As you well have heard The Rap Mogul E-40 has a new single called “Wake It Up” Featuring Akon that is climbing the charts.  And, he is preparing to drop another HOT Album titled “Ball Street Journal” which we hear is off the HOOK.  This is second album on Warner Brothers.  We sure do hope that he goes 5 times platinum with this next album because My Ghetto Report Card was a CLASSIC and seem to have as much air-play as Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

Born Earl Stevens and later host to numerous nicknames — “Charlie Hustle,” “Forty Fonzarelli,” “40-Watter,” and more — 40 grew up in the Cali Bay Area and aspired to follow in the footsteps of Too Short. Like that Oakland legend, 40 built a street presence with mixtapes long before he released his first album. After years of mixtape hustling, he decided to start his own label, Sick Wid’ It, and began extending his reach beyond the streets of Vallejo, the Bay Area city he called home. 40 entered the national rap game forcibly in 1994 with an EP (The Mail Man), and came with a single “Practice looking hard” that caught the attention of the street programmer and DJ Alex Mejia of of the San Francisco station KMEL.  After the Mixshows of KMEL, Collage radio and the streets where buzzing about the already local legends E-40 dropped the single “Captain Save a Hoe”, and an the album “Federal” which changed the game.  Everyone knew he was the next local artist to get signed by a major and join the ranks of Digital Underground, Too $hort, MC Hammer, En Vogue, Toni Tone Tony and the list goes on.  He was more than abel to carry his own.

Barry Wise president of Jive Records attended the Gavin music convention in 1995 and met with Alex Mejia to inquire about all the noise in the streets with Rapper E-40.  Barry asked Alex should Jive Records sign the young rapper E-40.  Alex told Barry, “This guy has all the  qualities of a true artist.  E-40 is original, passionate, driven and young.  Plus we at KMEL are committed to sticking by E-40″.  After hearing this Barry Wise had several meetings with E-40 and his manager Chad Hayes.  E-40 didn’t budge on the first offers because he knew the distribution and music game.  But, after going to New York to meet with several labels - it was then when Barry and the Jive executives truly wanted to close the deal by not letting E-40 leave the building  until a deal was reached.  He locked the door when E-40 arrived ordered food and pulled a all nighter until a deal was reached.  In the early morning hours in New York, and after a huge battle of verbal tug of war.  Jive Records made a E-40 a deal he could not refuse plus offered to distribute the Sick Wid’ It catalog.

As part of the deal, in 1995 Jive re-released the aforementioned releases as well as new albums by 40 (In a Major Way) and the Click (Game Related), and helped bring substantial interest toward the Sick Wid’ It camp. For 40’s next album, Tha Hall of Game (1996), he again worked with longtime producer Mike Mosley but also collaborated with Bay Area heavyweight Ant Banks, who produced “Rappers’ Ball,” a successful single that featured Too Short and K-Ci and became a West Coast Classic.

After Tha Hall of Game put 40 on the brink of a mainstream breakthrough, the rapper took a year off and returned with a massive double album, The Element of Surprise (1998), and then another album shortly afterward, Charlie Hustle (1999). These two albums, unfortunately, did little to expand 40’s fan base, nor did subsequent albums such as Loyalty and Betrayal (2000) and Grit & Grind (2002); though they did spawn a few popular singles (”Nah Nah,” “Rep Yo City”). By this point, ten years or so after 40 had established Sick Wid’ It, the rapper seemed perennially poised for breakthrough success yet, at the same time, was perfectly content with his strong following amid the West Coast and Dirty South scenes. Breakin News (2003) was his last album for Jive.

As E-40 career evolved is was clear 40-water was not following the styles of Hip Hop and not using Pete Rock or Puff Daddy.  E-40 was the elite trend setter.  You would find NY, Atlanta, and Los Angeles rappers bitting from The BAY AREA Legend.  It’s noted in the lyrics even the Original Snoop Dogg borrowed and took ownership of E-40’s vocab.  Still to this day after 12 years in the Rap Game E-40 still sets he trends of the HIP HOP Rhymes it may take a couple of years but you will find E-40 usually said it first.  It’s a known in the underground it’s a fact.

In 2006 with the Top Ten hit My Ghetto Report Card, an album on the Warner Bros. label and with Lil Jon as executive producer. This new arrangement attracted a new wave of interest in 40, and as the so-called hyphy scene in the Bay Area likewise continued to garner interest, his legacy as a West Coast pioneer seemed well set. Nonetheless, the veteran rapper showed no sign of retiring and remained active.

So this year E-40 is coming with  “Wake It Up” Featuring Akon and dropping album titled “Ball Street Journal” - Get ready Ya’ll it’s going down!