The Questlove Show - E-40

Episode Date: October 12, 2026

A real tycoon is in the building. Questlove sits down with Vallejo’s own E-40, the Yay Area legend who was selling records out of his trunk back when getting a major-label deal felt impossible. He built his own label, financed his projects independently, and gave Hip-Hop an entire dictionary of slang and similes. Now, with Turning My Money Over—a historic 40-song quadruple album—Earl Stevens isn’t slowing down. E-40 talks about growing up on Magazine Street in Vallejo’s Hillside neighborhood, the New York and Bay Area rappers who shaped his voice, and the year at Grambling State that taught him how to make it on his own. He explains how The Click navigated distribution through consignment sheets, mom-and-pop stores, and even rim shops—and how VHS duplication helped change the game for independent artists. 40 Water recalls his dealings with Tupac, advocates for members of the Hieroglyphics crew, and shares how being doubted by a room full of DJs decades ago only pushed him to go harder.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Didn't catch the latest Roland Martin unfiltered podcast? Here's what you missed. There should not be a single law enforcement agency. It does not have body cameras. It's real. Black farmers have been under attack.

This is just the latest example of them just slapping DEI on anything. It's raw. And I'm sitting here going, they are playing y'all for fools. Catch Roland Martin's daily commentary on the Black Information Network. And download Roland Martin, filtered on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Questlove show is a production of IHeart Radio. Hey, what's up? It's Questlove. And this week, we're continuing our conversation series

with artists who've charted their own path and redefined music along the way. And we've teamed up with Levi's on their behind every original campaign to highlight the creatives who didn't have a blueprint for what came next. So they had to make their own. Levi's has been the uniform of originals for over 150 years, the people who don't just accept the status quo, but reshape it through how they live, create, and show up. And that spirit feels especially relevant to today's conversation. Weird enough, Levi's is kind of what connected Tariq and I together because the first moment we met, he marveled at my jacket. he he never met someone whose parents allowed their kid to ruin their good clothes like you know you got school clothes and you play clothes and the fact that I had like paint on the back of my jacket

like you know Jackson Pollock and wore P-Sign and whatever like I was a hippie and um he's like yo your mom let you do this to your jacket and then he borrowed that jacket for like four months so kind of having this jacket on is probably a weird connection that I have to like two friends in high school, not knowing they're about to embark in a, you know, almost a 40 plus year mission. So yeah, man. Shout out the Levi's for that. All right, ladies and gentlemen, we have a real tycoon in the building. He's coming straight out of V-town where there's a street, even a day named after him.

He is the Ye area's own. He was pushing units out the trunk with his click back when getting access to the majors was nearly impossible. He was sick with it from day one, stacked a scrella, built his own label. Simply put, this legend is the architect. And he came with the blueprint and the slang which, man,

with more than 30 plus albums under his belt. E40 just released his most ambitious project yet. It's called Turning My Money Over, and it's a 40 song, quadruple album. And once you listen, you know right away that he has not lost his step, ladies and gentlemen, and he's joining us live right now in California while I am here in New York City. Brother E, this is a long time coming. I appreciate you, granted me this audience. How you doing? I'm doing good. I appreciate you, buddy. That was a great intro. Look, man, it's nothing but respect. Always been a fan of yours, man. Always been a fan.

Thank you. Vice versa, folks. Thank you. Vice versa. Trust me. I want to know what your first musical memory was, but really what I want to know is what do Vallejo sound like coming out the car windows? Like, what was the soundtrack of your as a kid before, you know, the Crest developed you? I lived in the Crest when I was very young. I moved out when I was eight. I went to Country Club, Chris Child Care Center. I went to Loma Vista.

Then I went to Elsa Wheateman, and I played baseball Little League. The field was named after my granddad. It's called Thurman's Field, and that's in College Park. Then my mom and dad divorced, and then I ended up being on a whole other side of town. I had no idea about it, and it was called the Hillside. Okay. That's how much of a soil baby I was. I didn't even know it was a whole other side of town called the hillside.

You know what I mean? So I go to the hillside and, you know, it was a whole different atmosphere. What I mean by that, it was the urban community. It was the trenches, but it had like goats and chickens in the backyard. You know, that's why we call ourselves the hillbillies. We call itself Beverly Hillbillies, you know what I'm saying? Because it's really called Beverly Hills and some of the streets are named after in the real Beverly Hills in L.A., you know what I'm saying? Really?

But there's nothing like that. Yeah. Okay. That's why I say my life was nothing like Bel Air. High speed, shootouts and things, but I loved it there. You feel me? But anyway, yeah, so the music coming out to cars, out the windows and everything, I mean, it was just, Valel was a small city, you know, at that time, probably 11 exits.

I don't know how many you got now because they're constantly building and it's getting bigger and more population. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. But it was very small. Yeah. You know, I always wanted to ask you this. I think I mentioned this to you, when we're going to be. we were touring with L.L.

But, you know, I had just directed the Sly and the Family Stone documentary. Are you directed that? Yeah, that was me. Dope. There's a stunning moment that I couldn't include in the dock. And, you know, we pretty much had to gather worldwide footage of every aspect of Sly's life, you know. And there's a moment where this cat from Europe, decides to just ambush and kind of literally walk through the Bay Area looking for Sly Stone.

And one of the most amazing five-minute sequences I've ever seen is he's just walking the streets of Vallejo. And suddenly he pans to the left and says, hey, there's some teenagers over there. because he's he's even amazed that like some people might or might not remember Slidestone. And so it's almost like him on National Geographic, but he's in the hood. And he has like an accent that of like, you know, Lifestyles of Rich and Famous. He's like, oh, there's some high schools over there. Let me ask him what they know about Slice Stone. And, yo, he rolls up on the click.

you guys back in, I believe, this might have been 1989. Like, 1990 maybe. There was cars driving by, and I think I heard like a Tony, Tony, Tony song. So it's almost telling me it might have been 1990. But he literally, you guys just talked to him for like five minutes. And you more or less talk about, you know, what you're from. because he's like, oh, you guys are into music? Do you remember anything about this moment of just some...

It sounds very, very familiar, and it's a trip because Valéel is an interesting spot. You know, you got Sly and a family stone. You got the confunction that came out of there. I think Andre Hawkins recorded old happy days in downtown Vallele. You know, you got some of the first rappers that coming out of Valle was the lover twins. They from the bridge side over there off of Springs Road. you know, Kyrie, Kyrie from Young Black Brothers,

he had, that was his first group that he put out. And they were the first ones with actual record, you know. So, you know, you had Jay King, which is the guy who, you know, Club Nouveau, and Timex Social Club.

Yeah, yeah. And Choice, what they call, New Choice. Yeah, you know what I mean? He stayed from Millisville, you know, but he moved to Sacramento. So sometime he claimed Sacks, but he claimed Velao too, because we all know he from the Vee,

his whole family. Okay. But it's all love and respect, and he was before us, and I salute them all, man, and, uh, you know, here come me,

you know, standing me, me in the clique, you know, he come, uh, Mac Drey, he'd come,

uh, you know, just so many other rappers after us, you know, into deep and baby Bash and, oh, man,

we can go on Mac Mall. Okay. Oh, man, there's so many people in the V. So many, so much talent in that small little city. I can go on and on forever.

Did, did you have history with, any of those acts like pre-record deal at all like high school or yeah yeah so in too deep it's a trip of course me and selly sell we played ball together our parents knew each other and still know each other and uh we're from the hillside i'm from magazine street he from magazine street in hollywood you know what i mean right there in the same neighborhood yeah we grew up together selly became a gold-selling artist. Yeah. Got the big record that's going down tonight, you know what I'm saying?

And then, you know, of course, you know, be legit to click. All of us, we all family. We're from Magazine Street. Baby Bash. He produced the first song I did with Spice One. I just did some talk and I was glad to be on that album because Spice was already signed to Jive. Right. And then In Too Deep, Jim to Trilio.

