If there were a book about how to be the most prolific rapper around, Bay Area legend E-40 could have written the foreword, the first six chapters, and every third acknowledgement. He just released his twenty-fifth studio album, Gift Of Gab, this past Friday (August 24) and is gearing up to release two more albums to complete a trilogy with The Rule Of Thumb and Practice Makes Paper. However, it seems he couldn’t just drop Gift Of Gab without getting out at least one video and brings along two more West Coast indie-rap favorites, G Perico and Vince Staples, for the ride.
Over a thumping, G-Funk slapper — seriously, try to resist the shoulder sway that hits you around the :20 mark… you can’t — E-40 serves up more of the silver-tongued slick talk and menacing street slang that’s made him a go-to for Oakland house parties for multiple generations, while Perico and Vince do plenty of banging of their own. While the video is pretty simple — straightforward performance shots in a prefab warehouse with shots alongside a clean lowrider — it serves the purposes of representing for the Golden State well enough. After all, if the point is letting haters and enemies know their jibber jabber is unappreciated, there’s no better way than looking directly into the camera and as 40 says in his rubbery, multisyllabic verse, “saying to your face.”
Gift Of Gab is out now via E-40’s own Heavy On The Grind Entertainment. Get it here.
