E40

 

Real Name: Earl Stevens

Birth of Date: November 15, 1967

Birth of Place: Vallejo, California, Album

Throughout the '90s and into the next decade, E-40 led a generation of Cali Bay Area rappers and attracted a large cult following of listeners that spread from the West Coast to the South. Forty's uncanny rhyme delivery set him apart from the mainstream, as he coined a plethora of slang terms and experimented with overdubbed vocals. Moreover, his longevity and sincerity earned him many alliances, first among his Bay Area colleagues, then with Jive Records and numerous Dirty South camps, among them No Limit and Cash Money Records. Forty never did completely crossover to mainstream success, remaining mainly a regional sensation, yet influenced many over the years with his unique style and stayed true to his principles throughout.
Born Earl Stevens and later host to numerous nicknames -- "Charlie Hustle," "Forty Fonzarelli," "40-Watter," and more -- 40 grew up in the Cali Bay Area and aspired to follow in the footsteps of Too Short. Like that Oakland legend, 40 built a street presence with mixtapes long before he released his first album. After years of mixtape hustling, he decided to start his own label, Sick Wid' It, and began extending his reach beyond the streets of Vallejo, the Bay Area city he called home. Forty entered the national rap game forcibly in 1994 with an EP (The Mail Man), a single ("Captain Save a Hoe"), and an album (Federal); and he also released an album by his group, the Click (Down and Dirty).
These recordings made their way to the office of Jive Records, who offered to distribute the Sick Wid' It catalog. As part of the deal, in 1995 Jive re-released the aforementioned releases as well as new albums by 40 (In a Major Way) and the Click (Game Related), and attracted substantial interest toward the Sick Wid' It camp. For 40's next album, Tha Hall of Game (1996), he again worked with longtime producer Mike Mosley but also collaborated with Bay Area heavyweight Ant Banks, who produced "Rappers' Ball," a successful single that featured Too Short and K-Ci.
After Tha Hall of Game put 40 on the brink of a mainstream breakthrough, the rapper took a year off and returned with a massive double album, The Element of Surprise (1998), and then another album shortly afterward, Charlie Hustle (1999). These two albums, unfortunately, did little to expand 40's fan base, nor did subsequent albums such as Loyalty and Betrayal (2000) and Grit & Grind (2002); though they did spawn a few popular singles ("Nah Nah," "Rep Yo City"). By this point, ten years or so after 40 had established Sick Wid' It, the rapper seemed perennially poised for breakthrough success yet, at the same time, was perfectly content with his strong following amid the West Coast and Dirty South scenes. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide

 

Album

Federal Album

• Drought Season
• Rat Heads
• Federal
• Outsmart the Po Po's
• Hide 'n' Seek
• Let Em Have It
• Questions
• Extra Mannish
• Carlos Rossi
• Nuttin' Ass Nigga
• Shouts Out

 

Mail Man Album

• Neva Broke
• Bring the Yellow Tape
• Practice Looking Hard
• Ballin' Outta Control
• Where the Party At
• Captain Save a Hoe
• The Mail Man
• Captain Save a Hoe (Remix)

 

In a Major Way Album

• Intro
• Chip In Da Phone
• Da Bumble
• Sideways
• Spittin' It
• Sprinkle Me
• Outta Bounds
• Dusted 'n' Disgusted
• 1-Luv
• Smoke 'n' Drank
• Dey Ain't No
• Fed
• H.I. Double L
• Bootsee
• It's All Bad
• Outro

 

Tha Hall of Game Album

• Record Haters
• Rappers' Ball
• Growing Up
• Million Dollar Spot
• Mack Minister
• I Wanna Thank You
• The Story
• My Drinking Club
• Ring It
• Pussy Talk
• Keep Pimpin'
• I Like What You Do to Me
• Things'll Never Change
• Circumstances
• It is What it Is
• Smebbin'

 

The Element of Surprise (Disc 1) Album

 

• The Element of Surprise
• Trump Change
• All Tha Time
• Dump, Bust, Blast
• Hope I Don't Go Back
• $999,999 + $1 = A Mealticket
• Money Scheme
• Zoom
• Mayhem
• Personal
• My Hoodlums and My Thugz

 

The Element of Surprise (Disc 2)