You understand? Me and Tim, they both embraced me, got me on their, they were signed to Profile. Records. And I'm still independent at that time. And they were signed the profile records, man. I had an opportunity to have breakfast with them with, um, with run DMC. Yeah, with run DMC. And they came, yeah, because they was all on profile records and right. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. But anyway, moving forward. So, you know, they gave my first record. They went, they, they, my first goal record was by into D's because I was on a song called VTown. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Look, your voice is an instrument.

all on its own. Like the intonation, the pitch, the bounce of it all, the way you stretch your words out. So when you first, when you first got on the mic, did you sound like E40 or did you have to find him and invent this persona? Like, who were you listening to that shaped how you talk on a record?

You might have to pack a lunch for this. Hit me. First, it was New York was heavily, They was a big influence on us. Influential, yeah. First and foremost, you know, the first rap song I heard was Sugar Hill Gang. And I fell in love with, you know, some of the artists earlier, like just ICE, Grandma's Flash and the Furious Five, Melly Mel, mostly, Curtis Blow.

Also, you know, Cango from UTFO was a big influence. His voice was amazing to me. Then you go, you see, now you hear a little bit of E40 in there? Rice. Oh, because he was... Oh, my God. Yo! Yo!

Yep, yep. Ice T. Yep. Run DMC. And, you know, locally, you know, too short, too short definitely was a big influence. Some of his tapes before he even, you know,

made it big. He had tapes circulating Magic Mike and Calvin T out of Richmond, California. Yeah. You know, my cousin them used to come down from Richmond, Blapinette, and they blew 5.0. You feel me? And my folks, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah. You know, shout to Derrick. Brown shout out the pops. You know what I'm saying? My cousin pops and all them up out of Richmond, man. They come through blapping that thing, you know what I'm saying, with us on magazine street. So we just, you know, of course, LL KUJ, man, KRS1.

I did a lot. I learned my adlibs from KRS1. KRS1 used to do a lot of adlibs. So are you a full of, yeah, talking the third person. See, I thought with your interview style, when you answer yourself and, like, when you do your interview thing, I thought, like, that's definitely a slick Rick. like overdubbing it. It can be some of that too

because I listen to all them you know, but I'm mostly Carous one. All right. I was blapping Big Daddy came for show too and many, many, you know, a shoe, you know who was my ex-clan? Yeah, oh, Brother Jay?

Yeah, Brother Jay. Yuck. Yeah, yeah, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Brother Jay, what you say? Oh, come on, man. Some of the great music, man, you know, public enemy, bro.

We can go on. Man, you know, Taddy Tee, Tidy T out of L.A. Bat around, yeah. The batter round, you feel me. Mixed Master Spade. Bobby Jimmy and the Crickets. That's Russ Parr.

Guess who else I used to blap? Who? You ready for this one? Hit me. The Symphony. Oh, Big Daddy King. Yeah, I think Master's Aie rap. Yeah, I used to rock with them boys too.

You feel me? I like that too. So, man, you know, it's a trip because I'm older than a lot of them cats, man. You feel me? I kick back. I'm like, damn. I've been in this game for a long time since 88 was when I first

released MVP, most valuable players with the click. It shouldn't be a surprise though because like, you know, I mean, the Bay Area was always different. Like, the Bay Area and D.C. Have absorbed way more music than any other territory

that I've seen in the United States. Like, it's almost like you guys are like this encompassing, splunge of just information. So I tend to notice that in the Bay Area, regionalism really isn't a thing like, you know, it would be elsewhere where they're just guarded with their territory. So I absolutely see that happening.

It's like everybody, the Bay was making it so beautiful is we got like people, we got like the hieroglyphics and Delta Funky Helps, homestapian and, you know, and so's a mischief. And we got, you know, then you got your spice ones of the worlds and the E40s and the Loonies. And you got, you know, digital underground. And it's just so many different, like, you know,

it's just a mixture of everything. I can go on and on and on. But I'm just saying growing up, that's how it was, you know. So we just won big gumbo pot. True. All right. So you and Be Legit went to Grambling when you guys were really getting serious about your participation in hip hop.

But I always wanted to know. And I guess another person that can answer is also Master P, but in reverse. But what did you learn or what did the South teach you that the Bay Area couldn't? The South was when we came from grammar, we were the first one saying, brough. Because all they used to do is this, it's 1987, 88. We went in fall of 86, 87. So when we got back, you know, because of all the New Orleans cast and all the Baton Rouge, when we're getting on the elevator, when I'm in Drew.

hard be legit as in pinch back. One thing is we was up and down the stairs. So we always on the elevator. So one thing they used to always say, hold that Veda, bruh. Hold that Veda, bro. You feel me? That was one.

It was brough. It was brough. We've been saying that forever, ever. You know what I'm saying? You know, I got a lot of stuff like cutting up. That's from Louisiana. My grandparents, they came down from Louisiana from Bernice, Louisiana, and Homer, Louisiana, and they had 11 kids.

And that's one thing they used to say, when they said, when they say y'all cut up last night when we got in fights and stuff like that when we was young and all got to stop cutting up like that you know what i'm saying like that's how i used to go so a lot of stuff used to come from the south and you know just are just having that south in my blood i feel like that's why i'd be feeling like little boozy and all them bird man and masturbating because i feel like we all for some reason and juvenile and we all for some reason we feel like we like we're cousins or something because i feel them i'm even though i'm i'm in vallejo but i'm i got southern ways like you know we come from there my daddy from mrs

Sippy, you feel what I'm saying? So it's like, it's crazy. So I learned a lot in gambling, man. It taught me how to be independent. What I mean by that is like how to, you know, be a man. We had to make, we used to stretch $20, man. We make it last for 20 days, you know what I'm saying? Yeah.

You know, eggs and bread and some milk or butter. You know what I'm saying? Some ground turkey. Everything was cheap way back then. And you put that in your little refrigerator in the dorm and I had a little skillet, you know what I said? I make all kind of little tycoon meals, you know, I understand me.

Right. You know, so I self-taught myself. man, I do a lot of things being independent and gambling. Incidentally, what was your major going to be at gambling? So I went for commercial art and cartoon art. We used to hang out with the band all the time, even though I played band from fourth grade to 12th grade when I was living in Vallejo, you feel me? So when I went, Be Legit, I think he went for electronics.

You know what I'm saying? I went because of Be Legit. You know, we went one year, and that one year felt like four years of experience because we learned so much in a small little amount of time. And we got right back and pursued our career because we was doing music before that. We just never was like really, we were serious about it, but we

didn't have an opportunity. So as soon as we got, while we was at Gremlin, me, be legit, my partner of Walla Mendel, Dominium, the 3rd Jr., Ed Williams out of Oakland, and a few of my cats from Marin City. They had a boom box, you know what I'm saying? Big Tiny, big fun. We called him big fun. His partner,

Jay had a boom box. And so we, we recorded original concept instrumental. He took it and looped it. Remember to knowledge me, oh, me. Oh, knowledge me, oh, Lord, yeah. Don't da, don't. Should that one right there? Yeah, so we turned that into the,

it was, I think it was Walla Mendele Dominium, the third ideal to come with a song all about the school. Everything that went down on campus at Grimeland State University. So we called it the Grammar State University School Amamata. And it circulated back then, people was dubbing tapes. So it circulated. all throughout the campus and it got famous. Everybody knew the song.

It was like, Grambling, university, Grambling, university, Grambling, university, Grambling, university. And my voice was hallow, just tiny, like, you know what I was in? It wasn't just developed, but you can tell it was me, right?

Uh-huh. And so then it was a talent show. We entered the talent show, bro, and won the whole thing, bro. We walk out, we're famous. We fan. like hella popular on campus because we used to, you know, I used to be the flies. I didn't always have this ball of belly.

I was, you know, I got, I'm 18, 17, 18, I'm 18 years old. You know what I'm saying? I'm clean. You clean. You're clean. You know what I mean? So anyway, make a long story short, we, uh, tunists we got back on Bay Area soil. We found the studio.

My brother DeShall found studio, Tone studio. I went and found a pilot studio who did all of him and James early. Fount day studio on a Sonoma Boulevard right there. where Mr. MC Hammer used to so we would see MC Hammer sometime when we were coming out, when we're going into the studio, Hammer coming out.

And he, you know, and he was legendary right there. Hammer was doing this thing. We was just so happy to just see him and he always embrace us. You know, he's a big OG, you know what I'm saying? We all hammered one of the realists, you know what I'm saying? So it was just a beautiful thing, man.

