E-40 'My Ghetto Report Card.' album

The term “legend” is not loosely thrown around in hip-hip and for good reason. There are not many rappers that fit the bill. But E-40, “The Ambassador of the Bay,” is one that definitely does. After 12 albums and 15 years, three gold and one platinum album (one with his group The Click) 40 Water is ready to unleash his patented slang and unforgettable flow to a new generation of fans with his debut album for BME Recordings/Sik Wid It/Reprise, My Ghetto Report Card. It’s no secret why 40 has remained current; he stays on top of the streets. “I stays woke. I like to put a new twist to what I do,” says 40. “Every now and then you got to reinvent yourself by getting with these young cats, that way I stay fresh in the game. That’s the secret to my longevity.”

With his latest album My Ghetto Report Card, E-40 once again re-invents himself by introducing the nation to a movement that has been bubbling in his native Bay Area for the past few years - Hyphy. Like Crunk in Atlanta or Screw Music in Houston, Hyphy music is the sonic component of the new Bay Area youth culture.

The energy of the youth created a power so strong that the music coming out of the bay was forced to follow suit, giving the streets a soundtrack to the movement. Hyphy has a dance component, where dancers compete with each other for dominance of the crowd – as displayed by the award-winning Bay Area dance group, The Animaniaks, in E-40’s hit video “Tell Me When To Go.” This ultra-intense form of freestyle dancing is called going dumb. The customary fashion for Hyphy is jeans, white tees, dreads and big sunglasses called “stunna shades.”

Another major component of Hyphy is the car culture. The ride of choice right now in the Bay is the scraper, the classic 4-door American sedan (Buick LaSabres, Park Avenues, et al) with a hood twist. A pimped out scraper is not complete without colored tint, whistling pipes, oversized rims or spinning hubcaps and a stereo system powerful enough to knock pictures off the wall. It’s not just about how the car looks though; being able to gas, brake and dip, do figure 8’s, donuts, and ghost ride the whip (driving a car hanging out the door making it appear as if the car is driving itself) is a major part of just how Hyphy Bay youth get.

A prime example of Hyphy music is the blazing joint “Tell Me When to Go”, E-40’s lead single featuring Keak Da Sneak. “Tell Me When to Go” is a high energy joint with a pounding kick accented by a rhythmic handclap and an extra thick bass line. But nothing helps to convey the intensity of Hyphy culture more than the video for “Tell Me When to Go,” a glossy film noir joint that depicts the fashion, dance and car culture that has come to define the cultural phenomenon called Hyphy. “Tell Me When to Go,” both the video and the song, is bound to make the hip-hop nation "straight go dumb in the streets.”

“Muscle Cars” is another Hyphy track on Ghetto Report Card that celebrates Northern California car culture. “What we do is we drive muscle cars,” explains E-40. “We drive Buick LaSabres and we drive Park Avenues. And what we do with them we slap some candy paint or drive them factory. We slap some shoes on them. We slap the same color tint as the paint. Throw some whistling pipes on it, some tremendous, bananas, super duper throb in the trunk.”

Produced by Lil Jon, Rick Rock, and E-40’s son, Droop-E of the Pharmaceuticals, as well as mainstay producers Bosko and Studio Tone, My Ghetto Report Card offers E-40 fans a variety of musical styles to enjoy. The Rick Rock produced “I’m Off The Chain”, which borrows the line “we be to rap what key be to lock” from the classic Digable Planets jam “Cool Like Dat”, is yet another in the long line of fire 40 album starters. Bridging the gap between the South and West Coast “She Say” featuring Eightball and Bun B. The three slip into player mode by slowing down the pace. The song is about a jealous woman who is always checking on her man while he’s out

there working. Built around a slinky funk bass line and a slow melodic guitar riff that would put any 70s funk band to absolute shame.

E-40 is credited with changing the hip-hop lexicon by coining new slang terms that have become normal parlance in the hip-hop generation. In fact many of today’s top rappers borrow terms from E-40’s book of slang and present it to the world as their own without paying homage to the originator. Among the many terms that the Bay Area legend has introduced to the masses are “It’s all good,” “ya feel me” and “Fa Shizzle.” Popular terms like “nephew” and “playboy” started with 40 also. To the uninitiated listening to E-40 talk or “pop-con” as he likes to call it, can be a bit like listening to a person converse in a foreign language, but once the flamboyant MC starts flowing, his words become mesmerizing.

E-40’s penchant for creative language is deeply rooted in the Bay Area soil that nurtured him as a child. The Bay Area is known for producing great orators like Huey P. Newton as well as slick street hustlers like Fillmore Slim. Born Earl Stevens in the city of Vallejo, E-40 was surrounded by smooth talking players spitting game and it soon became apparent to his family and friends that 40 would be a master in the art of rhetoric. “Since I was echo low to a centipede I always have been gifted with the gift to spit,” recalls 40. “I used to just read the dictionary a lot and just use long words.”

40’s clever wordplay eventually paid off for him. After spending a year studying commercial art at Grambling State University, where he and his cousin B-Legit’s rap skills made them campus celebrities, E-40, B-Legit, his brother D-Shot, and his sister Suga T (collectively known as The Click) released their independent debut LP MVP on 40’s Sic Wid It label. The record became a local hit. The success of MVP led E-40 to release solo albums (Mr. Flamboyant, Federal, and Mailman) as well as The Click’s Down and Dirty LP. The independent success of Sic Wid It releases attracted the attention of Jive CEO Barry Weiss, who inked an impressive joint venture with E-40. Under this deal E-40 dropped nine albums and helped solidify the Bay Area’s position as a genuine hip-hop territory.

In addition to his successful hip-hop career, E-40 is the author of the forthcoming E-40’s Book of Slang (Warner Books). He is also an astute businessman. The Bay Area rapper is involved in various lucrative real estate ventures, including renovating houses in his old neighborhood. He and former NFL All-Pro Chester McGlockton have invested in a chain of ten Fatburger franchises in Northern California. “Our first one is up and running right now,” says a proud E-40. “It’s the first Fatburger restaurant in the Bay Area.” If you're thirsty after eating one of his humongous fatburgers you can wash it all down with a swig of his own Cloud 9 liquor.

In 2003, E-40 fulfilled his contractual obligation with Jive and felt that it was time to change labels. He reached out to Lil Jon, who produced the smash hit “Rep Yo City” for 40’s Ballatician album, and Lil Jon offered him a deal with his BME Recordings label. 40 accepted. “Throughout the whole ordeal Lil Jon and I always stayed in contact with one another. I shot him the ideal and he was like let’s get this crackin’. We got the lawyers involved and did it. I feel like now I’m with a situation where Warner Bros. Records and Lil Jon really got my back. It’s a whole different animal.”

With his latest effort, My Ghetto Report Card, 40 Water is poised to step back into his platinum shoes and carry an entire movement on his back to national prominence. There is no doubt that after one listen, new and old fans alike will agree that 40 gets straight A’s on this report card.

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E-40 - My Ghetto Report Card.