E-40
is a rapper who was long overdue for a best-of collection, which finally came in 2004 when
Jive
released
Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow
. The Bay Area eccentric debuted his tongue-twisting style for
back in 1994 with the
Mail Man
EP, so this collection spans an entire decade -- and a busy one at that, given that
put out roughly an album a year over that span. He didn't score many genuine hits over those years, as only a few of his singles broke into the
Billboard
Hot 100, but his fresh style did influence a legion of rappers who began to emulate his slangtastic rhyming style. So, given
's lack of hits,
is somewhat of a grab bag. Some of the tracks are clear career highlights:
"Carlos Rossi,"
"Captain Save a Hoe,"
"Rapper's Ball,"
"Zoom,"
and
"Automatic"
in particular. Others are excellent and exemplary if somewhat unexceptional, likewise the few previously released inclusions that close the compilation.
unfortunately misses a number of seemingly obvious highlights, for example the
Nate Dogg
gem
"Nah Nah"
from
Loyalty & Betrayal
or his most-recent single,
"Quarterbackin'."
There's an emphasis on
's early, less-heard albums, which means some may quibble also about the lack of latter-day inclusions. That's all to be expected, of course, for the only way this best-of could be definitive would be if it were a double-disc collection (and even then it'd a bit short of definitive given
's especially deep canon and generally consistent level of quality, not to mention his innumerable guest appearances elsewhere).
is excellent for what it is, however: a single-disc sampler of
's long, influential decade with
that rounds up some of his most obvious highlights in the process and leaves others for later discovery. ~ Jason Birchmeier