• Do It To Me
• Lieutenant Roast a Botch
• It's On, On Sight
• From the Ground Up
• Flashin'
• Doin' Dirt Bad
• Broccoli
• Jump My Bone
• Back Against the Wall
• To Da Beat
• Dirty Deeds
• Ballin' Outta Control
• One More Gen

 

Charlie Hustle Album

• L.I.Q.
• Ballaholic
• 'Cause I Can
• Get Breaded
• Look at Me
• Duckin' & Dodgin
• Fuckin' They Nose
• Seasoned
• Earl That's Yo' Life
• Rules & Regulations
• Borrow Yo' Broad
• Do What You Know Good
• Mouthpiece
• Big Ballin' With My Homies
• Ghetto Celebrity
• Gangsterous
• Brownie Points

 

Loyalty and Betrayal Album

• Intro
• Loyalty and Betrayal
• Lace Me Up
• Ya Blind
• Sinister Mob
• Nigga Shit
• Nah, Nah...
• Pop Ya Collar
• Record Company Skit
• To Whom it May Concern
• Like a Jungle
• Behind Gates
• Doin' the Fool
• Flamboastin'
• It's Pimpin'
• Clown Wit It

 

Grit & Grind Album

• Why They Don't Fuck Wit Us
• The Slap
• Automatic
• Rep Yo City
• It's All Gravity
• 77 Much
• Mustard & Mayonnaise (Intro)
• Mustard & Mayonnaise
• My Cup
• Whomp Whomp
• Lifestyles
• 'Til the Dawn
• End of the World
• It's a Man's Game
• Pimps, Hustlas (Intro)
• Pimps, Hustlas
• Fallin' Rain
• Roll On

 

Breakin News Album

• Breakin News
• Hot
• I Got Dat Work
• Quarterbackin'
• Married to the Ave
• One Night Stand
• I Hope U Get This Kite
• Act a Ass
• Anybody Can Get It
• Gasoline
• Show & Prove
• This Goes Out
• Northern Califoolya
• That's a Good Look 4 U
• If If Was a 5th
• Wa La
• Pharmaceutical Outro
• Quarterbackin' (DJ Quick Remix)

 

The Best of E-40 Album

 

• Da Bumble
• Flashin'
• Zoom
• Sideways
• Carlos Rossi
• Rapper's Ball
• Captain Save a Hoe
• Hope I Don't Go Back
• Sprinkle Me
• Automatic
• Gas, Break, Dip
• It's On
• Think & Thin
• Bust Yo Shit

 

My Ghetto Report Card Album

• Yay Area
• Tell Me When to Go
• Muscle Cars
• Go Hard or Go Home
• Gouda
• Sick Wid It II
• JB Stomp Down (Skit)
• They Might be Taping
• Do Ya Head Like This
• Block Boi
• White Gurl
• GettheFuckOn.com Part 1 (Skit)
• U and Dat
• I'm Da Man
• Yee
• GettheFuckOn.com Part 2 (Skit)
• Just Fuckin
• Gimme Head
• She Say She Loves Me
• Happy to be Here

N.W.A.

 

Real Name:

Eazy E - Eric Wright

Dr. Dre - André Romell Young

Ice Cube - Oshea Jackson

MC Ren - Lorenzo Patterson

DJ Yella - Antoine Carraby

The D.O.C. - Tracy Curry

Arabian Prince - Mike Lezan

With the double-platinum-selling Straight Outta Compton, N.W.A brought gangsta rap into the mainstream. The album was among the first to offer an insider's perspective of the violence and brutality in gang-ridden South Central L.A. With songs like "Fuck tha Police" and "Gangsta Gangsta" set in a chaotic swirl of siren and gunshot sounds, it also foreshadowed the 1992 L.A. riots.
In 1986 O'Shea “Ice Cube” Jackson, born and raised in a two-parent, middle-class home in South Central - and always more interested in music and books than in gangs - met Andre “Dr. Dre” Young, who shared Cube’s passion for writing rap songs. The two started writing for Eric “Eazy-E” Wright, a former drug dealer who’d started Ruthless Records with his profits; Eazy needed material for a group he’d signed to the label, HBO. When HBO rejected Cube and Dre’s “Boyz-n-the-Hood,” about the South Central town of Compton, Eazy-E decided to record the song himself. Under his direction, the three started working together as Niggaz With Attitude (N.W.A).
After N.W.A’s first collection, Cube took a year off to study drafting at the Phoenix Institute of Technology. When he returned in 1988, the group finished Eazy’s solo album and started work onStraight Outta Compton. Released in 1989, the album sold 750,000 copies even before N.W.A embarked on a tour. In the meantime, a media storm had developed over the controversial “Fuck tha Police,” resulting in a “warning letter” from the FBI to the group’s distributor, Priority Records.
After the tour, Cube got into a financial dispute with N.W.A’s manager, Jerry Heller, who Cube claimed had cheated him out of royalties. The two settled out of court in 1990, and Cube moved on to a successful solo career. N.W.A continued recording and selling records but fell out of critical favor. In June 1991 the group made history again when, in the face of strong criticism from politicians and bannings from some retail chains,EFIL4ZAGGIN(“Niggaz 4 Life” backward) reached #1 pop, #2 R&B two weeks after its release.
Members of N.W.A made the police blotter often during the early ’90s, mainly for assault charges that ended up being dismissed or settled. Dr. Dre was involved in the most notorious case when he was charged with attacking the female host of a television rap show in 1991; he pleaded no contest and paid an out-of-court settlement to the host. In 1992 Dre was arrested for assaulting record producer Damon Thomas and later plead guilty to assault on a police officer, eventually serving “house arrest” and wearing a police-monitoring ankle bracelet. Eazy-E also raised eyebrows in the rap community when he attended a fund-raising lunch for President George Bush, donating $2,500 for the privilege.
By early 1992 N.W.A was over, its members scattered to solo careers. Dre left both the group and Ruthless to cofound Death Row Records with Marion “Suge” Knight; Eazy-E later claimed in a lawsuit that Knight had negotiated Dre’s exit with the help of baseball bats and pipes. MC Ren’s Kizz My Black Azz EP (#12 pop, #10 R&B, 1992) went platinum. But aside from Ice Cube, Dr. Dre has had the most chart success: In 1993 The Chronic (#3 pop, #1 R&B) went triple platinum, appeared on a number of critics’ year-end top-10 lists, and spawned several hits. “Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang” (#2 pop, #1 R&B) and “Dre Day” (#8 pop, #6 R&B) featured the rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg, who later in the year had his own hit album (produced by Dre), DoggyStyle (#1 pop, #1 R&B). As a sign of lingering bad feelings, Dre also used his solo album and accompanying videos to ridicule Eazy. In October 1993 Eazy responded with It’s On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa (#5 pop, #1 R&B). Eazy also found success with Ruthless nurturing the band Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, with whom Eazy recorded the single “Foe tha Love of $” (#41 pop, #33 R&B, 1995).
Two years later, Eazy-E split with longtime manager Jerry Heller. Communication among the former N.W.A members quickly improved. Soon Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, and the others were talking about an N.W.A reunion project. Though he had been the first to leave the group for a very successful solo career, Ice Cube later expressed regret that N.W.A had never built on its early potential. Then, in 1995, Eazy-E died from complications of AIDS. Both Dre and Cube visited him in the hospital shortly before he died. The Ruthless impresario was married two days before his death, and his estate quickly became mired in a barrage of lawsuits filed on behalf of business associates and heirs (which included nine children by seven different women). A final solo album, Str8 Off tha Streetz of Muthaphukkin Compton (#3 pop, #1 R&B), was released in 1996.
At Death Row, Dre enjoyed continued popular success, both as house producer and as a performer in a duet with Tupac Shakur on “California Love” (#6 pop, 1996). But Dre unexpectedly left Death Row that same year and soon formed Aftermath Entertainment (in association with Interscope). By now an outspoken critic of the highly publicized West Coast–East Coast hip-hop feud, Dre’s first post–Death Row single was “Been There, Done That.” Dre also discovered a white Detroit rapper named Eminem, whose Dre-produced albums made him as controversial as N.W.A had been a decade before. As Dre prepared to release his followup to The Chronic, he filed suit against Death Row for copyright infringement over the label’s unauthorized release of Suge Knight Presents: Chronic 2000, a compilation album of various artists that Dre felt unfairly “used” his “Chronic” title. (He later dropped the suit.) Dre’s own 2001 (#2 pop, #1 R&B, 1999) featured such guests as MC Ren, Snoop Dogg, and Eminem.
The long-rumored N.W.A reunion finally began to take shape that same year. Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and MC Ren recorded “Hell Low,” the opening track on Cube’s War & Peace vol. 2 (The Peace Disc), and a new track credited to N.W.A also appeared on the soundtrack to Cube’s film Next Friday. That was followed by a national arena tour in 2000 with Dre, Ren, Snoop Dogg, Warren G., and Eminem. Separately and in joint interviews, the former N.W.A partners talked up a proposed album called Not These Niggas Again, but by 2001 any further studio recordings were not, in Dre’s opinion, strong enough to release.

