Keep Being Amazing™
Why You Need to Listen to E-40’s Tiny Desk Right Now!
Welcome to my new Keep Being Amazing™ series. Look the world is fucked, but there are good things still out there that remind us how amazing we are. Let me know your thoughts and if you like this and I will do what I can, when I can, to share amazing things with you.
If you don’t know, June is Black Music Month and NPR Tiny Desk has always done a wonderful job of celebrating us! This month Tiny Desk is full of incredible Black artists and it was kicked off by none other than Earl Stevens aka 40 Water aka E-40 from the Valley-Jo (Vallejo, California).
Storytime!
When I moved to San Francisco for undergrad in 2000 I felt I arrived! Born and raised in Sacramento, California Bay music, which you may know as hyphy music was everything. And when I moved to the land where it was created and became immersed in hyphy culture I felt at home. Seeing Black and brown people celebrate The Town, The Bay, and the whole damn Yay Area was everything.
I met E-40 at Terry McMillan’s (you may know her as the best selling author of How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Waiting to Exhale) epic annual holiday parties in the early 2000s asI went to the same university with her husband at the time. E-40 is the sweetest person and very fun. You should know I am unimpressed by celebrities (which is what happens when your uncle played for the Lakers, like Magic Johnson era) but to be in the same room as one of the founders of hyphy music was pretty cool. Shortly after I met him, I became a high school administrator for a Bay Area school district when "Tell Me When To Go" dropped in 2006. Overnight, E-40 went from Bay Area legend to international status.
Have you ever had to tell a high school student to not ghost ride the whip in the school parking lot? Cuz I have and as much as I appreciated what they were doing I had to keep them safe. In 2006 hyphy culture went worldwide thanks to E-40, The Click, Mac Dre, Too $hort, Suga T (E-40’s sister), and so many other Yay Area legends. Even the queen herself, Beyoncé, has credited her sound to E-40.
Today, E-40’s Tiny Desk dropped and you need to stop what you are doing and listen to it. It has been out for 14 hours and over 11 million people have already tuned in. Coinciding with the 30 year anniversary of his album In a Major Way (with one of my favorites "Sprinkle Me") it is a master class in Bay music, culture and west coast hip hop. In fact, Martin Luther, Silk E, and Kev Choice are part of his band and you will hear a nod to other Bay Area artists like Mac Dre, Too $hort and my friends Goapele and Trackademics.
So why am I sharing this? Well, if you read my last post you know I am going through it and I’m sharing my intersectionality with you, my culture. But honestly, E-40’s amazingness made me feel good! America is going through it and music has the power to remind you to keep going. To feel joy. And to Keep Being Amazing™!