ARTIST: E-40
ALBUM: Welcome to the Soil 1, 2 & 3
LABEL: Heavy on the Grind Ent./EMI
RELEASE DATE: March 26, 2012
Bringin’ Tha Dirt
Written by Jeremy Weeden
When one thinks of west coast hip-hop in the “Yay Area,” one name immediately comes to mind, or actually, many names all belonging to one man: Forty Fonzarelli aka Forty Water aka E-40. E-40 has been representing the west coast hip-hop scene for over 20 years and is synonymous with Bay Area rap. It is not a stretch to say that on the west coast E-40 is the northern Californian equivalent to his southern Californian counterpart, Snoop Dogg. From “Hurricane” and albums with The Click to “Tell Me When to Go” and collaborations with T-Pain and Kanye West, E-40 is not only a hip-hop veteran, but a still relevant artist with an ever-expanding audience. This trend should only continue with the legendary MCs latest crop of music (three albums released simultaneously): The Block Brochure: Welcome to the Soil parts 1, 2 and 3.
Each disc of The Block Brochure: Welcome to the Soil is its own separate album; they do not come together as a box set. Although each album is separate, there is no unique theme to each CD. Perhaps E-40 intended for each disc to have its own direction and flavor, but they all come off similar in nature. This is not necessarily a bad thing, it just means you will get 54 songs of essentially the same type of material. From the first track to the last, The Block Brochure: Welcome to the Soil is 100% classic E-40. All three discs contain classic bass-driven, heavy west coast production and feature E-40’s choppy, unique flow. This combined with E-Fizzle’s proclivity for inventing his own slang is one of the reasons an E-40 album is so enjoyable, and none of these three discs is the exception to that rule.
Content-wise, each album is similar, but there is still variety within that similarity. E-40’s song topics—as always—range from songs about drugs and guns, sex, love, motivational topics, as well as deeper tracks about life and spirituality. There is even a song that gives a nod to old horror films (of course, featuring horror-core rapper Tech-N9ne). Such a wide array of topics may not work for everyone, but E-40 pulls it off effortlessly, going from one topic to the next seamlessly. The album features appearances from an eclectic variety of artists, spanning from west coast legends like B-Legit, Spice 1, Richie Rich, Mistah, F.A.B., Celly Cel, Too Short, JT the Bigga Figga, C-Bo and the Hieroglyphics to mainstream stars like Twista, T-Pain, Raheem Devaughn, Snoop Dogg and Kendrick Lamar. This leads to an album that has something for everyone: from the west coast purists and backpackers, to those who only listen to radio and like a little gloss on their music. The production follows suit as E-40 has some tracks from industry heavyweights like Bangladesh, T-Pain and Warren G, as well as longtime west coast collaborators like Rick Rock.
The trilogy, if one buys all three albums, will definitely get a little long if listened to in one sitting. Unless one is a huge E-40 or Bay Area rap fan, 50-plus songs can be a bit much. One also gets the feeling that if you culled together the 18 best songs out of the 54, you would have the best album of E-40’s career. As it is, the Block Brochure albums do not necessarily choose quantity over quality, but the phrase too much of a good thing does come to mind.
Overall, The Block Brochure: Welcome to the Soil albums are a pure west coast hip-hop experience. The vast amount of music may seem overwhelming, but the material is strong and worth a listen. So roll down the windows, turn your music up and take a long ride with the Ambassador of the Bay.