Transcript
music
Gentle, trilling music with a steady drumbeat plays under the dialogue.
promo
Speaker: Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR. [Music fades out.]
music
“Huddle Formation” from the album Thunder, Lightning, Strike by The Go! Team. A fast, upbeat, peppy song. Music plays as Jesse speaks, then fades out.
jesse thorn
It’s Bullseye. I’m Jesse Thorn. E-40 is a rap legend. If you’re from the Bay Area like I am, you know him as one of, if not the, greatest cultural force in the music of our region. Certainly, in the hip-hop music of our region. He got that way because of his absolutely unique style. You have definitely heard his music in commercials, on the radio, bumping in the car next to you. [Music fades in.] I mean, it’s hard to top “Tell Me When to Go”.
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“Tell Me When to Go” from the album My Ghetto Report Card by E-40. But the homies you got to watch The moon is full Look at the dark clouds Sitting in my scraper Watching Oakland go wild Ta-dow! I don't bump mainstream I knock underground All that other— Sugar-coated and watered down I'm from the Bay where we hyphy and go dumb From the soil where them rappers be getting they lingo from Tell me when to go Tell me when to go Tell me when to go Tell me when to go [Volume decreases and continues under the dialogue, then fades out.]
jesse
Among the many names E-40 has given himself is the Ambassador of the Yay—“the Yay” being what he calls the Bay. [Chuckles.] And that’s what E-40 is. He was born and raised in the small town of Vallejo in the East Bay. And he’s brought the culture of the Bay Area to the world. Gramsci would’ve called him an organic intellectual. And frankly, there is nothing that reminds me more of my home than listening to 40. When E-40 raps, his rhymes overflow with language, bars stuffed to the gills with words both real and imagined. He’s hip-hop’s king of slang and he is a stylist without peer. He’s also spent his career at the forefront of independent music, building a rap empire that changed the way music was recorded and sold in hip-hop and beyond. He is, himself, both an artist and a movement. His distinctiveness has kept him relevant for three decades now, from mob music in the 1990s to hyphy slaps in the aughts to new records today. His themes are simple: hustling, street life, a little bit of wisdom, and a lot of moneymaking. When we talked in 2019, he’d just released a new record called Practice Makes Paper. What a title. Since then, he’s been working a lot with another Bay Area rap legend, Too Short. The two did a versus battle back in 2020 and they have released an entire new album, called Ain’t Gone Do It. Here’s a single from it—a real trunk-rattler. Turn up your subs. “Triple Gold Sox”.
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“Triple Gold Sox” from the album Ain’t Gone Do It by E-40 and Too Short. It's all gravity, all up in your hole like a cavity Strategy, mesmerized the broad with the flattery Savagely, for the energy like a battery Duracell (Duracell), copper top, Eveready (Duracell) Fully automatic TEC, on the set caked up (Caked up) Cookies in the oven, ready, baked up (Baked up) Booger-green candy paint, no more slanging rocks Bust through the mayonnaise tires with triple gold socks, uh Triple gold socks (Triple gold socks) Triple gold socks (Triple gold socks) [Volume decreases and continues under the dialogue, then fades out.]
jesse
E-40, welcome to Bullseye. It’s so great to have you on the show.
e-40
Hey, thank you. Thank you for having me on here, man!
jesse
I am—I am thrilled. I am a native San Franciscan, so I’ve been a fan since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. So, very happy to have you on my show.
e-40
Many mores! Many mores, man! [Jesse agrees.] Since you was ankle-low to a centipede’s toe. [Chuckles.] Right on, I appreciate you.
jesse
So, when I was a kid, Vallejo—where you’re from—was basically Marine World Africa, USA, to me. The aquatic theme park. And that was about all I knew. What did you—what was Vallejo to you when you were a kid?
e-40
When I was a kid, it was Dan Foley Park. It was the waterfront. It was Wilson Park, baseball. It was Lemon Street Park football practices. It was Corbus Field football games with all the high school football teams. It was Blue Rock Springs. It was unity over separation—so much love and it made me—it moved me. It made me become a GOAT in the game and I’m grateful and thankful.