So we went in there and recorded, we was called MVP, so we recorded four songs and knocked that out the way. And then we changed our name because we felt like we really, you know, we got hell of game, bro. And we got, it just wasn't us. We was trying to, like, get radio play and try to take the shortcut instead of really

being us organically. So I say, check this out, man. We're going to be the click. We're going to spend nothing but straight soil, just soil activities, how our life really is, the whole woo-wop. You feel me? And that's when we became the click. First EP was less side.

So we had four songs on there. Yeah, we had those. And then we had, then I came with Mr. Flamboyant. You know what I'm saying? That was the EP, you know, in 1990 we came with Down and Dirty. That's what took it over the top right there. You know, we was already making... Mr. Flamboyne was really doing this thing.

Both of them, let's side. But when we came with Down and Dirty, the album was amazing to click. What I want to know is now when Too Short was on the show, he explained how his mixtapes got him in the game. But from your point of view, can you walk me through? because the one thing I was here about Bay Area is, you know, you guys sell it out the trunk. Yeah. So what is the process on the business side of things of how you sell it out the trunk?

Like you make the tapes, you make the product. Now, how do you get it in the record stores? Right. So that was a problem. Distribution didn't come to us easy. So we had to make our own distribution outlets. So the way we did it was we would press up a certain amount. out of CDs or cassettes or vinyl.

Our first EP, MVP, that was all vinyl. We didn't even have no cassettes for that. I think we got the cassettes hella late. Later, yeah. Yeah, so we would sell, we would put them on what they call consignment. So we, my uncle St. Charles, he was a musical genius. He had records in the 70s, like 72 and 74. So he kind of already knew.

He's like a jack-of-all-tray, one of those uncles you look up to that's very highly smart and know a lot. So he taught us how to do consignment sheets and you go to the store and you, you know, you drop off maybe, maybe let's say just let's go vinyl. Let's just say vinyl. We go to our trunk, pull out a box. They want 10 vinyl or something. You know what I'm saying? We got 20 left. So we higgle M&M. Just say M&M liquor for just for instance as an example. We get them, you know, 10 vinyl or discount liquor right there on the corner of Magazine Street and Sonoma. And so we would drop them off. They assigned a consignment sheet. dropped it off. So that means, okay, we're going to get this to you for this amount. When we come, you call us and let us know when you're out. They'll call us, let us know when they're out. And we'll come drop off another 10, 20, whatever they want.

This time we want 20. Okay, we give them 20. And that's how I was going. That was how I was circulating in certain stores, a lot of the mom and pop stores, a lot of places that actually, not your traditional places to carry music. Like bills and wheels, you know, where everybody go to get their rims and that they're zinous and vows, their appliances vows, their trues and vows, whatever they're going to get.

Right. It was a one-stop shop for, you know, for slippers, for shoes. You know what I mean? So then, you feel what I'm saying? Yeah. So going to places like that, and then it was hooking up with music people, which was a one-stop, Jason Blame and his dad, Elliot Blaine. And we would hook up with them.

So they was our distributor. There was a small one-stop. We hooked up with them. And then we hooked up with City Hall Records later. City Hall Records didn't take us at first. They thought, and, you know, I tell them this all the time. We probably made them more money than anybody when we was with them because they didn't want to take us. They said they literally told my uncle St. Charles this, seriously.

Okay. This is something I don't really tell people, but I got love for Walter Zellman. I'm just saying, he told St. Charles on the phone. He don't know we was on the three-way. We was on the three-way. This is way back. We on the three-way. You know, hey, man, you know, you know, you.

you know, I hate that, I got to tell you, man, you know, the one guy with the, with the voice, you know, he, you know, he wraps too fast, man. And then, you know, he's talking about me, right? Yeah, I know. And then he said, and the other guy, you know, with the deep voice, he sounds like he's reading. And I'm like, what he gets from? It's somebody that's working there, some that's on some gold tint and hating because, you know, because come on, man. Man, look, check this out. So all that did, I'm telling you, haters don't ever, y'all should not even never say nothing. If you want me to stop being raw, you shouldn't say nothing.

Because when somebody hate on me, I become a whole other monster in a great way. Dude. I'll kill you with my success. I'm telling you right now. I have so many Rashi Wallace questions, but go ahead, continue. Okay, I'm going to finish this.

So what I'm saying is what I want to tell you is this. I'm crazy. So look, hey, listen what I'm saying. So basically, what that did, that motivated. this. Oh, we was like, our feelings crushing everything. I'm like, man, we got one foot in the soil, and then we got one foot in the vocal booth. I'm like, you know what I mean? Damn. So I'm like, okay, we're going to show them. So that's when we, that same, then we came with down and

we came with less side. When we came with that side, he called Uncle Charles maybe about maybe four months, five months after and just, hey, uh, St. Charles, yeah, uh, you know those guys, uh, you know, uh, the, the, the click or whatever. Right. And I, he was like, yeah, He said, can I get 5,000 CDs like that? And after that, in St. Charles, we did a COD. You know what I mean? Picked up a check that day. Something nice, something chunky.

Not that day, but, you know, we already had them on deck. I got you. You know. So anyway, we did that. After that, we just started making hell of bread with them. Hell of bread. We became cool and everything. I always felt like that motivated me to become who I am.

Being in a meeting with the, what was it called? The pro music DJ. the pros, the pro's DJ organization, they was like a DJ, pros back in the days. The DJ, yeah, yeah. We played our music for the MVP. I think it was the MVP most valuable players,

EP, a dude by the name of Casper. He was playing as our manager, good dude. And so he was like, hey, man, what y'all think? After we played it, nobody in the room said nothing. This was way back in 88, 87, 88. No one said nothing. They was just looking at it like, ah, these dudes.

I have not yet seen that one pro music DJ club. Nobody from, there was members. And there was about 100 in the room. Ain't nobody ever came up to me and said, I was in that room because they embarrassed because they didn't know that I was going to be the guy that I am. They didn't know this. You feel me? But they crushed me.

I had anxiety and everything. They had me stressed out. I'm like, a lot of people stress me out, but I don't hold it against them. I just keep it pushing, man. And that's how I became who I am. How do you talk yourself out of sabotaging if you feel like it's a setback? Like how do you psych yourself up to push through? That's what fuels me.

That's what people don't understand. If you, it fuels me and make me better. I discipline myself. I'm from the ghetto. I'm really from it. You know, not trying to act like it's something great. It's just, I was in the, he was raising the ghetto by force, not choice.

Okay. It ain't like I was in the suburb. I'm like, I want to go to the ghetto and live there. Like, nah, bro. It's like, I was there by force. In the clique, you know, it's, it's your family. It's, you know, D-Shat, Shugat, be legit. Of the click, who was the hardest critic in the room in terms of, like, whose verse gets sent back the most?

Who's the coach that whips everyone in the shape? Me, but I'm going to be honest. I didn't really have to. Me and my sister, because she was raised by three brothers. Okay. And so she tries to be the boss of me and all of us. And I don't like, you can't be the boss of me or none of us. clash because she's thinking I'm goaltending her ideas and I'm like, no, I'm letting you

have your freedom, but I know what I'm doing. I know what I'm doing. So we were classed like that, but we still made great music and still, you know, that's my sister. So it is what it is. We're going to continue to work together and, you know, get through it. But as far as being the overseer everything, D-Shot, he was the boss of him, Bela the boss of him, and we just made great music together. Like, what does working with family protect you from, at least, you know, because when you start popping, and, you know, I'm taking a reference from, from Crush Groove, like,

as soon as you start popping, I know people are coming out the woodworks like, yo, let's do some business together. But also on the other side of that coin, working with family can also be risky, you know, because now you're in business together. So what's the pros and what's the cons of it all? The pros is that you, you know,

if you're doing business with family, which you would love to, with everyone really would love to do. do if everything went smooth. You know what I mean? And I'm talking about, man, I'm being honest with you. I'm not trying to be a me monster, but I am responsible for putting probably more relatives on

than anybody in the history of hip hop. And I'm not just talking about my siblings and my cousin. I'm talking about cousins. Okay. You know what I mean? It's a long list. You got a pack of lunch for this one. So I'm only even go through all that.