 

Album

N.W.A. and the Posse Album

• Boyz-N-The-Hood
• 8 Ball
• Dunk the Funk
• A Bitch is a Bitch
• Drink it Up
• Panic Zone
• L.A. is the Place
• Dopeman
• Tuffest Man Alive
• Fat Girl
• 3 the Hard Way

 

Straight Outta Compton Album

• Straight Outta Compton
• Fuck Tha Police
• Gangsta Gangsta
• If it Ain't Ruff
• Parental Discretion Iz Advised
• 8 Ball (Remix)
• Something Like That
• Express Yourself
• Compton's N the House
• I Ain't Tha 1
• Dopeman (Remix)
• Quiet on Tha Set
• Something 2 Dance 2

 

100 Miles and Runnin' Album

• 100 Miles and Runnin'
• Just Don't Bite It
• Sa Prize, Pt. 2
• Real Niggaz
• Kamurshol

 

Efil4zaggin Album

• Prelude
• Real Niggaz Don't Die
• Niggaz 4 Life
• Protest
• Appetite for Destruction
• Don't Drink That Wine
• Alwayz Into Somethin'
• Message to B.A.
• Real Niggaz
• To Kill a Hooker
• One Less Bitch
• Findum Fuckum & Flee
• Automobile
• She Swallowed It
• I'd Rather Fuck You
• Approach to Danger
• 1-900-2-Compton
• The Dayz of Wayback

Dr. Dre

 

