One of the most notable rappers from Vallejo, California has come into the limelight once again. E-40 who brought about some of the landmark songs that effected some of the slang rappers today use. In the mid 1990s his songs such as "Captain Save A Ho" and "Sprinkle Me" which hit the radiowaves nation-wide but not quite on the level that it is now earned him notoriety in the industry. E-40 also had a close relationship with 2Pac and collaborated with him in some notable songs such as "Dusted N Discusted" and "Ain't Hard 2 Find" from 2Pac's All Eyez On Me album, where All of The Bay Area's most notable rappers were featured with Pac. E-40 came out strong among other Bay Area rappers, esspecially during the Bay Area's classical and mainstream era of the mid 1990s with his hit songs and his unique rap style and delivery. This was an amazing feat for the Bay Area with very stiff competition with the already mainstream established Los Angeles being the capital of Westcoast Rap.

Since those golden years when the radio would play classic hits of "Captain Save A Ho" and Rappin' 4 Tay's "Players Club" the Bay Area had gone back to its roots of independent and local money making. Although E-40 was still signed to Jive Records and one of the only Bay Area artist to be on a major label, he kept to his underground roots and released a number of albums which featured a number of big names in rap such as Fabolous, The Clipse, David Banner, and Lil' Jon. In this time other local names began to rise in the Bay Area such as Yukmouth from the Luniz with his ruthless and gritty thug style he became one of the main names in Oakland. Mac Dre (Rest In Peace) was another rapper from Vallejo and actually was the first one within the Bay Area to put Vallejo on the map was destined to stardom in the mainstream with his new hits, one of which was produced by Dr. Dre "Get Stupid". Until he was gunned down in Kansas City, Kansas, Mac Dre's journey for the mainstream was cut short, but in fact left the legacy for the new "Hyfi" movement in the Bay Area today, which E-40's "Tell Me When To Go" is a product of.

So now with this new movement which is taking hold of the nation, will this make way for the rise of other Bay Area Artist? This is difficult to determine, since most of the Bay Area legends are content with their independent status.
Rappers such as Yukmouth believe that "The Bay always gonna get hated on! The mainstream n****s always takin' our slang! our style! We can only be in tha mothaf***in' spot light so long, and the white folks is gonna focus on somewhere else! look at St. Luis! look how long that lasted n****"

So, is this just a one hit wonder for the Bay Area? or could this establish the Bay Area as a mainstream area such as Atlanta or Houston recently? Only time will tell if the "Bay" will be on the map or if it will only be a phase as it was in the mid 1990s.


By
J.Pedroza
April IV MMVI

Bay Area deserves some spotlight.