You feel me? But everyone that knows knows knows. I really put on for my family. Got you. I've never seen nobody in hip hop put on for their family like to put my family on. I put them on like a light switch. So for the beginning phase before Jive came along,

I would assume that like studio tone and Mike Mosley did a line share of the production and the music and all that stuff, right? What is their beginnings? What's their origin? Like who taught them how to make beats? Shoot, studio tone come from it. Mike self-taught itself, man. He always had interest in it.

But me and Mike from, we from the trenches. And we used to, you know, move around in the traffic together. And we just, we both had interest in rap. And we was like, hey, man. So we ended up, man, started getting equipment and working together and everything. We just became raw, you know. And he started playing, programming them drums and stuff. When got one of them with Elyse drum sets was called Elyse, I think.

The other drum. He got that. It was. Ooh, what he got that. It was over. But studio tone, since a kid, he was just born, knowing how to play keys and guitar, and he just, one of the most talented people I ever met

besides my uncle St. Charles and my dad. You know what I mean? My brother D-Shod was always this research king. You know, he found a spot right down the street from our clothing store on Salano Avenue. It was called New Fat Clothing. So recently I posted a picture with me and my son, Droopy, in front of my 1970 cutlass across street from Church's Chicken in Millisville.

Right there was in front of our clothing store. I bought us a clothing store, you understand me. And we had Rayyan shirts. So a lot of people saying, yeah, they got Rayyan shirts in there. We did. We had Rayon shirts. Rayon. Spray painted shirts.

We had Carl Kanii had major damage. We had Fubu. We had all that good stuff back then, you know? Uh-huh. And so D.I. I was like, hey, man, Studio Tone. Because Studio Tone was over there by the Empress Theater, his location. So he's like, hey, Stuart Tong.

We got a spot for you right down the street. Right next door to Rich Yards Barbershop. Right there, right on the same, right in the same shopping center. is our store. So I go make my little money from the little store, from our store, take my little profit, go put $50, $100 down for pre-production. It was $10 an hour. I pay

studio tonne pre-production. So I'll book that. All I need was four hours because while I'm down at new fat clothing, I'm, you know, not only behind the register or whatever, I'm writing lyrics. So one time... That's where you crafted them? Okay. Yeah, so sometimes, yeah, so at that time

and I have so much, I'm a soil dude, so I got a lot to say. So, you You know, sometimes I'll go down and student tons just book four hours just to make the beats. Let's just make beats from scratch. Then I take them beats and then write to them, then come back and record them over there. But anyway, he was a research king because I want to give my brother D shot a lot of love on this one. One thing people don't realize is he found this lady by the name of Marianne Collins. And it changed the game for many independent artists because Marianne specialized in getting your videos,

because we shot videos back then, getting them on the VHS. getting hell of them duplicated and distributed them to all the major resources that any, any, any mom and pop video shows, say, first as Houston. Say, for instance, let's say for instance, um, Oh, nationwide. Or whatever. Nationwide, bro, even video jukebox. She was, and we pay her.

We had to pay her. She gave us this invoice and we got to pay for all, you know, for the duplicates. She'd get them done. We give her the master. She'd get them done. And then we pay her for her services. and everybody in the base start using her from Master P to I'm talking about all of us. But my brother Disha found that plug without no internet or nothing, man.

I say it's a bad boy. Damn, man. You just reminded me of video jukebox, man. I miss video jukebox, man. That was an era. Me too. I miss it too, bro. What would you describe as the sound of mob music?

So let me just tell you this, man. Okay. Mob music at the end of the day in real life sincerely. Too short, E40 and the click, studio tone, and banks. Mike Mosley, Sam Bostic, you know, I could put in, I'm talking about from the beginning of this thing. Seriously, the term was coined by me. We brought Sebo and Awall Records into our organization where he developed that sound too. Shout to Sebo and my cousin, Freddie T. Smith, you know, AWOL records.

He started AWOL records. And then some of the producers, like the DJ DURLs and stuff, they started doing it. Their sound was not that. It was not that. No disrespect, but it wasn't that. Ours was mob music, heavy bass lines. I created the term mob music. Everybody know it.

That's why I do it the best. Me and Too Short, I give it to Too Short too because, you know, he's the funk. He's the Godfather. I'm the ambassador. You know what I mean? And that's why we roll like this. We get along. You can't break me in his bond.

Nobody can. I mean, I've been coming to the Bay Area for like the last three decades. But I think maybe in the last 10 or 15 years is when I finally got the message that Vallejo and Oakland are two different places. Like there's some people that think like Jersey and New York, even though we're

just a bridge away, you know, are the same. And they're not. Or, you know, people get mad when I think Australia and New Zealand are the same. It is. But like, how were relations between Oakland and Vallejo as far as like hip-hop culture is concerned? Hip-hop culture was a little different than street culture. Like, the town love us because we, you know, pretty much, you know, been in town.

So for you, it's the street culture first before it's hip-hop culture? Yeah, because it took a minute for us to break through because we're a small city, so it took a lot for all the major cities are the, you know, the more urban cities to accept us. We paid our dues to earn the, you know, the credibility that we have now. We were some of the pioneers to click and people like Mack Dre, all of us. We really had to pay our dues for them to recognize us. You know, the town was really on the click heavy. Hell yeah, they wasn't.

We were from the streets. Me, be legit, de-shot all the week from the streets. So we knew a lot of cats out there, you know what I'm saying? So in the town in Oakland. And, you know, we play our music for them. And my mom, she used to get our CDs and she used to like go to my cousin Rose House on two-four. and they'll go to apartment C back in them days

and on the way home, moms, you know, she said, I got rid of a few of y'all, I gave some of y'all CDs to some of the castings, you know, they'll pull up at, you know, I forgot the name of the burger spot. I think quarter burger or something like that, so she would go there and she was just giving, you know, giving our CDs to anybody that was real, like, of the culture. And she helps read the word as well.

And then us out there, you know, you know, hitting, going to all events and everything and just moving around and people just adapted to our style. And once we went to TY Uzi's, when that side hit TY Uzi's, and they seen that album cover with the Xenis and Vogue and whatnot, man, they was on it, they loved it, everybody started buying it, you know.

We was the ones out of Vallele, the first that Oakland embraced, the clique was who Oakland embraced. And Oakland is the nucleus, the hub. I just want to say that they are. I respect it. An I heart radio experience. Carly Pierce, live at the Opera House, October 16th.

Win your way in to the exclusive IHeartRadio sound check party, an intimate pre-show performance and Q&A. And then stay for the full show. Carly Pierce, live in Toronto. Enter now for your chance to win at Iheartradio.ca. Stream Carly's new album, Honest Woman. Available now. Let's get to it. All right, you've talked in the past about reading the dictionary to expand your vocabulary.

So when you invent a word or term, do you write it down first or does it just come out in conversation and you catch it and memorize it? And, you know, is there an obscure word that you, like, desperately tried to flip into a lyric that just wouldn't fit in your classic cadence? Like, what did you want to make a thing that you couldn't find a lane for? Sometime I'll be wanting, I've really, really tightened up my verbal paintbrush. Because sometimes, you know, it can mess the flow up, but at the same time that some of the flows are trying to get too many words in one place. That's the beauty of E40 because I have been able to do it. But now I'm really flawless with it. Like, you can't stop because I've mastered it so many years.

But, you know, I used to rap really, really, really, really fast to the point where I had to slow down my spit so the squares can understand me because they wasn't understand. But all the soils do is dear. I was the squares. And I was really saying some stuff. I wasn't just people don't understand X-E. I know this. That's the problem. That's the problem with the bloggers.

If they don't understand something, no matter for it, it ain't got to have nothing to do with me. It could be another artist. If they don't understand it, but everybody else do, if those bloggers don't understand, oh, he's wacky. It's just like, you, bro, just say you just don't understand or you ain't with it or you just, you can't get with it or I'm cool on him or whatever. Just don't. But don't just say it's whack because you, and when I say squares, I'm not talking about rappers. People think I'm talking about rappers when I'm saying squares in there. I ain't talking about talking about the people that's dictating, you know, the narrative, like saying, you should listen to this.