Real Name: Andre Young

Date Of Birth: February 18, 1965

Place Of Birth: Los Angeles, California, USA

Dre (Andre Young) was born in February 18, 1965, Los Angeles, California.
He was raised in Compton, and got his nickname by adoring basketball superstar, Dr. J. His step-brother is Warren G. His brother got killed in a fight while Dre was on tour with N.W.A "My brother was my best friend. He was three years younger than me." Dre tells of being on the road when he received a phone call with the bad news. "You never forget that."
He started off as a D.J for parties as a teenager, and soon earned himself a spot in the "Eve After Dark" club, where he would play keyboards and sing.
Once a member of the rather anonymous group, "World Class Wreckin' Cru", Dre earned himself a name by producing tracks for Eazy-E, the D.O.C and others, and later became a gangsta rap pioneer as a co-founder, member, co-producer and rapper in the controversial group, N.W.A. (Niggaz With Attitude).
The band was extremely successful and was very promoted by endless scandals and unfettered messages of street violence. The debut album (Straight Outta compton) went platinum with minimal radio play, the second LP entered the charts at number one. "We loved the controversy. It's the reason we blew up as big as we did. It wasn't hurting us, it was helping us."
The group disbanded in '91, but Dre didn't stop for a second:
He established Death Row Records along with Marion "Suge" Knight, and shortly after released "The Chronic" (1992), which sold over three million copies, won two Grammy Awards, and is still considered to be one of the most influential rap albums ever.
The album introduced the new Death Row artists, such as Snoop Doggy Dogg and Tha Dogg Pound, and marked Dr. Dre not only as one of the most creative producers in the rap/hip-hop industry, but also as a fantastic rapper.
The following Death Row album, Snoop Doggy Dogg's "Doggystyle", was produced by Dr. Dre, and sold four million copies.
"I was trying to take it places no other record company had ever been," he says.
"Not just limiting myself to R&B and hip hop. I wanted to branch off into jazz, reggae,
and black rock 'n' roll."
In 1994 he directed the short film "Murder Was The Case", and co-produced the soundrack. He also added a song to the soundtrack entitled "Natural Born Killaz", which marked the reunion with former fellow band member, Ice Cube. That was his last work with protege Snoop Doggy Dogg. He decided that Snoop, who didn't make a single step without his mentor, should stick to his own work. In that same year he released a compilation album, entitled "Concrete Roots", which contained some old and some newer material.
In 1995 Dre contributed a track for the "Friday" soundtrack, "Keep Their Heads Ringin'". The track was a massive success, and won Dre the MTV "Best Rap Song" award in '96.
In that same year he left Death Row, and started his own label, "Aftermath Entertainment", a joint venture with Interscope Records.
"At first it was just a big family thing," he says. "But the more money that got made, the further apart everybody came. It's like, certain people started becoming what they hated." He adds:
"I wasn't feeling comfortable with the people I was around. Everybody wasn't professional. I always wanted things at Death Row to be right and positive, because I'm a positive person. And the situation I was in wasn't, plain and simple. It was too much negativity. Most likely, there are gonna be records coming out dissing me, dissing people I've worked with and am going to be working with. It's just a lot of negative bullshit. So from here on out, Death Row Records don't even exist to Dre."
In November 26, 1996, Dr. Dre released the compilation album "Dr. Dre Presents... The Aftermath", which featured new performances from several well-known artists as well as introducing more than a dozen Aftermath Entertainment artists and producers.
The albums unites hip-hop and R&B , east coast and west coast, hardcore and pop, male and female, old school and new school, delivered by talented performers hand picked by Dre, the album's executive producer.
One of the tracks in the album is "East Coast/West Coast Killas", which collaborates various artists from both coasts such as Nas, KRS-1, B-Real, RBX, and of course Dr. Dre.
"Now I'ma be able to do whatever I wanna do," he claims. "If it works, it's on me. If it fails, it's on me. But I'm an innovator. I like trying things." In that year he also released another compilation album, "First Round Knockout".
On top of the list of Dre's future projects is Helter Skelter, Dre's long-awaited reunion with Ice Cube, which Dre wanted to do since '94.
"If Cube is still into it, I definitely wanna do that record. I don't give a fuck if it's 10 years from now, and we're like walking on canes with gray hair. I wanna do that record, cuz I think it'll be amazing."
There were also rumors of an N.W.A. reunion, but it seems that Dre is not interested. "That was my past," he says. "What I thought was the thing to do then. I mean, I think 'Straight Outta Compton' was a classic hip-hop album. But I do look back on a lot of the things we were saying and doing then and go, "Damn!". But the shit was dope at the time. Would I ever do that N.W.A. material right now? No. No way. I'm more into totally positive moves."
And what about a solo album?
Dre is working on "The Chronic 2000: No Seeds", which will be released on November '99, and has already announced the album will contain two tracks with Snoop Doggy Dogg, with whom he hasn't worked for almost four years, and should also include tracks with Redman, Eminem, RBX, Xzibit and others.

 

Album

The Chronic Album

• The Chronic (Intro)
• Fuck Wit Dre Day
• Let Me Ride
• The Day the Niggaz Took Over
• Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang
• Deeez Nuuuts
• Lil' Ghetto Boy
• A Nigga Witta Gun
• Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat
• The $20 Sack Pyramid
• Lyrical Gangbang
• High Powered
• The Doctor's Office
• Stranded on Death Row
• The Roach (Chronic Outro)
• Bitches Ain't Shit

 

The Aftermath Album

• Aftermath (The Intro)
• East Coast / West Coast Killas
• Shittin' on the World
• Blunt Time
• Been There Done That
• Choices
• As the World Keeps Turning
• Got Me Open
• Str-8 Gone
• Please
• Do 4 Love
• Sexy Dance
• No Second Chance
• L.A.W. (Lyrical Assault Weapon)
• Nationowl
• Fame

 

2001 Album

• Intro
• The Watcher
• Fuck You
• Still D.R.E.
• Big Ego's
• Xxplosive
• What's the Difference
• Bar One
• Light Speed
• Forgot About Dre
• The Next Episode
• Let's Get High
• Bitch Niggaz
• The Car Bomb
• Murder Ink
• Ed-ucation
• Some L.A. Niggaz
• Pause 4 Porno
• Housewife
• Ackrite
• Bang Bang
• The Message