jesse
Were you proud, as a kid, to be from Vallejo?
e-40
Oh, you know, I definitely never denied where my soil was from. It’s just—we had to work harder than most, because we were a small city with about eight or nine exits at the time and we had to prove ourself to the rest of the Yay Area. To, you know, Oakland. To Frisco. To, you know, San—all the other soils, bigger cities that was from the Bay Area. You know?
jesse
Yeah, I mean, Vallejo had a pretty proud music history even just when you were a kid. You were born in the mid-‘60s and, you know, Sly Stone is from Vallejo. Confunkshun were from Vallejo. I didn’t know Johnny Otis was from Vallejo until I just happened to look it up earlier today. [E-40 laughs.] But there was a—there was all this—there was all this pride in Vallejo. Your uncle was a—was a professional musician as well.
e-40
You know his name?
jesse
Yes! I do know his name.
e-40
What’s his handle?
jesse
But only because I—only because I wrote it down. I know that you knew him as Uncle Chucky, but he was known as St. Charles.
e-40
That’s right. St. Charles is my uncle and my mama’s brother. Same last name, same mama, same daddy. I grew up as a young, ambitious, curious young man. Loved music. Played the drums when I was in the fourth grade and I played all the way to high school. That was one of the only sources of music. They didn’t have Pro Tools and Logic and all that good stuff. So, I used to always holla at my Uncle Chucky. I said, “Uncle Chucky, Uncle Chucky. I wanna make some—I wanna make a record!” So, as I got older, me and my brother, D-Shot and B-Legit, we front a few dollars and went ahead and put it into the thing and I bought some CDs. You know? And I personed them up at a Rainbow Records, made a—made a album—made a EP. And it was a great—it was a great EP. It was just—but we knew we needed to do what we came in the game to do. We really—what we signed up to and that was to spit LIPs? You know what I’m saying? You know, speak our life. To talk about—you know, to narrate—to become a narrator, to narrate the soil, to narrate the activities that’s jumping off.
jesse
I wanna play your uncle’s record, if you don’t mind. Your uncle had a 45 out, R&B 45.
e-40
Oh my god, please don’t tell me you got that, bro.
crosstalk
Jesse: This song is called— E-40: Was it “Rock Me in My Arms”? Jesse: Yeah, exactly.
e-40
Play that, ‘cause I’m—if you play that, it’s gonna make me tear up! And I’ll tell you why: ‘cause I was so happy for my uncle. Like, I was a little kid and he’d pull up in Millersville and he’d have those in the back of his—he had a Cadillac. It wasn’t no Subaru. Black Cadillac, it was this clean Cadillac. And I just remember having a—you know, it was like, “Man, that’s my uncle!” And it was just like—and I—and I know those lyrics. I know the hook. You know what I mean? You want me to sing it before you even say it?
jesse
Let’s hear it.
e-40
[Singing.] Rock me in your arms and I wanna feel your love, come on. [Music fades in.] One more time. One more time. [E-40 continues singing over the music.]
music
“Rock Me in Your Arms” by St. Charles. For the good times For the good times E-40: [Over the music.] You feel me? Let’s go. Tears in my eyes and I’m way too young to cry Dry these tears Hold me ‘til they disappear Sing, yes I am… [Volume decreases and continues under the dialogue, then fades out.]
e-40
Ooooh! You know, it just meant so much to me. You know. We had a famous person. He might not have been worldwide famous with it, but he made worldwide famous people—people like myself—JT the Bigga Figga. You know? And he taught me life lessons. He taught me how to go get a bank account. “Come over here and let’s go get this bank account.” Let’s show you how—he showed me—taught me all about purchase orders, invoices, everything. He was like, you know—a uncle is like a second dad. That’s what he was to me. And that’s what he is right now, to this day.
jesse
I didn’t know until I started reading for this interview—and I’ve been a fan of yours for decades—but I didn’t know until I started reading for this interview that you went to college. I think it’s for—you know, it’s still relatively unusual for MCs, but certainly for MCs of your generation, there weren’t that many dudes who had gone to college. You went to Grambling. Tell me how you ended up going away to school.