The gatekeepers, the, that's what I'm trying to say. It ain't got anything to do with rappers or. You know what I mean? You know, it's like, I just don't, I don't understand this. Like, people don't want you to be creative anymore. You know, be creative. It's a lot of creative artists in the game these days, and I like it. I like a lot of them are creative, but a lot of them are not.

People like the play it safe. They like those who play it safe. I think, yeah, people are afraid of change, but, you know, those that move the needle have to ruffle feathers, you know. But now it's like, you know, you're a dignitary. You're in king level. It just took a while for us to adjust it. Wait, so for you, though, when was the moment you realized how influential you were?

Like, for me, I think the first time I heard the term, oh, when I heard broccoli for weed, when we first started going out to the Bay Area like 93, 94, you know, then it went global, you know, it was viral. So did that feel like a validation? Like, were you shocked? Like, what do you know about that? Or, like... So, what it is, Quest?

People don't understand. Let me tell you something, bro. Before I did my P&D pressing a distribution deal with Jive Records in 94, before I did that, you know, I was in certain states, I was in Texas, I was in Atlanta,

I was in, you know what I'm saying, Nebraska. I'm in all throughout the West Coast. I'm all through the Midwest, Indianapolis, Indiana. Like, our music. was really that underground like that, but it was circulating, right? That's why we was able to get all of them, you know what I'm saying, all those POs

and making all the money, their money, you know what I'm saying? And so then when I signed with Jive, very wise, the president of Jive sat me down and say, he showed me the sound scan, the Nielsen sound scan, he said, you see these, see the city right here, see the city right here, see this city right here, all these going to be filled up because you're going to have major distribution now, right? So, bro, he was not lying. When I made my debut record in a major way, it was everywhere. People, you don't just go platinum, just people think, oh, well, nobody outside of California listens to, you know, you dummy, you're dumb.

I probably got some old sound scans and recent. Like, one of my most popular areas is New York. If you go to Instagram, some Houston and New York, you know, it shows you the regions with people rocking with you at, Los Angeles, and this. I'm like, wow, this crazy, but I've been new this. You know what I'm saying? So it's like, I ain't local. I'm global. Like, people don't realize this.

So all those spaces on the East Coast, Midwest, the South, all was fueled out with just nothing but record sales, bro. You feel what I'm saying? So I've been doing the shit since Moby Dick was a goldfish. It's just, you know, it's a lot of lames in the game. So, you know, I'll talk your ear off. You know, you got to stop me. That Jake is the promo clip.

Okay. I've had this platform for a good decade, and I will pretty much say that I probably have been 98% no gotcha journalism or anything sensationalist, but just the fan of me wants to know this one question. Okay, so the infamous Biggie article where he's rating and whatnot. And the thing is, like, surely,

saw a paradigm shift come 96, 97, when suddenly you know, stubborn East Coasters are finally getting acclimated to places that are outside of New York as far as adaptation, you know? We were folding our arms at Bone Thugs in Harmony. We was looking at, we was looking at Snoop a little crazy, you know, for some people. But for you, like, did you ever

get to talk to Big about him being put on the spot and like rating rappers off the top of his head without knowing their history of the story. Like, did y'all ever meet at all and talk about that? You know, after the situation, yes, Sammy, I have seen him in Vegas.

So if y'all see a picture of me and Biggie, that was in Las Vegas, 1995, the Mike Tyson fight. Okay. Him and Puffy was in the lobby. We was in the lobby of MGM. And, you know, we just like, you know, we just left it alone and just,

hey, let's take a picture. We all took the picture. you know, he was happy. I was like, because he already had said, you know, hey, man, I rock with you. You know, it pretty much let me know he was just talking out the side of his neck when he did that, you know, the dinner. I could tell he just put him on the spot.

I think he was just rock and just whatever. And he might not have really felt me, but he did say, he said, I fuck was Sprinkle Me Duke when we had to understand me. He meant that. I know. I believe it because Sprinkle me East Coast, West Coast, Midwest, everybody loved, you know, the South. They all love Sprinkled.

The video was on all the time. so we couldn't avoid it. Like once your videos came on regularly, like we all knew it. Man, I go to New York now, bro. I mean, I walked the streets of New York. I just came from a promo run, the press, you know, I was doing my press stuff, man.

Everywhere I go, man. And it's been like that from the beginning of my career. Fouty, fowdy, bap, you know, just, man, I'm talking about everywhere, like New York rock with me. They do. We do. I know that for a fact. Not trying to, like, hope they do.

I just know they do. And I remember when I came with, in 2006, I came with my Get a Report Card album, and I performed in a small little, it was like the tunnel. It was just like the tunnel. They called it the tunnel before, but it was like a duplicate of the famous club called The Tunnel. Remember the tunnel?

Yes. So this was like, this was all, man, they was going crazy off my album, bro. We did the record. These parties, they was going crazy. You feel me? Tell me when the Go came out. we first heard it when

we were shooting Dave Chappelle's block party and we were all backstage and literally Kanye Common Dave was blasting it like when we did that movie and

he was trying to explain to us like yo this whole movement like high if he's going to be the thing how if he's going to think can I ask you something in your heart do you feel like when tell me when the go came out

even like me seeing the reaction here and that, like my DJ sets, that would be like my 10th record. Like literally, that's how hard it went. Did the Hafei movement do what it was opposed to to? Because part of me just, like, I got excited because as a drummer

is new rhythms and it's faster. Could it have gone farther as far as being nationwide and worldwide? Like, I feel like it could have been a worldwide hyphy movement. Most definitely. I mean, It's youngsters that was, you know, three years old at that time, and they still feel like they missed out.

They wanted to keep going right now to this day because it was such a great time, you know. And it was. But did it officially stop or is there still movement? So it was things like, man, look, so the Bay Area consists of, you know, mob music, all kind of different music. But a lot of the cast that was doing mob music or you want to stay gangster music, they felt like, you know, hey, man. man, I'm not doing that.

But, you know, I'm not doing that, so I'm a hate on it. Or it was some people that had hopped into it. There was resistance? Yeah, by cast us, you know, stubborn. Like, I'm a, I'm an oldest out of everybody out of all of them cast me and short. And we're the ones who went in and dived in and was like, hey, man, we've always adjusted to our environment. Why don't we just hop in it too?

You know what I'm saying? We're joining in, too, because this is our environment. I mean, no matter what kind of music was going to. down throughout our career, no matter if it was G-Funk or whatever, we're going to adapt to it. If you're going to turn with the time, the time's going to turn on you. But the way you do it is still be you at the same time. Like, they know my voice. They know my high rap.

All you got to do at that time, uptemples was the ones, even though some slow hyphy songs, too. But uptemples was the ones. People like Rick Rock created a certain sound that was just like was undeniable. And I was part of that. And, you know, we just came with the blaps. And, you know, if you, if you're a great artist, you're going to be able to, to do anything. So anyway, it was some artists that came in and may not represent it as well as they should. What I mean by that, some of them was just really just like, it was terrible.

You know what I'm saying? But then you had the ones that poked out that just had blaps, like, you know what I mean? But some of that stuff was terrible. You probably don't know some of the artists. We don't probably know them, but it's just kind of like started getting a little bit too oversaturated. I want to make this clear for the record. I did not create Haifie. The streets of Oakland, California created Heifie. Got you. Oakland did it. Okay.

Then as rappers, you had Mac Drey and Keek to sneak, right? They were headed there, and I just joined in like every other, like every rapper. When I grew Drears, I didn't want to grow Drears. I was just, I'm just sarcastic. I'm like, I ain't got none, but I'm playing. I just did it just for the ending. I say, me, I'm really growing. I grew them.

And I grew them things. And people, you can Google it. You know, it ain't, it ain't AI. And none of that. I really grew. I did do it. And, you know, and I just, I just adapted. to the times and just like everybody adapted to something that I helped create called mob music.

You know what I'm saying? Right. So it's just like you just maneuver. You know, and when the south was, I was in two different lanes. I was in the South lane with the Snap Your Finger movement. I was on the biggest song in the South. Snap your finger. That's the dang that three million.

Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And then I had you in that booty, you know, with T-Pain and candy. You know what I'm saying? That thing, almost three million right now. That didn't have nothing to do with Heifie. You know what I'm saying? that was big that's all more than tell me when to go.

