With over 20 years in the game you’d be hard pressed to find someone more qualified to rep California’s Bay Area as an ambassador to the rap game than E-40.  Having navigated through both major and independent label routes, the slang scholar has a vast knowledge of the inner workings of the recording industry and like a competent delegate, he’s always there to offer assistance to other artists from the Bay.  On his 11th solo album, The Ball Street Journal, 40 Water moderately succeeds in satisfying the multitude, by forsaking a cohesive album for a smorgasbord of styles and sounds.

Lyrically, E-40 is colorful & sharp as ever as he twists and bends the fine print to formulate his rhymes.  Although he never strays far from the familiar topics of the Bay, women, drugs, and partying; his ever changing vernacular keeps things somewhat fresh.  On songs like “The Recipe” with its savory guest spots, and “Earl,” he shows that he’s still adept at whipping up hard edge drug rhymes.  The latter, which pays a nod to Ice-T’s “Colors,” he paints a chilling depiction of coming up in The Bay and the justification of some of the decisions he’s made. Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t expect the rest of the Rap world to hold E-40 in the same regard as I do. It’s a case I’ve taken to trial for years, with similar results each time; motherfuckers ain’t trying to hear it. People are comfortable handing him the crown of the Bay, but it ends there. It’s not a situation of props or respect, that’s already been paid. But for whatever reason, 40 is never credited as a great MC; one of the best to ever never do it. One of the best still doing it years after surpassing fellow legends who started the race at the same time and are now watching from the sidelines.

Maybe he needs a Primo track for folks to really look at him as a “real” MC. Maybe it’s a song with Jay to be considered a legitimate contender for lyrical heavy weight. Maybe it’s record sales, or a number one single. At the rate things are going now maybe it’s a blog or a YouTube channel. I don’t know what it will take, but I know what it hasn’t been. Read the rest of this entry »

The Ambassador of the Bay raps about the ‘draulics just about everybody used when we were sixteen & behind the steering wheel for the first time.

The Ball Street Journal hits the streets on 11.25.08.

Featuring Bay hero Turf Talk. Read the rest of this entry »

Video preview for “Wake It Up,” Forty Water’s new Akon-laced single. Off The Ball Street Journal, due three days before Halloween. Good promo push.

E-Feezy wasn’t lying about growin’ out the mop either.