e-40
So, one day—so, you gotta understand. My cousin’s B-Legit. You know. He’s not just my—he’s not just my family, but he’s like my best friend in the world. So, everything he did, I did. That’s—we—you know, we did the same thing. We played ball together. We slid out through the traffic together. You know what I’m saying? We—you know what I’m saying? It’s like, when you see B, you’re gonna see me. If you see me, you’re gonna see B. We were on Magazine Street one day and he was like—he hit me with the—he hit me with one of them ones. He just, “Yeah, in a couple months I’m about to head out to college.” I said, “Aw, for real? Okay, cool. Cool. Where you headed?” “Louisiana.” I said, “Louisiana?! What the hell? Louisiana?!” He said, “Yeah, Grambling State University.” I said, “Hold on! Grambling State University. You finna to leave in a couple months or something like that?” He said, “Yeah, I gotta go, man.” I say, “Man, I’m—I’m…” I talk to my mom and said, “I’m going, too! I need to get up there, too!” [Laughs.] ‘Cause you know, at that time—you know, life was moving fast. You know? I was 17 and a half, something like that, almost 18. So, I went and got my transcript and everything from Hogan High School and I made it in by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin! We went—we ended up doing music as we was out—while we was out there.
jesse
Do you remember any of the verses that you wrote back then?
e-40
Ummm, let me see. I gotta remember that. It was so many years. You gotta remember, it was—this was 1986, brother. It was 1986. You can google—you know what, you can punch in “E-40 and The Click” or you could put “E-40, B-Legit Grambling State University remakes school alma mater”. [Music fades in.] ‘Cause we felt like we remade the school alma mater.
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Grambling State University’s “Fight Song/Alma Mater” by E-40 and B-Legit. As the music plays, E-40 sings along with it. Grambling University Grambling University! Grambling University Grambling University! G-S-U, it’s the school Where we come to learn Not to be cool You’re a big success [inaudible] We can do anything if you just believe Now there’s no other school No other grade Than the dear, old Grambling State And that’s Grambling University Grambling University! Grambling University Grambling University! [Music fades out.]
jesse
[Laughs.] That’s awesome!
e-40
[Laughs.] Hey, so look—so, we entered that. So, we sung that song at a talent show, at Grambling, and we won, bro! We won—we won the whole talent show. When we walked out, we were signing autographs on campus. 19—the fall of ’86, ’87, good brother.
jesse
And you came home to Vallejo and basically just got in the studio and started making records.
e-40
Well, we got in the studio, didn’t waste no time, put out—put out, you know—put our foot on the gas and went in. We made a record called M.V.P—most valuable players. It was me, D-Shot, B-Legit, Suga-T. You know. That, you know—a lot of times your first record just don’t make it. You know what I’m saying? So, we just kept throwing [censored] at the wall. If you throw [censored] at the wall, eventually it’s gonna stick.
jesse
You learned from your uncle the basics of the record business and found a one-stop shop that could print your records for you and distribute them. What were you doing to sell them before you signed your first major label deal, in the early ‘90s?
e-40
So, we had a one-stop—it was called Music People, which was a one-stop distribution company, right? It wasn’t my one-stop, it was just a one-stop that all the Bay Area—a lot of the Bay Area rappers and even people from outside of the Bay Area used to used. And then we also had City Hall Records, which was like a main hub. Back when we did it, we had major bids. All the labels wanted to sign—uh, Sick Wid It Records, E-40 and The Click. They wanted to sign us. We went with Barry Weiss. Barry Weiss and Jive Records. So, I was paid—the way my deal was designed, me, I was the top-hat of the whole Sick Wid It Records. So, my deal was I was paid on the first 200,000 records on a 75-25. Jive got 25%. They got their 25% fee and I got 75% and they couldn’t hold a reserve because the first 200,000 was designed to already be sold, because that’s what I was selling already, before I—before they had any interest of me. That’s a looot of money. You know what I mean? That’s a—
jesse
200,000 records is a lot of records to sell— [E-40 echoes him in agreement.] —on a record company that’s a guy.