It's just so happened that that ghetto report card album has slaps on it. I'm talking about muscle cars, your area, and you know what I'm saying? What else? What else? Do your head like this. Can I ask you something? Because Little John told me this and I couldn't believe it. Yeah, go here.

Yeah. Do you regret passing on Blow the Whistle? You know what? It should be really eating me up. But it's happened to such a legendary artist by the name of Tushort, and he's a good friend of mine. I'll probably be kicking myself in my face. I'll probably be punching myself in the face if it wasn't him.

You know what I mean? It was a good moment for him. And y'all had your moment, so I get it. Right, because that's my partner. You know what I'm saying? It's like, I sincerely didn't know what to do with that. I might have been burnt out on slaps. because I had slaps, like, you know, major hits.

And so, and I just didn't know what to do, but Tushu is such a genius. And he, you know, he grew up playing drums and stuff, you know, marching band, the whole thing when he was in junior high, you know what I'm saying, in school. So he made a lot, people don't know, he made a lot of his beats. He made a lot of that, you know what I'm saying,

the dope-fine beat and all them earlier slaps he did, the freaky tail. He was the ones playing the bass lines. That's what people don't understand. You know what I mean? So he knows music. He's a professional, bro. and that man put it together like the weatherman

and made it a smash and this is winning right now to this day and I love it and otherwise I'd be like damn I really messed up and I did mess up but at the same time I didn't mess up to the point where I messed up messed up messed up it went to a great person and this is how the universe work and this is how God do it so you bringing your son into the game now which is a beautiful thing he grew up watching you

and now he's you know the hottest in the game right now did droopy teach you anything that you didn't know it's like when he was in his mama's stomach it was like he was just in there just like taking no attention like because he just came out knowing how to do my music and stuff like that and just uptemple blaps and he he just an amazing it's in the blood you know what I'm saying and uh you know droopy was to see the cold part about it he was the first kid rapper I know I'm always saying We was the first this. We was the first dad slang and everything and whatever else.

The independent route and all that. Mind you, I want to say this too, and I'm going to go back to Droopy. As a CEO and an independent artist that I funded my own projects. I never had an executive producer. I never had somebody a silent partner. Many artists that y'all love have silent partners or people that funded their stuff. I did this from scratch from the grassroots. So I just won't let y'all know, please salute me.

if you don't salute me on anything, salute me for that. We're absolutely. We're aware of this. We're saluting you. Right? So I'm just letting the fans out there. They don't know.

A lot of audience don't know. So my son, Droopy, he actually, he was the first on, when he was two and a half, three years old, he was three years on federal.

I mean, I had a song called Questions because every time I used to take him to kindergarten in Valle he would ask me, Quay, he would ask me, he'd be in a backseat. You know, I'm a street cat.

I'm thumper it up. The whole woolwap. He in a backseat. I'm looking. I'm looking like this, seeing what's going on. And he asked me hell of questions, and I'm paying attention to him. I'm a good dad.

I'm a good dad, because I'm listening to everything. You say, I'm not ignoring him. I'm like, well, son, is this, that, and the third, and this is how it's going to be, and woo-woo. So we ended up making a song called Questions on my federal album in 1992, right? So we did that, and that made a lot of impact. And then I put him on my album in a major way. He was five years old at the time, but I told him to say, say,

six-year-old veteran. So he put that in there, and he was really, gassing on the song called It's All Bad. Now, mind you, I wrote the lyrics for him, but just for him to be five years old to deliver it like that was amazing. I say, this boy got something. So later on, he started hanging out with Dee Whiz in the studio. And as he got older, his mom put him into piano and whatnot.

Put him into piano, to piano lessons and start getting into it. And he became a rapper slash producer and an amazing, amazing, talented young man. Okay. So you got to let me know. How do you craft and organize four albums in one? First of all, it's 40 songs. So how do you even know why challenge yourself to this? I mean, I know you've E40, so I assume that you're releasing 40 songs for that.

But what was the mind state behind his mission? I have a hard time dealing with one record. You're dealing with four. Right. I do with everybody else don't, man. Like I say, music is therapeutic and healing. I never went with the grain. I always went against the grain, you know.

I think that's the reason why I'm so successful and I do it well. I never sounded like nobody. I don't, I'm just a different dude, you know what I mean? So I wanted to do something different. I've already did double albums in the 90s. I did multiple albums and one day. And yeah, I did. Revenue retrieving and, yeah, yeah, yeah. The revenue retrieving series, I did revenue retrieving day shift, night shift,

graveyard shift, overtime shift. These are all separate albums. You understand me? I was dropping them two of them at a time. So in between, after I did the overtime shift and graveyard shift, I did mob music and function music with two short. That was two CDs we dropped the same day, right, as a group album, me and him. Then I can't, no, no, I did the block brochure, welcome to the soil, one, two, and three, right? Then I came with mob music,

function music. We dropped those on the same day. Then I came back and did Welcome to the soil, the block brochure, welcome to the soil 4, 5, and 6. You feel me? Then I just started, then I started doing the other ones like

the DeBoid Diary and all them, and you know what I'm saying? I just didn't stop. And so I was like, you know what? I didn't in a while. Before that, in the 90s, I had did the Southwest Riders Double CD, me and Be Legit. we did the uh i did my my uh the element of surprise first and foremost everybody say apply pressure i've been saying apply pressure that was way back in 1996 97 when i did the element of surprise double cd right i was on the only triple cd that i know of that that was eight ball i was on that

album yes uh lost it was called loss i was on that album with him i was on crazy bone double album back in the 90s. I was on that album, me, him and gangster boo. The song was called, it's the end of the world. You understand me? I was on the biggest, one of the biggest double albums of all time, and that's all lies on me. That's diamond. So, man, I just, when I got in that mode of the four albums, the first was going to be two. Actually, I pivoted from rule of thumb two and three, because I did rule of thumb one in 2023. And I was like, let me do a rule of thumb two and three, make it a double CD, and I was going to put 12 songs on each one. And I was like, like, you know what, I want to pivot.

I was looking at a picture of me when I was 18 through my little phone and whatnot. And I'm like, you know what? This looks like this can be an album cover. I was like, something just dawn on me. Like, you know what I mean? Okay. I'm going to make this an album cover. So where's that from?

It's from me at a club. And I think I was at, I think I was at Grammar State University. Okay. I had to be. I was at Graham. I think I was in Monroe, Louisiana, something like that. Yes. Because one of my partners told me, he said, man, you was in Monroe, Louisiana.

When we took that picture, we was all together. we all had Adida sweatsuits and all. It was back in the 80s, you know what I'm saying? Yes. Now it's fresh. It's fresh. You know what I mean? Yeah, thank you, man. And so I was like, okay, look, I got so many slaps, bro. Hell, hell, a hell, hell of slaps. Let me just put the, I'm going to take some of the ones.

I don't want to put all the heat on one CD. I want to spread all the slaps out. And these were recent slaps. I got so many songs. I pulled some from maybe, maybe 12 months ago. But all of them was, people was just, I started. just getting in the groove. So right now I'm about to hit them.

At the top of the year, I'm letting y'all know right now, I'm dropping four albums every three months. Not at one time. I'm dropping 10 songs in late March, early April, probably April, mid-April, right? I'm dropping 10 songs. And then three months after that, I'm dropping 10 songs. Three months after that, I'm dropping three sons.

Then 10 months, I mean, every three months. Every three months, I'm dropping 10 songs. The name of the first CD is going to be called Verbal Paint Brush. Okay. That's going to be the one that's going to come out around April. Okay. So verbal paintbrush, be ready for 10 slaps. I just feel like 10 slaps is going to get, it's no skips.

It's like it's just a perfect amount of songs because we live in in days where people don't have a lot of patience. You know what I'm saying? They, you know, they just don't have patience like that. You know, they're ready to move on to the next. So it's like, I'm going to keep feeding them like I, I'm going. was doing, you know, a few years back. I just, I took a two and a half, three year break and that's not like me.

