Yay! part 1: tell the people that 40 water is back

do the dummy retarded and ride the Bay Area Rapid Transit

I’ve got my BART ticket to hop on the E-40 conducted hyphy-bandwagon… get yours… or be a couple tacos short of a combination (side chalupa of course!).

I can’t say I’ve been loyal to the soil that raised me… When the kids up at the boys-clubs Camp Mendocino were kickin’ their little hella-raw player raps (“When I grow up I’m finna be a mack!”) over pause tapes of the ‘Freaky Tales’ beat I was already snobby with my love of the East Coast sound. And later in life when I said I was into the invented-slang-heavy hip-hop of the Mobb and the Wu I couldn’t front that I was all that familiar with 40-Water beyond ‘Sprinkle Me’ or ‘Save-A-Hoe.’ Yes, he IS the king of invented slang but my ears weren’t ready for the bubbly character of his flow (or is that the bubbly flow of his character?).

The new album ‘My Ghetto Report Card’ is a truly solid affair from the futuristic right-on-time funk beats (sparse enough, inventive, foreign AND familiar) to the density of slang to the variety of voices (and there’s a lot of them). The skits are not only forgiven but endorsed for their local detail and slapstick tone.
Something that sounds boring on paper, a jack of Boogie Boys ‘Fly Girl’ , is transformed by the pronunciation of the vocalists including Juelz Santana and UGK (!) on ‘White Gurl’ (a song that is not ‘completely’ about what the title would indicate). Retro playing of the sample of the word “girl” is a whole other animal with The Ambassador’s Bay Area delivery of the R and L consonant combo.
All-too-familiar whistles, slow and steady drum machine and overly dramatic piano get a second wind with the undeniable hook on ‘Yee’ which should have every hip-hop club in the country filled with the high-pitched call.

So is the hype (hyphy) machine catching me in its gears? Fashiggadell, it’s hella workin.

SergDun has a couple other tracks up but heed his words… drop some gouda and “Buy that shit!”

E-40, Juelz Santana, Bun B, Pimp C – White Gurl
E-40, Too $hort, Budda - Yee