e-40
Yes, sir. Exactly. You feel what I’m saying? We had one of the best deals, if not the best deal in the game. And my uncle, St. Charles, designed a system where he was very smart, very smart. Taught me a lot. And he took every—he went from city to—he looked in—he did his due diligence and put together a book. And this book, it was a address book with aaall the places that sold hip-hop music. So, what he would do is put together a one-sheet with all our information, kind of like what you see on Wikipedia, but it was a—you know, it wasn’t as long—the discography or whatever. You know. But it would show all the things that we had going. It would have a—it would have our barcode of how to, you know—the barcode for the CD or cassette, at the time. It would—you know. And so, we would send it out with, like, five cassettes and he sent that to everything. And he had a major—a major network. You know. So, Master P and, you know, JT The Bigga Figga, those guys like that. You know, and the rest of the Bay Area, they seen how Sick Wid It Records had sold a music group—and my uncle, St. Charles, and Sick Wid It was doing it. Me and St. Charles, we was the main guys, you know what I’m saying? And they’re seeing how we got out and, you know, they came aboard and got with—got with my uncle, St. Charles, and—hey, man, sky’s the limit. You know? And made a lot of money and did they thing, became iconic in the game. Very iconic and I take my hats off to them and I love them dearly and that’s how it all went.
jesse
Well, you know JT The Bigga Figga knew what was up, because game recognize game.
e-40
Game recognize game in the Bay, man. Shoutout to JT The Bigga Figga. Shoutout to Mac Marlin. Legends in the game.
jesse
We’ll finish up with E-40 in just a minute. Stick around. It’s Bullseye, from MaximumFun.org and NPR.
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Music: Light, cheerful music. Speaker: On NPR’s Consider This podcast, we help you make sense of one big story in the news every day. Like how to combat disinformation and conspiracy theories, which pose a real threat to democracy, and what life looks like after you’re vaccinated—the next phase of do’s and don’ts. All that in 15 minutes, every weekday. Listen now to Consider This, from NPR. [Music fades out.]
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Music: Gentle, upbeat piano music. Helen Hong: Hey, J. Keith. J. Keith van Straaten: Hey, Helen! Hey, you’ve got another true/false quiz for me? Helen: Yep! Our trivia podcast Go Fact Yourself used to be in front a live audience. J. Keith: True! Turns out that’s not so safe anymore. Helen: Correct! Next. Unfortunately, this means we can no longer record the show. J. Keith: False! The show still comes out every first and third Friday of the month. Helen: Correct! Finally, we still have great celebrity guests answering trivia about things they love on every episode of Go Fact Yourself. J. Keith: Definitely true. Helen: And for bonus points, name some of them. J. Keith: Recently we’ve had, uh, Ophira Eisenberg plus tons of surprise experts like Yeardley Smith and Suzanne Somers. Helen: Perfect score! J. Keith: Woohoo! Helen: You can hear _Go Fact Yourself every first and third Friday of the month, with all the great guests and trivia that we’ve always had. And if you don’t listen, you can go fact yourself! J. Keith: That’s the name of our podcast! Helen: Correct! J. Keith: Woohoo! [Music finishes.]_
jesse
Welcome back to Bullseye. I’m Jesse Thorn. If you’re just joining us, my guest is E-40. He’s one of the most influential rappers of all time, a legend from the Bay Area. “Tell Me When to Go”, “Snap Yo Fingers”, “U and Dat”. Tons of unforgettable features. A couple months ago, he put out a brand-new record with another Bay Area veteran, Too Short. It’s called Ain’t Gone Do It. We talked in 2019, after he’d just released his—wait for it—28th studio album, Practice Makes Paper. Let’s get back into it. I wanna play a little bit of what is one of, if not the, most iconic Bay Area hip-hop records. And it’s possible that I think that because it came out when I was 14, but… one of the all-time greatest. And that’s the Bay Ballas’ remix of the Luniz’s “I Got 5 On It”. [E-40 makes an excited sound.] And every rapper in the Bay was on this record. Every person who was anybody was on this album—on this track. And you have one of the best verses on the whole thing. [Music fades in.] Let’s take a listen. [E-40 agrees.]
