What's Slappin' In My Trunk

This week I got an invitation to the soil...

This week I'm slappin' the latest from E-40, The Block Brochure: Welcome To The Soil 1, 2, & 3. That's right you read it correct 1, 2, & 3! E-40 follows up his highly successful Revenue Retrieven' series with three, that's right THREE full length albums to make your trunk rattle and your neck snap. The features on The Block Brochure: Welcome To The Soil 1, 2, & 3 are just crazy with guest appearances by Celly Cell, 2Chainz, YG, Andre Nickatina, Too $hort, Droop-E, Larroo, B-Legit, Tech N9ne, and so many more. Even though the albums have a lot of features on them you still get a good dose of 40 Water and the Sick Wid It camp.  The Block Brochure: Welcome To The Soil 1, 2, & 3 all feature a mix of mobbed out blappers, soulful tracks, and clappers that reflect the new sound of the Bay. It would be crazy of me to write about every song (60) or just pick out some I like so I will touch on each of these aforementioned "categories' that make up The Block Brochure: Welcome To The Soil 1, 2, 3 (which I will now just call The Block Brochure). 

E-40 brought back the mobb sound in his Revenue Retrievin' series and continues to do so all over The Block Brochure. 40 kicks it off early with Rock Star, which is the definition of a mobbed out beat with its heavy bass and crunchy synth. E-40 takes Rock Star and hits the mobbed out highway doing 85; he doesn't hold back and keeps it movin'. Rock Star is just the first instance of mobb music on The Block Brochure, but the album is filled with it including tracks like Slummin', Can You Feel? featuring B-Legit, Red and Blue Lights, and The Other Day Ago featuring Celly Cell and Spice 1. The Other Day Ago follows a formula I think 40 was trying to touch on The Block Brochure which is re-introducing some the legends of the Bay to the new school. 

E-40 brings along some veterans from the Bay on The Block Brochure. With The Shit featuring JT Tha Bigga Figga & Cellski is a great example of a dope song that 40 utilized to showcase some of the legends of the Bay that some kids or even some hip hop heads  might have forgotten about. I got to say JT Tha Bigga Figga straight kills With The Shit; we need more JT. Some other legends of the Bay featured on some slappin' tracks on The Block Brochure include Mike Marshall featured on Help Me, C-Bo & T-Nutty on Hittin' A Lick, Andre Nickatina featured on Memory Lane, and the whole Hiero Crew on 40 & Hiero. I have to applaud E-40 for getting some of the legends of the Bay on his new record instead of going for the easy selling route and getting all new Bay and L.A. cats to be featured on his new record. 

This is not to say that E-40 and the new generation don't mesh well. The Block Brochure has one of the biggest hits out right now, Function which features IAMSU!, YG, and Problem. E-40 doesn't miss a step with his rhymes, flow, and style when it comes to keeping up with a post hyphy beat and host of up and comers. Function just demonstrates how versatile E-40 is; he probably will be rapping until his last breath and I'll buy every album. E-40 brings along other up and comers including Dorrough featured on I'm Doin' It, Cousin Fik featured on Wasted (and a ton of other slappers) and R.O.D on My Life. E-40 says it best on The Block Brochure "the new cats need an O.G. in the game to lead the way".

E-40 isn't all drugs, mobbed out music, and trying to function on The Block Brochure. 40 also touches on some more soulful subjects on the project.  I Know I Can Make It featuring Suga-T and Agerman is a perfect example of E-40 bringing us a positive uplifting message. I Know I Can Make It is an anthem of perseverance and hard work that gives the listener a sense of anything is possible. Suga-T and Agerman both kill it on I Know I Can Make It; their verses make it one of my favorite tracks on The Block Brochure.  Be You featuring Too $hort & J. Banks is another track that carries a powerful positive message. The Bay, especially E-40 have been unique and 40 Water takes this concept and spreads the message of being original and not being a afraid to be yourself. Be You is such a refreshing subject to hear from $hort Dogg and E-40; it will be on repeat in my deck and in yours. There are plenty of positive tracks on The Block Brochure, but ill let you search them out. 

E-40 has given us not just another classic record, but three! The Block Brochure does not disappoint and gives a great mixture of classic sounds and new energy. The only little complaint I have about The Block Brochure is that I have heard some of the lines he used in his other songs. This is just a very small complaint, I mean the man has put out 7 albums in the last 2 and half years there might be a copy of a line or two. This is a minor complaint that most regular listeners wont even hear. Regardless E-40 has done it again, and again, and again; giving us more music to slap all through the Summer, Winter, and probably Spring again! Go out and cop The Block Brochure: Welcome To The Soil 1, 2, & 3.