LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥� E-40 built a on the foundations of an unorthodox rap flow, schooling listeners with life lessons through his streetwise perspective.
With a heavy dose of Bay Area slang, E-40 created a lane for his unique hip-hop vernacular that has made him one of the genre鈥檚 most revered artists. As a savvy businessman, he鈥檚 leveraged his connections in the rap world to the wine, ice cream and food brand industries, including a Filipino food business inside Oracle Park in San Francisco.
Now at 56, there鈥檚 no slowing down for E-40, who released his 27th studio album 鈥淩ule of Thumb: Rule 1鈥� on Friday. His new project comes more than 30 years after his debut, 鈥淔ederal.鈥�
The new album 鈥� which features NBA YoungBoy, Too Short, Larry June, Gucci Mane, B.G. and E-40's son Droop-E 鈥� is the first installment of the 鈥淩ule of Thumb鈥� album series. He plans to release the sequel album early next year.
In a recent interview, E-40 spoke with The Associated Press about being an underrated legend, his unorthodox rap style and the new cookbook called 鈥� which released earlier this week.
Answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.
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AP: What鈥檚 the meaning behind your album title?
E-40: I feel like 鈥淩ule of Thumb鈥� is just common sense. It鈥檚 certain rules and regulations that you must just know off top. It doesn鈥檛 take a rocket scientist. You don鈥檛 have to have a quarter of a brain to comprehend that. I鈥檓 teaching life lessons. Giving it to them straight, not fake and not fabricating things. It鈥檚 a lot of lightweight storytelling and a lot of life lessons, consequences and repercussions. I mix it up like a gumbo pot. I鈥檓 multi-dimensional. I don鈥檛 do just one style of rap. My beats aren鈥檛 always the same. I鈥檓 everywhere like air.
AP: Where does your unorthodox rap style and wisdom come from?
E-40: Being chipped from a different cliff, being carved from a different clay, and made from a different fabric. I鈥檓 wired different than most. I鈥檓 from an era of morals and respect, and we follow guidelines. That鈥檚 always been me. ... I always told stories. I talked about the repercussions and the consequences. If you go do this, you do know that little 30-second decision that you made could cost you 30 years in prison or you might be buried 6 feet deep. I always talked about the consequences if you go do something. I speak the real.
AP: You鈥檙e highly respected within hip-hop, but how does the feeling of being underrated bother you?
E-40: My life is beautiful. I鈥檓 very successful. I鈥檓 financially set. I鈥檓 financially good. I鈥檓 still accumulating bread. I鈥檓 still breaking boundaries. But anything that鈥檚 different is always going to be questionable. There will never be a rapper like E-40, whether you like me or not. You just got to give it to me. I got my own thing. I鈥檝e been successful for 36 years with music since 1988. Let that soak in. I鈥檝e got to be doing something right. Can鈥檛 just be no damn luck. I come from the ground up. All your favorite independent CEOs, they respect me because I was first. I laid the foundation for independent music.
Do I still feel underrated? Yes, I do. But I know what comes with the package. They like people that鈥檚 in the pocket and never go outside the box. That's not me.
AP: You have a new cookbook. When did your passion for cooking start?
E-40: I鈥檓 the oldest of four. Moms would work two or three jobs. My mom and dad divorced when I was 8 years old. I had a lot of responsibilities being the oldest, so I cooked. We all knew how to cook. We taught ourselves how to cook. I worked at a restaurant when I was a teenager. There was a Caucasian man that I鈥檇 love dearly to this day. His name is Lewis. He taught me how to cook escargot, orange roughy with almonds with lemon butter sauce with white wine. He taught me how to do London Broil and chicken cordon bleu.
AP: How did you and Snoop connect on this cookbook?
E-40: Snoop, that鈥檚 my guy. He cooks as well. He was like, 鈥淓arl, my book was very successful. I sold over a million copies. It鈥檚 a bestseller. Let me present it.鈥�
I was like 鈥淪noop, I rock with you. You're legendary. You鈥檙e a good friend of mine. I鈥檝e been knowing you for over 30-plus years. We鈥檙e family. Thank you. Let鈥檚 do it.鈥�
When you put your pride to the side, bigger things happen. He's got some recipes in there. I got some recipes in there. He's got adult beverages. I have adult beverages. It only makes sense. We both co-pack. We do the whole thing. Teamwork makes the dream work. It鈥檚 enough money out there for all of us.
AP: You鈥檝e met with Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House, received an honorary doctorate from Grambling State University and had a street named after you in your hometown of Vallejo, California. How has hip-hop impacted your life?
E-40: Shout out to DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Run-DMC. Those dudes really paved the way for people like myself to diversify our portfolios and find other ways to make financial gain on a legitimate note. This beats the streets. You can make more money here than you could ever in the streets.
AP: Will you ever release a book with your slang terms?
E-40: If I do the book of slang, it鈥檚 going to hurt people鈥檚 feelings. Because they think that their favorite rapper made the words up, and it came from me. Or if it didn鈥檛 come from me, I got it from the soil 鈥� the trenches where most rappers that are from the urban community get their (expletive) from.
I鈥檝e been around for more than a half a century. I know all this. I鈥檝e got receipts to back it up. One day, I want to sit down and go word-for-word of all the words I鈥檝e coined. I want to go to the year, the song, everything. I want to ask 鈥淲ho said it before me?鈥� If they try to lie about it, I鈥檝e got receipts. I was the first rapper screaming 鈥淭ycoon.鈥� That鈥檚 one of many. "Slappin." 鈥淐hoppers.鈥� I鈥檝e got so many of them. Just for that, I鈥檓 going to do a book of slang. The real way in 2024 style.
Jonathan Landrum Jr., The Associated Press