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“I Got 5 On It (Clean Bay Balla’s Vocal Remix)” by Luniz. Partner, let's go half on a sack! E-40. Why you treat me so bad? 40 makes it happen Five gets slapped and revenue grows from just a little bit of lightweight flamboasting Potent fumes linger, mighty clouds and Northern Lights You disrespect the Vick, the baron and you'll be violating my civil rights (civil rights) I'm starting to feel my scrilla but perhaps today my scrilla ain't feeling me For the simple fact that I'm off to the track with hella fools, B Pockets empty, pitching five, man I'm dusted Took off my hat, passed it around… [Music fades out.]
jesse
40, I didn’t even have cable. [E-40 laughs.] I was watching that video on California Music Channel after school. [Chuckles.]
e-40
Oooooh! Shoutout to Chuy Gomez. Shoutout to Andy Kawanami. Uh, California Music Channel, man. CMC, man. Iconic, you know? Wow.
jesse
But I remember you coming in that video and there’s some—you know, there’s some bold looks in that video, you know. Shock G and Humpty Hump are in that video.
crosstalk
E-40: Spice 1. Jesse: Dru Down is in that video with his hair. E-40: Dru Down.
jesse
You know what I’m talking about? And you come in that video with your glasses down your nose.
e-40
[Cackles.] Off top! Off top! You know! Unique. The square look, but really a hip square. Like gamed up, you know. Throw off methods, man. I just look like this, man? You know what I’m saying? You can never know—you can’t take me too serious, you can’t take me for a joke. I’m a character. This is how I get down. I don’t even really wear glasses. I don’t wear glasses! I don’t need glasses. Not to say that I won’t in the future. It could be next week. It could be, you know, 10 years from now. It could be 30 years from now. Maybe I’ll never wear them. But I’m just saying, that was a look that we—I chose to take on with the glasses hanging on my nose. You know what I’m saying? Reading glasses. And that’s—that’s—that’s my look! And then, you know, in the future you’ll see more and more! But that was a look—not just me, the Bay Area’s rocking with that look in the ‘80s and I utilize it as somebody that—you know, you see me wearing them glasses in the traffic while I’m out there doing my duties and moving around, wiggling. You know. You—the air-raids, the po-po, the Penelopes, the—you know what I’m saying? The cherries, the one-times, [inaudible], the 5-0, the 12, whatever you wanna call it. Know what I’m talking about? At that time, they was gonna just walk—they was gonna just look right past me, ‘cause he—“Aw, he ain’t doing that. He’s square. He ain’t a bug. He ain’t having it. We ain’t tripping on him.” Know what I’m saying? But at the same time, it was also a look—a fashion. It was part of the culture. And then I unfolded like that, man. And that was that. But you played that “I Got 5 On It”—that was legendary and classic. We all did our—we did a great job with that one. I had everybody off Sluricane Hurricanes. I had made them personally for them. I was the bartender, hello. [They laugh.]
jesse
So, you just us—
e-40
The loonies. They did it.
jesse
You just gave us twelve names for the police.
e-40
I did. I got plenty more.
jesse
Yeah, no, I’m not surprised to hear that, 40. [E-40 chuckles.] And, you know, there’s probably some people listening to this right now who are listening on KALW, in San Francisco, and they—they know the deal. You know. They listen—they listen to KPOO. They listen to—KP-oh-oh, baby babyyyy!
e-40
[Rhythmically.] “89.5 KPOO! I rode on out to the Valley Joe.” Man, when Too Short said that, that was so iconic when he said that. I forgot the song, but I said, “Too Short is my hero.”
jesse
Yeah, I mean, I—who knows—
e-40
I was a young man. I was young, moustache observing game. You feel me?
jesse
Who would know if I was—if I would even be in radio today if it wasn’t for the music director of KPOO: JJ on the Radio?