So I wanted to get my fans a whole bunch and I wanted to let them know that their favorite artists still real gassy, man. I'm still real gassy. I will outgashed their favorite, your favorite rapper. Clearly. Clearly. Clearly. With all that you have in the vault, are you sitting on any unreleased versus from Mac Dre or

or Pock even or be legit or. Like, just bangers that you are purposely holding on to until a time to drop it. I got maybe one or two, Tupac versus an archive. I don't have any Mac Dre. Okay. Versus I wish I did because we were on the way to do music together. And, you know, his camp will tell you that. The real ones in the camp, they'll tell you that.

That was no secret. I didn't, no one expected him to go like that, especially in his prime. like he was, you know, on his way up the ladder, just doing his thing, you know. And, but no, I, of course, I got hell of be legit versus, because me, that's all me and be able to do is record together. You know, he's on pretty much 99% of every album I ever did. You know what I mean? I don't think I've ever done an album without him.

Right. You know what I mean? I think Dustin discussed it was Pock's first collaboration with you. Like, what was that experience like? Was it? It really wasn't. It really, far as him. It really was, because we did something that didn't come out before that.

Okay. You know, that's one of the unreleased ones, right? All right. And he came down to Salano Avenue right at that same studio. There was two doors down from new, right next door to Richards. Right. Three doors down from my clothing store. He pulled up there and came to studio, people don't know.

I had Tupac in Millersville. It's called Millisville. That's their studio on Solano Avenue with that picture of me and Droopy with the white cutlass. I had Tupac there. We had Pimpsey and Bumby there. These are separate days in times, right? We had, what's our boy name, MC8 and ODB, old dirty bastard, a studio tone did the remix to, yeah, to shimmy.

Yeah, you feel me, right? And I was on the song with ODB, and then they flew me to New York to go do the video and the whole woolwap, right? So then who else we had down there? I'm just saying how legendary, just that studio is like our little small little city that had them people out there, people didn't know that we had these legendary You know, I know, 60 people there. Yeah.

Right, right, right. Sebo used to, Sebo, when he first came out, my cousin brought him down. This is the true story. He said, man, he said, because this is the owner of Awr Records. He had Marvelous and all, and he had Sebo and Mississippi and all these underground rappers from Sacramento, right? And so he was like, but before he had him, he was like, he said, man, how are y'all doing

this, man? Because he's seeing us winning. Like, we winning. We're out there with, you know, all kind of cutlassists, you know what I'm saying? It's like, you know, doing our job, right? And like, we're out there tycooning, right? And he's like, man, how are y'all doing this? Man, he said, man, he said, man, show me.

I say, this is what you do. Go get you some artists and circle back with me. And then I want you to go holler at Uncle St. Charles because that's his relative, too. Right. He really did it. So he came back. He called me, say, man, I got an artist. I've been having it.

I knew I knew I needed one. It's his name, Cibo. It was Cbo. So his Cbo was like my celly cell. right? Yeah. And then, right? Then he went and got,

he had a young lady, a very known rapper, Northern California and Beyond by the name of Marvelous. She's a great rapper. Right. That was his sugar tea. You know what I'm saying? You know,

then he had Mississippi. There's a dude named Mississippi. He was from Mississippi. That's why they called Mississippi. I think that's why, but his name was Mississippi, we had my cousin LeVitti. So he went pattering his whole record label after us.

Right. And it was nothing wrong. We're blood cousins. You feel me? He brought Sebo down one day. We all waiting for him. We out in front of Studio Tones. Rich Rops right there.

And whatnot, Sebo get out the car with all, like all car heart, all blue with like a curl, like curl hair. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Loaked out,

like a real crip, like a loaked out. We fell in love when he was the day he walked in there, right? Right. So he was like, we kick and we drinking big Rossi. We, you know, Studio Tone had his session in the studio on this side.

We divided the walls and then Mike Mosley and Carl Gandy had their session over here. And so the first people he worked with was Mike Mosley and Carl. And they came. He went in there, got on the microphone and gas that thing. We over here working with Studio Tone. We walk over there. We're like, oh, it's going crazy. So ever since then, he was introduced to mob music.

Every since then, he was locked in. That's why he called himself the mob father. And you know what I'm saying? It's just like we was, we one big family. Sebo had been in some, some rendezvous, some serious street shit with us in the back in the day. It's rolling through the trenches of Vallejo and all kind of stuff. Like, he really folks, you know what I mean? So shout out to legendary Sebo.

Tupac. That was one of Tupac favorite artists. Seriously. In real life. Because when we did, we ain't hard to find. We were all at La Mottros Hotel and off of sunset. Yeah. Sebo with us.

Mike Mosley. Richie Rich, all the click, the whole click. Sugar wasn't with us. He was all dudes. And we all, Pop pull up, him and Shug. We all in there, we eating barbecue and all that stuff. You know, just chilling, slapping bones, playing music. Yeah, he said, pop was like, y'all ready?

Say, let's go. We all get in the cars. He said, C-boat, you ride with me. You know what I'm saying? It's real life. This is real life. That's be really sick because he had a drop-top Mercedes. Okay.

And we was on our way to Can Am. So we all mobbed over there deep, hella deep. And that's what we made history. You know, you had Sebo in there with Mike Mosley, because I mean, not Mike Mosley, with Rick Rock on that one. Rick Rock produced that. Rick Rock was with us too.

So Rick Rock did trade and war stories in one room of Can Am because they had different rooms. Right. You got me, Richie Rich, Be Legit and D-Shot, and Mike Mosley doing, We Ain't Hard to Find with Tupac. These all songs that went on the album. So you got all these different.

So we just recording at the speed of sound, Was he just? Yeah, Tupac's was too quick, man. His pen, he too quick. And I'm like, bro, you write too quick. But everything was always accurate. He never had to go back and do shit over. It was just locked in.

So when he came in there with us, he was like, y'all done yet? All right, rush you. I'm just saying, I'm just checking on everything. He's going from studio, studio, checking on everybody because he already finished his shit. Okay. And that's how he used to write. But then we did Dustin and Disgust It. We did Dustin and Discussed and all that before that whole session right there, that whole thing.

We did it in like 94, 95 because that was on In the Major Way album, and that came out in 95. And then after that, for Hall of Game, we did my million-dollar spot, right? Me and just me and pot. And then that's what we did. We ain't hard to find. That was that last album. Then the last time I seen him, he was at my, I hope I don't go back to slang in Yale. Yeah.

I hope I don't go back to slang in Yale. He's at that video shoot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Ramsey Lewis. Earth went and Fire and Ramsey Lewis, right? Yeah.

And so he was there, we kicked it real heavy, man. I didn't know that was going to be my last time seeing my guy, man, 1996. Damn. Well, thank you for sharing that, brother. Yes, sir. You would always shout out Carla Rossi. I always wanted to know. Did they ever holler at you, like, at least give you some gratitude or because...

Nah, never, never. You put them more and more than any, you know what I mean? Yeah. Well, they write in my back yard. too. I tried to holler at them. I just didn't have the connections to do it. They, right there, they raised in, you know, right there in Modesto, California, you know what I'm saying. But I just was a fan of it. You know, I was just a fan of it because my mom, you know, when she come home working two jobs and whatnot, you know, working at Napa State Hospital. She was the supervisor there. Then she'll work at Mr. Jimmy Stewart right around the corner from Magazine Street off Laurel Street.

That's the store where, you understand me, it was the neighborhood store, how everybody got their neighborhood stores. You go get everything from there, bread, you know, sandwich spread, you know, whatever, hot dogs, liquor, whatever. So anyway, she'll come home on on the weekends. And, you know, she'll come on. She used to play the song called Living for the Weekend. And, you know, her and my day before us. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

And I was the oldest. So I'm sitting up just, you know, she gets to crying, you know, we was living in, it's living in poverty, bro. You know what I'm saying? It wasn't as easy. Everybody just see the glamour. don't see what I went through. You know what I mean? I was the oldest.

I was the oldest of four. I was eight, D-Shite six, sugar tea, four, and young mussy two. You know, so I had to be like the man of the family. My dad, I love him. You know, it was just divorced, man. And, you know, that's just something that happens, you know. But we made it through when, you know, she'd sit up there and play that music and drink her Rossi.

So, you know me, I'm younger. I get older. I'm seeing her do this. And I got, as I got older, I snuck into it one day. Don't we all? I was like, don't we all?

