I have the rest too, but they're fairly easy to find anyway I think

just did this real quick for you, best I could do

in

Loyalty & Betrayal (2000)

At the beginning of the new millennium, Earl Stevens drops Loyalty & Betrayal. A solid effort but it’s starting to feel like the G-Funk sound has plateaued. There’s some great moments on here like Lace Me Up with a Suga T verse that I actually enjoyed, both the tracks Nate Dogg was featured on slapped, and also Pop Ya Collar with those dope congos. But there’s just something slightly off putting about this album. I think it could be that some of the production just didn’t hit like that, kinda meh in spots. There was also a skit mid album of a random rapper named “Fly” getting fired from a record company. It was maybe kinda sorta funny. Something else to note here is that we’re starting to see more southern guest features with rappers like Pastor Troy, Birdman, Mystikal, Pimp C and Eightball. This will kind of foreshadow our future E-40 trajectory btw….stay tuned. OOOOooooGhhhhh

Loyalty & Betrayal gets a solid 3 out of 5

Favorite songs: Lace Me Up, Sinister Mob, Nah Nah, Pop Ya Collar

Grit & Grind (2002)

What can I say about Grit & Grind? It has a handful of decent gems, an E-40 who is as sharp on the mic as he always is, quirky early 2000’s production and one song that was a pretty big slap in the face (in a good way, and no it wasn’t The Slap). The project starts of fairly well, the main highlight being Automatic featuring Fabolous. I used to really hate this song but now I can appreciate it better for what it is. Rep Yo City is a giant crunk posse cut with names like Bun B and Petey Pablo. Song prob hit back in the day but idk…I wasn’t really into it. S***s like 5 minutes long at that. After a few tracks with odd beat selections and meh hooks we get to some good stuff. Lifestyles is a cool Dr Dre guitar type beat with 40 rappin spittin so crazy:

Verse 1
Desperado always drinkin' out the bottle
Young hyena with the HK hollow point staple spray
Turf tight soil block warrior from the avenue
Mean muggin' like I'm mad at you
Boiler Maker Baker's whiskey mixed in with my brew
Celebratin' smoking Mendocino bud this is the lifestyle of a thug
A hooligan a heathen wolverine everybody on my team got a triple beam
Tossin' candy to the dope fiends
Million dollar spot million dollar dreams
Four or five different colored techa-marines
Yellow diamonds and stones and two-way pager phones
Plushed out SUV's smokin Leprechaun
Flowers in the back seat watchin' Austin Powers with the windows up
Lost tryin' to get where we gettin'
Talking to the operator on my OnStar system

After this track, comes Til The Dawn, a pretty even mix of a mean G-Funk bassline and some light piano chords with E-40/Suga T rapping around Bosko’s talk box vocals and singing. A great deep cut for sure. End of The World and Man’s Game have very similar vibes that fortify the hyphy sound that is bubbling at this point in time. After the quintessential Pimp track (with an actual pimp named Stomp Down) there’s the “slap in the face” that is this great track of 40 rapping over a Just Blaze/Madlib type of beat. It honestly reminds me of Scientology by Rick Ross in a way, but the thing is the vocals sound so different from the rest of the album almost as if they didn’t know how to mix it cuz they’re so used to funk beats. The outro song is another long ass track with 40, a couple friends, and a pretty smooth funk beat. Overall though the album didn’t leave too many lasting impressions. The album was intriguing in certain ways but just not strong enough like we’ve seen before.