e-40
JJ on the Radio! Shoutout to JJ on the Radio!
jesse
Playing the original! Playing classic soul music from the original 45rpm recordings. All snap, crackles, and pops are intentional!
e-40
Authentic! Hello! Authentic Bay Area, iconic platform that invited us all. You know what I mean?
jesse
But let’s cut to a little bit of Bay Area slang—for people who aren’t from the Bay—I can give you some words and you give me a sense of what they mean. [E-40 agrees.] So, the first one is “cuddy”.
e-40
Cuddy. Cuddy, that’s—I—when I first heard “cuddy”, that’s from North Vallejo. That’s Mac Dre and—you understand me? The Rapper Room, you know, that whole side of town, that was they thing. That’s they word. That’s they word. That’s the first time I ever heard them screaming it. They was the cuddies, we was the [inaudible]. You feel me? And that—it’s all gravity.
jesse
For sure. What about “fetti”?
e-40
Fetti. That’s a—that is a Spanish word for feria. I was the first rapper ever screaming it. Feria is money. You know what I’m talking about? Gouda. Scrilla. Paper. You know. Bread. Scratch. You know what I’m talking about? I’m going on and on forever, but that’s something that I was the first rapper screaming at. You know what I mean? So, I can take—I can actually really go ahead and, you know, take claim to that one right there.
jesse
“Flamboasting”?
e-40
Flamboasting means being flamboyant and boasting at the same time. So, you put them both together and you got flamboasting.
jesse
What about staying sucka free? What does it mean to be sucka free?
e-40
Sucka free is, you know, continuing to dodge suckas. You know, to shake haters. You know. And, you know, and stay—just stay away from suckers. And that—sucka free—I would—whenever I hear sucka free, I always—I always—it always reminds me of Frisco, ‘cause I feel like Frisco—‘cause Frisco gamed up to the whole Bay and every region has—every city has their own words and stuff that they say. So—
jesse
Sucka Free City!
e-40
Sucka Free! That’s the ‘Sco! That’s Frisco. You know what I mean? They sucka free.
jesse
40, why is it that you, a 50 year old man, are still making, like, mainstream rap records with dudes that are out right now? Why are you the only person [chuckling] who can pull that off?
e-40
Me and B-Legit, we used to always talk about this. Like, “Man, when we get older, man, we ain’t gonna be—we ain’t gonna be slacking and—we gonna be gamed up. We gonna—we gonna—we ain’t gonna do too much, but we’re gonna be right there with them.” And we know how far we are ahead of time, ‘cause we was always students of the game and we always would soak up game like a beach towel with all the OGs and whatnot. And we’d—we would—we studied it and we practiced being—we practiced making paper. We practiced, you know, being solid not salad. You know what I’m saying? I will say this. I will say that—and this is not pointing the finger at me like I’m a mean, mean, mean, like—you know what I’m saying? This, that, and the third, ‘cause I stay humble. I stay definitely hungry and humble. Believe it or not, man, some people get mad at me for being so humble. They want me to really—they ask me to like stand up and just—and just scream it, man! Like, man, own it! And I do. But I do it in a—in the humble way, ‘cause I feel like humbleness got me all this far. Why not stay humble? You know? And they’re like, “Man, dude. Come on, man. It’s no one your age—no one.” And it started in the ‘80s with music on the shelves that stayed relevant all this time consistently. No one in the—on the planet, I don’t care who it is. I know what I brought to hip-hop. I know that I’ve steady moving the culture forward, not backwards. You know what I’m saying? And I’m just me, man. But I always promise myself, “Turn with the tides or the tides gonna turn on you. Change with the times or time will change on you.” But do it in a player fashion where, you know, you’re still you, but at the same time—you know, you’re fitting in right with what’s going on today. You know what I’m talking about? I told people—even when the hyphy movement came in, man—I didn’t get it from a particular person. I got it from my region. The hyphy movement was the whole Bay Area. It wasn’t just one person or anything like that. I just joined in because that’s what it was. It just so happened that, you know—you know, a legendary guy by Vallejo, you know—from Vallejo, passed away at the time when everything was going great. And I believe that he would be iconic and have millions of dollars and everything if he was alive. It wasn’t never a personal issue with him. You know what I’m saying? All I did was join in in the movement that was, you know—that was right there in my backyard. I never moved out of the Bay Area!
