retrievin’ will be E-40’s eleventh album (and twelfth if you want to be technical). However, the energy surrounding it makes the album feel like a fresh start. After spending over a decade on Jive Records and then a couple years on Warner Bros., Revenue Retrievin’ will be 40’s first fully independent album since 1993’s The Mail Man. This will also be the first E-40 album to not be released through his Sic Wit It Records. E-40 is now signed to his 22-year-old son and producer Droop-E’s label, Heavy On The Grind Entertainment, which has a direct distribution deal with EMI.
“We cut out the middleman,” he explains, mentioning that he still has Sic Wit It and plans to release albums from his groups through a partnership with E1. “He had a better situation than what I would’ve had so it was a better look. I had offers from major labels but we wanted to go straight through. I felt like I could do it with me and him together with him as the producer and me as the hard worker I am.”
The album also signals somewhat of a return to a strictly Bay Area sound for 40 after his last two albums flirted heavily with both a Southern and crossover sound.
“This album is vintage E-40,” he says, also insisting that the word “hyphy” isn’t even mentioned on the album. “I kept it all the way Bay’d Out and worked with a lot of Bay Area artists and acts on my label. Gucci Mane and Jazze Pha are the only Southern features I have on this album.”
The album features a number of Bay Area artists including San Quinn, Tha Jacka, Clyde Carson, Ya Boy, Husalah, Keak Da Sneak, Turf Talk and of course Too $hort and his family members from The Click. It also has a bit of Southern California sprinkled throughout it with appearances from Snoop Dogg and Suga Free. With the way the game operates now, it’s a feat in itself getting to work with so many people on one project.
“I think the days of working with more artists from your immediate area are going to continue because of all of the politics in the game now,” he says. “You might have a rapper you’d really love to get down with and they do a song with you, but the label won’t clear it. So that keeps them from appearing on local or up-and-coming artists albums. But one thing about me, even when I was signed to majors, I never acted like I was too good to work with anybody.”
Year after year 40 proves this by hopping on songs and remixes with whoever is on the rise. “I’ve done so many guest appearances over the years, I should’ve been ran out of bars. Some rappers save their bars for remixes for songs that’s already hot. I do remixes too, but I also do shit that people will never hear because it’s underground independent shit.”
E-40’s decision to keep this album Bay’d Out also signals that 40 is at a point in his career where he accepts his place in the game and can do what he wants, which may be a potential risk. Outside of “U And Dat,” 40 has never been known for blatant radio singles or attempts at mainstream success. Couple this with 40’s assertion that all of the urban radio stations on the West Coast have been replaced with stations that only play crossover hits, and this puts 40 in a spot where he has to return to the underground roots that made him.
“It’s back to blood, sweat and tears,” he says. “Record sales are down so its not even about first week sales now. It’s back to the grind, hitting cities, rubbing shoulders, kissing babies. Using these social networks and creating visuals for the internet.”
He pauses.
“Fuck double platinum, I’m trying to go double profit.” //
Kicket a écrit:lol moi tout c'que j'constate, c'est qu'il a toujours pas clipé "Spend The Night" !![]()
Y en a un peu plus mais j'vous le mets quand même ?
Lord Fatine a écrit:Et hop ! Une de plus :
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