Giving Grit & Grind a 2 out of 5

Favorite songs: Automatic, Lifestyles, Til The Dawn, Fallin Rain

Breakin News today and then some albums I know for a fact are good 😊 we’ll see what this album brings today but I’ve absolutely never heard it

Nice write ups so far, not massively familiar with his albums between Charlie hussle and ghetto report card or after ghetto report card so looking forward to hearing your reviews and maybe checking out some albums I missed out on

Breakin News (2003)

With this album, it almost feels like we are informally introduced to Hyphy, the hypnotic, sort of cartoon-y rap subgenre that the Bay created. The intro/title track is 5 minutes long and honestly mid imo, but then we get our feets wet with some early hyphy music. Hot, I Got Dat Work, Quarterbackin, Married To The Ave and One Night Stand are very percussive songs with a dash of mob music. Turf Talk lowkey is on my list of favorite West Coast rappers, I really like his style it can sound like B-Real in a way. And the Clipse sound so natural over Quarterbackin. I can hear a connection between hyphy music and particularly their album Lord Willin now…. @proper
Married To The Ave sounds familiar as a f***. I feel like that horn stack was used in a different song. Either way it’s pretty cool. I Hope U Get This Kite is the odd ball on the track list because it’s another Just Blaze/Kanye type beat which isn’t bad, but it’s just so out of place. It doesn’t help the next two songs leave a bad taste in my mouth. Act A Ass just has an annoying beat imo and Anybody Can Get It is a crunk posse cut with David Banner & Bonecrusher, no disrespect to them as artists but just not my cup of tea. While I’m here there’s another posse cut, Northern Califoolya, but it’s Bay artists over a meh beat. The last half of the album is pretty consistent, minus that posse cut and Wa La which didn’t do much for me. Show and Prove featuring Goapele is a beautiful song that does stray away from all the Hyphy music like Hope U Get This Kite, but much better. The beautiful production fits 40 better. Gasoline, This Goes Out, and If If Was A 5th keep that Hyphy theme running which I have to admit is refreshing but still in its early stages. Throughout the 90’s and into the 2000’s he has relied heavy on the same types of sounds, G-Funk/Funk/R&B. Overall, the Hyphy songs tend to lack what I really liked about Quarterbackin and allot of the tracks on this one just feel like it would be a chore to give replay value.

Giving Breakin News a 2 out of 5

Favorite songs: Hot, Quarterbackin, Show & Prove

this one of my fave 40 songs tho

Despite this little slump, E-40 still has this way with words that makes me want to hear what he has to say next

Great song. When the beat came on I was like whhhaaaaa

Wasn’t expecting it lol

I think I’m crawling out of his mid career slump now. Grit and Grind and Breakin News have gems but the albums don’t hit like any of his previous stuff.

My Ghetto Report Card (2006)

After a 3 year hiatus, Fosheezy releases his 8th studio album, My Ghetto Report Card. Now under Lil Jon’s BME Records after his little slump, 40 now has the tools readily available to make his standard of HEAT again. Yay Area kicks it off with a vocal sample of Digable Planets intermixed with wacky synth work and those groovy drums that make you want to shake your dreads. E-40 says “I got my second wind” and he’s not wrong. This is his comeback album. Tell Me When To Go is next, an undisputed classic song and his instantly most recognizable one at that. I hadn’t heard the song in a while and realized that Keak Da Sneak also has a part in the chorus. Something you tend to hear in Hyphy beats is the “beatbox” (if that’s what you want to call it) like in Muscle Cars with Keak making a bassline groove BMMMM BM-BM BM BM-BMMMM….
The consistency continues with songs like Go Hard Or Go Home, Gouda and Sick Wid It II. Then we come across a pretty harmless skit lol. It’s just Stomp Down the Pimp spittin some pimp s*** for 20 seconds. They Might Be Taping just showcases 40’s rapping hasn’t lost a step and he’s just goin in non stop on that one. Do Ya Head Like This is just straight MOB music. White Gurl features UGK and Juelz Santana over a 80’s type drum beat rapping about that Yay. The second skit is a part 1 of T-Pain I believe, tellin his homie that he used to “beat that p**** up” after seeing “Ray Ray’s girl” and a man cuts in like a commercial about Getthefuckon.com. Eh it’s kinda funny but could just do without skits on this. Then the first E-40 song I ever heard comes on, U & Dat featuring T-Pain and Kandi. Damn I used to recite this song until I knew all the words. Loved it and still do. One of the best songs on the album. I thought at this point the album sort of drops off tbh. I’m Da Man is ok and I especially enjoyed Mike Jones verse it was one of his better ones too. Yee felt boring imo and had more of a crunk vibe. The second Getthefuckon.com skit comes on and 3 tracks that just don’t do much for me except for Gimme Head which had a great beat and even went on for 5 minutes without me realizing. The very last song is a great way to go out on this one. It’s Happy To Be Here and is the only real soulful, personal song on here where 40 raps about the many things he’s witnessed throughout his life. Overall, this is a major comeback and extremely consistent record from the legend himself. If you want to go stupid, go DUMB DUMB I highly suggest slapping this one.