jesse
40, I can’t let you go without you sharing one of these with me. I’m gonna do my best. This is my best, 40. [Jesse makes a guttural “uuuh” sound.]
e-40
[Cackles.] Can I tell you where I got that from? ‘Cause I always pay homage. Can I tell you where I got that from, bro? [Jesse confirms.] I’m proud to say it, too. A female rapper. Just so happens that her name is Suga-T, which is my blood sister. Same mama, same daddy. ‘Cause she used to—when she’d finished, [singing in falsetto] “sprinkle me,” and she’d just, “Uuuh!” You know, people coin me for this, but like I’m telling you what’s real. I got that from my sister, Suga-T.
jesse
Well, 40, I sure appreciate you taking all this time to be on Bullseye.
e-40
Yes, sir.
jesse
You know, the Bay wouldn’t be the Bay without the Ambassador. [E-40 thanks him.] And I’m very grateful for everything you’ve done and, frankly, my career wouldn’t be what it was without your example. And that’s the truth.
e-40
Wow!
jesse
That’s the truth, Ruth. [Music fades in.]
e-40
God bless you, man. Thank you, man. I’m very grateful and thankful.
jesse
E-40, from 2019. His latest record, a collaboration with Too Short, is called Ain’t Gone Do It. You can get that now. Let’s go out on one more track from his 2019 album, Practice Makes Paper. A posse cut with 17 other people. It’s called “Chase the Money”.
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“Chase the Money” from the album Practice Makes Paper by E-40. …watch the whole team win Look at me Look at the way I carry myself Look at the way I'm winning Look at this liquid around my neck, look how they shimmering Look at this strand I'm smoking Look at this bottle I'm holding, look at my life Look how I'm playing the field like I'm Rollin' the dice under casino lights (Uh) Luxury automobiles and sports cars with loud pipes (Vroom!) Detachable steering wheels, muscle cars, and scraper bikes Some of my— push pills, some of 'em push that Cha Cha (Cha Cha) Some of 'em work for a living to make an honest dollar (Honest dollar) And here's another thing I thought that you should know (What?) I'll make a— stand outside forever like a scarecrow (Scarecrow) I'm a Bay—, that's affirmative, ain't no arguing (Uh-uh) You soft as table butter, margarine (Uh-huh) I'm always intoxicated, I'm never sober Same soup, just warmed over… [Volume decreases and continues under the dialogue.]
jesse
That’s the end of another episode of Bullseye. Bullseye is created in the homes of me and the staff of Maximum Fun in and around greater Los Angeles, California—where we were grateful to welcome roughly two and a half hours of heavy rain. Thank you, sky, for that. We needed it! Our show is produced by speaking into microphones. Our producer is Kevin Ferguson. Jesus Ambrosio and Jordan Kauwling are our associate producers. We have help from Casey O’Brien. Our interstitial music is by Dan Wally, also known as DJW. Our theme song is by The Go! Team. Thanks very much to them and their label, Memphis Industries, for sharing it. You can also keep up with the show on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. We post all of our interviews there. And I think that’s about it. Just remember: all great radio hosts have a signature sign off.
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Speaker: Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.
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[Volume increases.] ex-man a scrub, why I call him Brillo Got a crib up in the Carter feeling like I'm Nino John a legend, but we ain't no ordinary people Mother was seven, MAC 11 with the Desert Eagle Hood Pope, I'm like a reverend, teeth is worth a kilo… [Music fades out.]
About the show
Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture.
Bullseye has been featured in Time, The New York Times, GQ and McSweeney’s, which called it “the kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world.” Since April 2013, the show has been distributed by NPR.
If you would like to pitch a guest for Bullseye, please CLICK HERE. You can also follow Bullseye on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. For more about Bullseye and to see a list of stations that carry it, please click here.
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@bullseye.bsky.social
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