Stream E-40’s New EP

This Sunday (Nov. 15), E-40 turned 48. In a genre where artists struggle to age gracefully, the Vallejo native stands as the exception, continuing to innovate as his peers have mostly slid into retirement or nostalgia tours. His latest EP, Poverty & Prosperity, hits the Internet today; it can be streamed here via Spotify or purchased on iTunes. It opens "Magazine Street" and "I'm Serious," a pair of soulful cuts that benefit from silky hooks courtesy of Park Ave. There are heartfelt thanks to friends, family, the Bay and the higher power, all for the years of prosperity. But 40 Water still finds time to slide in the stark details of his childhood, down to the shopping carts pushed by the homeless people on his block. And who else is going to draw a direct line from Shakespearean tragedy to Worldstar?

The last time E-40 put out an EP was 1994, when he dropped the eight-track effort The Mail Man. (That project is the original home "Captain Save a Hoe" and its remix.) His first available recored work is the 1991 EP Mr. Flamboyant, a cassette-only project on Sick Wid It that was later issued on vinyl. This year marks the 20th anniversary of In a Major Way, the song that solidified himself as Oakland's most distinct voice since Too Short and made him a major player in the national arena. He scored a hit last year with "Choices (Yup)."