I was like, I said, this is good. Yeah. You know what I said? Okay. So I just started, you know, as I got older, I started being a wine, a wine. I liked the 40 ounces,

but I started becoming more into wine. Then I ended up making my own wine. Yeah, I was going to say, would you consider an easier business to do, or was it harder breaking in with liquor than with music? Well, music is the platform for me, You know, music is what makes everything around all your surrounding, you know, occupations and whatever you do, your side hustles.

Music is the main thing, the trunk of the, the rest is branches. The trunk is music, keeping your name ringing, keep protecting your brand. That's really, that's the most important. And that made it easier for me to hop into the Wine and Spirits game and also being that everyone knows. that I love wine and spirits. You know what I mean? True. I got two more questions to ask.

Okay. Just for, you know, like a lot of my audiences, you know, they listen around the world and whatnot. From you, which Bay Area artists, you know, from the 90s or the early arts, whatever, who do you feel that never got their proper flowers that should have, that we should go look up right now and support? Damn. That's a tough one.

There has to be one that, like, suited me that didn't, that really didn't get the, the, wow. It's a tough one. I like casual, casual from, you know, hieroglyphic, those. I like, I feel like casual has always been dope. That's how it is, man. That was my shot. You know what I mean? I could go down the line.

I can go down the line. I can say a lot, you know. All right. Shout out to casual. I'll give them that. Yeah. shout out to casual. Mac Drake could have.

He didn't get his, he could have, yeah, true. I think he was going to, you know, be worldwide. He was, he wasn't as big as people make him now,

but he was, he was on his way up the ladder. You know what I mean? There's people out there right now that think that I'm not throwing shade, that he, he was always bigger than me, and they don't,

it's like, I've had three different areas of, you know, four or five different areas of music that I've been, I was popular in the 90s. I got you. Like, by far, you know, but anyway,

I felt he would have did it. I feel like casual. Who else, man? I feel like if Richie Rich didn't stop because he took breaks and he knew it, he beats himself up to head at the head, you know, like, I took breaks, water, you know, I say, man, if you didn't,

you could have been bigger, you know that, you know. And many more, man, many more. I mean, because the thing is, is that when cats, you know, I'm a few years younger than you, but, like, when cats get of a certain age, they, like, slow down, or domestic duty calls,

but what drives you, you'll forever be like a contemporary artist to me. I don't see you as a legacy artist or, you mean that guy back of the day? Like, you refuse, is it just your refusal? Will there ever be a moment where you're like, okay, now my work is done? First and foremost, thank you, man.

I'm glad I'm still relevant and relevant and not a dumb-ass way by trolling and doing whatever. You know what I mean? I'm just, I'm relevant putting in work, right? I feel like me doing this for so many years, like I said, I just love music. I can be a billionaire and I'm still put out music. Nobody has to buy it.

I just feel like it's part of my therapy. Ain't anything wrong with me or nothing. It's just music is therapeutic and healing. If you want to get in a good move, man, and when I want to get in a good move, and I'm going to be honest with you. Besides going up beyond the, you know what I'm saying? And songs like that,

church music's like music like that and whatnot. And, you know what I'm saying? I like listen to people like, Curtis Mayfield, the makings of you and have some soul to it. It's like it's therapeutic. It's like it'll put you in a home. It'll wake you up. Like, man, it's the struggle I was going through. Look how good I'm doing now. You know, there's a lot of people that love to trade places with me. It's people that don't have all their body parts, people that's really very sick. And I'm still here. And you know what I mean? Like, you got to just be grateful. So music is

therapeutic and healing. So I feel like I don't want to stop. When I said I'll retire when I expire, I really mean that. I don't know. I can be a hundred. And I feel like I'm so gamed up that if I'm in my right mind and I got my life, health and strength with the power of God, I know I can still continue to be relevant and still be able to rap and steal out gas some of your favorite, you know, rappers. I really, I really do.

Because I've always been ahead of my time and I'm always going to keep my eye on the ball. You ain't going to see me striking out. From your mouth of God's ears, man. I appreciate you. thank you for just who you are. And this is a beautiful thing to see. Because, you know, oftentimes a lot of us did make it after our 20s and 30s. Right.

Even the 40s and 50s, like, you know, we got to watch our health and all that stuff. So just to see you out here thriving. Remember they told us 40? You got to stop. You're supposed to stop at 40, you know. Remember that? That was 8. That was almost 19 years ago when I was 40.

Nope. I turned 59. God willing in November, which is a month and change from now. You know what I mean? God willing, you know. Hats off. Just to do that 19 years later

and still be, you understand, me doing it, I just want to be a good example to the rest of the, you know, don't, y'all need to take youngsters. Take this serious, man. You can help feed your family. You can, you know what I'm saying? I'm talking about you can provide

for your partners now, man. If you make the right moves, this is a real occupation. Use your talent, man. You got, it's easier than ever for y'all because, you know, streaming is, you know what I mean? Y'all, y'all can do it, bro. Videos don't cost $200,000 like they used to.

They're doing they might cost $200, you feel on your phone. Yes, right, exactly. So y'all got it. It's there for y'all, man. It's there for the taking just work hard, man. And don't care if you're getting endorsed by anybody else. Go out there and make your own, do your own like we did. Go out there.

And then they're going to recognize you if you put your all into it. I will take that. And I thank you for that. Wait a minute. one last thing, one last thing, one last thing. Yes, sir. Then I'll let you go. Okay.

You pioneered so much slang that I don't feel the world knows that you invented. However, is there a slang term that you fully expected to sweep the nation that the streets completely slept on? Like, is there a term that you really love that they can catch on? I don't know, man, I don't really slang is my thing, but I don't really like, I'm going to make this up but I'm going to make this up, but I want the world to catch on. I don't do it for the whole world.

I just do it because it's just me. It's just, it's natural like an afro. It's just really what I do. And I'm raised in the bay where we slick talkers and collar poppers. Like, I'm around it. I've been in, it's nothing but is them around us. And that's all we know. And I'm just good at what I do, you know,

and I'm from the streets. So I'm obligated to, you know what I mean, preach. You know, I'm a rapper. So it's, and. And slang can be spreaded all over the globe And I was just tripping off You know plug like plug Everybody talking about the plug

Like he we've been I was the first one saying plug I was the first one You know Screaming so many words I can say uh I was talking about uh I was talking about um

What's the other one I was talking about the other day I was I was talking about unit You know how you saying units you started You started off selling something about units Yes units used to be units The street word for units You know was bricks Right you know what I'm talking

about true like first one of you screaming units and chopas you know it was no rapper screaming out of that none not one not one not one no one was talking about triple beans and droughts and I could talk about all the street stuff and I could talk about all the unique stuff just regular stuff you know what I'm saying so I don't try to keep you know players don't keep school man I just I just I just spread it you know what I say I just I just say what I preach for the soil you know Amen thank you brother I appreciate you and uh hey there you have it y'all this is uh classic quest love show all right ask and ye shall receive uh you guys have requested and requested this one and we're proud to have given it to you um so much so much history so much

folklore, so much idioms, so much more new slang I'd never heard of before that I'm sure all of us are mind-blown, but this was a beautiful thing connecting with E-40 like that. Oh man, that's one for the record book. Questlove show is hosted by me, Amir Questlove Thompson. The executive producers are Sean G, Brian Cahoon, and me.

Produced by Brittany Benjamin and Jake Payne. Produced for IHeart by Noel Brown. Edited by Alex Conroy. IHart video support by Mark Canton. Logos, graphics, and animation by Nick Aloe. Additional support by Lance Coleman. Special thanks to Kathy Brom. Special thanks to Sugar Steve Mandel.

Please subscribe, rate, review, and share the Questlove show wherever you stream your podcast. and make sure you follow us on socials. That's at QLS. Check out hundreds and hundreds of QLS episodes, including the Questlove Supreme Shows in our podcast archives. Questlove shows the production of IHeartRadio. Didn't catch the latest Roland Martin unfiltered podcast? Here's what you missed.

There should not be a single law enforcement agency and does not have body cameras. It's real. Black farmers have been under attack. This is just the latest example them just slapping DEI on anything. It's raw. And I'm sitting here going,

they are playing y'all for fools. Catch Roland Martin's daily commentary on the Black Information Network. And download Roland Martin unfiltered on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed human.