![E-40 Salutes the Bay Area in His ABCs](https://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2019/09/e-40.jpg?w=980&q=75)
E-40 Salutes the Bay Area in His ABCs
Rap legend E-40 has been holding it down for the Bay Area since the early 1990s, and he’s still slinging albums like bean pies. His latest project, Practice Makes Paper, which serves as his 26th effort, is out now, featuring the same linguistic excellence he's been delivering for more than three decades.
E-40, born Earl Stevens, is also known for introducing his Bay Area slanguage to rap fans. So for XXL’s ABC series, the veteran rhymer uses his unique vocabulary skills for a quick word association game. The result? E-40 is hella tight with the verbiage.
For the letter A, the 51-year-old artist comes with the word "authentic," which he's been ever since entering the rap game. “I want you to be organic like the planet, be authentic,” he says, putting the word in a sentence as if he’s in a spelling bee contest.
Next, up for B, E-40 picks "beverage" because he owns a California winery and sells wine from his Earl Stevens collection. With C and D, 40 Water chooses "cattin’ off"—some Bay Area slang—and "due diligence," respectively. When it comes to E, he picks "everywhere." “E-40 is everywhere like air. All over the place like space,” he rhymes.
The West Coast legend gets more animated for the letter M. “Millions!” he exclaims.”That’s the plan, go get millions!” He continues the get-money theme when he uses "paper" for P and the word "tycoon" for the letter T.
Then the slanguage king reps his hometown Vallejo when he lands on V. “Vallejo, Calif.—the V where I be, you know what I'm talkin' about?” he says. “Where fixtures and factors are born.” E-40 follows with "West Coast" for the letter W.
Hit play below to watch E-40 show love to the Yay Area in XXL’s ABCs.
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