E-40 supplied the endless swagger and soil spit that made him a fixture on the international scene with longevity only rivaled by the best in the rap game. Starting with his independent grind and working it into a deal with the majors, he’s one of the true stars of not only the Yay area, but the whole country as well. Have you turned 40 yet? “They say 40 don’t act his age. 40 stay relevant. 40 ain’t never played. 40 ain’t no punk. 40’ll pull a gauge.” Man, to me, age ain’t nothing but mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it don’t matter. You smell me? Old enough to know better, but young enough to not give a fuck. But isn’t that going to be a special day for you, when your age and your name become one? (laughs) Nah, that ain’t got nothing to do with nothing, man. My name came from drinking 40s in the mid-80s, man. My first name is Earl, so that’s where the “E” comes from, and the “40” is from drinking 40 ounces of Olde English. I’ve been around forever, man, so I can do all kinds of words. I can say all kinds of things with the number 40, you know what I mean? What’s the background of a lot of folks who moved to the Bay? Historically? A lot of cats come from the South, like Louisiana. My grandmama and grandaddy came from Louisiana and had 11 kids. My grand dad was in the military. A lot of cats came from Mississippi. A lot of cats in Richmond already had permanent gold teeth because they’re from the South. The Bay had Alameda Air Force Base, the Oakland Army Base, [and] Travis Air Force base. The majority of ‘em are shut down [now], but that’s why people came out here for work and brought their families out here. And that’s what happened to the Yay, the south.
Does that explain the love between Bay Area music fans and Southern music fans? One thing that I always loved about the South is they accepted all music. Years ago, they accepted New York music, they accepted L.A. music, and they accepted Bay Area music. Anything, they were fucking with it. They just love Hip Hop. Now the South has their own representatives, so they don’t actually have to accept none of our shit, if they don’t want to. But they do fuck with a chosen few, and I feel like I’m one of them. It ain’t just [the fact that] I’ve been in the game so long, it’s that I’m still relevant. I’ve been fuckin’ with them for many moons, and I’m giving muthafuckers what they want to hear. Me and [my] cousin B-Legit were on that Bout It, Bout It soundtrack. I been fuckin wit Cash Money. “Baller Blockin’” was the first video that they ever did with anybody outside of Cash Money - with me. And you gotta realize, I fucked with Master P tough. I was on the Last Don album. Mystikal and 8Ball & MJG, we go way back. E-40 been fucking with the South. Who taught you how to rap? I heard my first rap when I heard the Suger Hill Gang in the 7th grade. Then I started listening to Grand Master Flash and all them. Later on, it was Too $hort and some brothers out of Richmond, CA. This dude named Freddy B used to rock with Too $hort, and there were some brothers out of Richmond, a few exits from Vallejo, called Magic Mike and Calvin T. [They were] some of the coldest rappers that you never heard of in your life. You mix that up with some of the Hip Hop that I grew up on, like LL Cool J, KRS-One Kangol from UTFO, and Ice-T...we can go on and on forever. When did you land on your rap style? I started getting into my rap style in 1988, when I did the EP with The Click, Let’s Side. In 1989, I came with “Mr. Flamboyant,” and that’s when I really started to get into my start, stop, and go, scoot style of delivery. It was a development... The rest of this interview is featured in OZONE Magazine’s December issue.
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