E-40 spoke about his role in the success of West Coast hip-hop during an interview with The New York Times, earlier this week, for the outlet's piece, “50 Rappers, 50 Stories.” In doing so, he reflected on the success of many of his biggest songs, including "Tell Me When to Go," "Choices," "Bitch," and many more.
“When I came out with 'Ghetto Report Card,' I was 37, 38 years old,” he told the outlet. “My whole career was just revived. It was amazing. I was part of the crunk movement and the hyphy movement at the same time. 'U and Dat,' 'Snap Yo Fingers' and so on. We had the South and the West Coast.”
E-40 At Essence Festival Of Culture
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - JULY 01: E-40 performs on day 2 of the 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture™ at Caesars Superdome on July 01, 2023 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Erika Goldring/Getty Images)
He continued: “Imagine if there was streaming back then when we had 'Tell Me When to Go,' 'Bitch,' 'Choices.' We would be diamond on each one of those records. I put new life into the West Coast in 2006. And that’s no ifs, ands or buts. Can’t nobody say I didn’t, with the help of Lil Jon. And it’s never stopped since then.” E-40 concluded: “That’s my role — they call me the Ambassador of the Bay. And I don’t know nobody else there that represents it like me."
Among the other rappers The New York Times spoke with for the piece included 50 Cent, Eminem, and more. 50 discussed his initial opinions on Juvenile's 400 Degreez while Eminem reflected on the role battle rap played in his career as well as the influence of Nas' Illmatic.
E-40's comment comes days after the legendary rapper teamed up with another West Coast icon in Snoop Dogg to announce an upcoming cookbook titled Goon with the Spoon. The project will become available to fans on November 14, 2023, and feature many of the artists' favorite recipes.
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Cole Blake is currently an Editor at HotNewHipHop based out of Brooklyn, New York. He began working at the site as an intern back in 2018 while studying journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s graduated with a bachelor's degree and written extensively about a wide range of topics including pop culture, film & television, politics, video games, sports, and much more. He’s also covered music festivals such as Gov. Ball and Rolling Loud. You can find him publishing work for HNHH from Monday to Wednesday or on weekends. On the sports front, Cole’s a passionate NBA and NFL fan with his favorite teams being the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Lakers. He also roots for the Yankees whenever he finds himself at Yankee Stadium or the Red Storm when in the company of other SJU alumni. His favorite hip-hop artists are billy woods, Earl Sweatshirt, Cam’ron, MIKE, and Mach-Hommy.
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