E-40, rap legend

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.5 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2021

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

He goes by many names: Forty Fonzarelli, Charlie Hustle, 40-Water or maybe you know him as the Ambassador of the Bay Area. When it comes to Bay Area hip-hop, E-40 quite possibly the greatest of all time. His distinctiveness has kept him relevant for three decades now, from mob music in the 1990's to hyphy slaps in the aughts to new music today. A couple months ago E-40 put out a brand new record with another Bay Area veteran: Too $hort – it's called Ain't Gone Do It. We're taking the time to revisit our conversation with E-40 from 2019. When he joined us we pulled up some deep cuts from R&B singer Saint Charles, who 40 knows as his Uncle Chuckie. Plus, he talked about his college days at Grambling State University.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.
0:10.0	It's Bullseye, I'm Jesse Thorn.
0:21.4	E40 is a rap legend.
0:24.0	If you're from the Bay Area, like I am, you know him as one of, if not the greatest cultural
0:30.3	force in the music of our region.
0:33.3	Certainly in the hip-hop music of our region.
0:36.5	He got that way because of his absolutely unique style.
0:40.6	You have definitely heard his music and commercials on the radio bumping in the car next to you.
0:45.6	I mean, it's hard to talk, tell me when to go.
0:48.2	Among the many names E40 has given himself is the ambassador of the Ye, the Ye being
1:13.7	what he calls the Bay.
1:15.9	And that's what E40 is.
1:17.4	He was born and raised in the small town of Vallejo in the East Bay and he's brought
1:22.5	the culture of the Bay area to the world.
1:25.5	Graham she would have called him an organic intellectual.
1:28.9	And frankly, there is nothing that reminds me more of my home than listening to 40.
1:35.4	When E40 wraps, his rhymes overflow with language.
1:38.5	Bars stuffed to the gills with words both real and imagined.
1:42.4	He's hip-hop's king of slang and he is a stylist without peer.
1:46.8	He's also spent his career at the forefront of independent music, building a rap empire
1:51.8	that changed the way music was recorded and sold in hip-hop and beyond.
1:57.2	He is himself both an artist and a movement.
	...

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