Giving My Ghetto Report Card a 5 out of 5

Favorite songs: Yay Area, Tell Me When To Go, Gouda, Do Ya Head Like This, U & Dat

The production on this is absolutely insane too

Rick Rock and Lil Jon handled most of the boards and we also had Droop-E (E-40’s 18 year old son at the time) producing Sick Wid It II

My CHILDHOOD

S/O HYPHY ERA THE ONLY TIME BAYAREA GOT ITS DUE AND NIGGAS WERE OUTSELLING LA

SIDESHOWS STILL SLIDING

VALLEJO & SACRAMENTO AINT IN THE BAY BUT ITS THE BAY

OAKLAND STILL ON 1

Def Jam Icon

ALSO SHOUT ALL THE NIGGAS STILL FINESSING RICH WORLD NAPA VALLEY DRINKING UP ALL THE WINE N F***ING ALL THE WHITE WOMEN WE RIDE

JESUS CHRIST HAD DREADS SO SHAKE EM
I AINT GOT NONE BUT IM PLANNING ON GROWING SOME

damn I prolly heard TMWTG 100x before I was 10 years old

OH AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST SHOUTS OUT ALL THE NIGGAS THAT PASSED IN A GHOST RIDING ACCIDENT ITS FUN FROM SUN UP TILL SUNDOWN TILL OUR SHUT & E RUNS OUT 🏃‍♂️ 🏃‍♂️ 🤸

IMAGINE ALL HEBREWS GOIN DUMB
DANCIN ON TOP OF CHARIOTS AND TURNIN TIGHT ONES

Today I shall slap The Ball Street Journal which is actually the E-40 album I’m most familiar with

I know allot of the tracks on this batch

this is so other worldly man.

I apologize if this message gets you down but I was too sleepy last night to listen to the album. Today shall be the day

The Ball Street Journal (2008)

I’d say this has got to be E-40’s most accessible album even after his success with My Ghetto Report Card. There’s not exactly any hit singles on here like Tell Me When To Go, but there are allot of big names like The Game, Snoop, Shawty Lo (RIP), Akon, T-Pain, Gucci, etc. The project starts with a very similar intro to Report Card (Yay Area) with a chopped up hip hop vocal sample and 40 rapping about his beloved Bay Area reputation. But then….. I think the hardest E-40 song ever comes on, I’m On One. Let me tell you the beat is thumping and his verse are just…
Still on Lil Jon’s BME Recordings, there’s a Crunk sound on this that, unfortunately, just missed the Crunk window seeing how it’s now 2008. Break Ya Ankles ft Shawty Lo coulda been a decent hit a few years prior. The Hyphy sound is still prevalent though with songs like Got Rich Twice, 40 Water, Poor Mans Hydraulics and I Can Sell It, where 40 and Cousin Fik trade clever verses of what they are able to sell. 40’s song Hood Boy opened up floodgates of nostalgia with its Jim Jonsin beat along with the Akon assisted Wake Her Up and T-Pain track, Give Her The Keys. Overall, The Ball Street Journal is a very consistent listen with a diverse array of tracks that can honestly sound a tad dated at times.

Giving The Ball Street Journal a 4 out of 5

Favorite songs: I’m On One, Break Ya Ankles, Got Rich Twice, Earl

The hardest E-40 song so far: