Earl Stephens, professionally often known as E-40, is likely one of the most unusual and ingenious rappers within the style’s historical past.
A Bay space legend, his off-kilter circulation and ludicrous, language-bending vocabulary are sometimes imitated however by no means efficiently duplicated regardless of quite a few makes an attempt. His continued authenticity and appeal have awarded him true longevity, with the singularity of his model permitting him to adapt to the sounds and conventions of any period. Together with his newest launch, we study that whereas his singularity is his best power, it’s additionally beginning to be a hindrance, as 26 albums in, a variety of these songs are beginning to really feel like reruns.
With Rule of Thumb: Rule 1, E-40 delivers a bloated, feature-heavy affair that, whereas not horrible, and even subpar, has a tough time justifying its existence past serving E-40’s most hardcore followers.
Whereas the four-year hole that adopted his final album, 2019’s Apply Makes Paper, was needed given the onslaught of output he delivered within the 2010s, this return, sadly, highlights that 40 doesn’t have a lot to say past what we now have already heard, regardless of his nonetheless sharp abilities.
Simply over an hour lengthy, the 23-song affair suffers from a bloated tracklist and an extremely combined bag within the instrumental division. A lot of the beats attempt to emulate the Hyphy sound that 40 helped to popularize however not often do something past providing formulaic, surface-level imitations of the subgenre. The worst offenders are far and away “Bay Warren Buffett,” and “Billionaire Goals,” that are each so uninventive and spinoff that they’d have felt stale 15 years in the past. These really feel like they’ve simply clocked the BPM of mid-2000s E-40 classics like “Yay Space” and matched it, utilizing the identical bassy 808s to seize that really feel, whereas concurrently stripping the sound of its appeal with simply how empty they really feel.
However the worst second on the document is “Stress”. The monitor strays away from the Hyphy sound and opts for a multitude of clashing percussion and a hook that has Bossko repeatedly simply saying the phrase “strain” right into a vocoder. It’s the largest stylistic outlier on the album, which ought to be a breath of recent air, however the jarring instrumental is so distractingly irritating that it takes away from 40’s contributions to the monitor.
A handful of different highlights happen in moments the place the options stop 40 from having to do all the heavy lifting. Tracks just like the Larry June & Clyde Carson-assisted “GPS” and “Lemme Go” with long-time collaborator Too $hort and Mista F.A.B. each function main highlights. “GPS” homes one of many album’s greatest hooks, courtesy of Clyde Carson, and finds its power within the distinction between 40’s bouncy, sporadic circulation and Larry June’s laid-back, conversational supply. Alternatively, “Lemme GO” is a reunion of the massive three of the Hyphy motion, feeling like a celebration of their respective careers and legacies.
“Off Dat Mob” is one in all 40’s extra intriguing performances throughout the document. The hook has him fluctuating between a bassy growl and a light-weight, higher-pitched inflection, breaking apart a pair of verses that function his cleanest and most spectacular supply of the album. Not solely is his circulation as buttery clean because it will get for 40, however he finds himself in a pocket that nearly appears like an additional layer of percussion, with every syllable retaining tempo with the recurring bass hits. It’s the closest he will get to rapping extra conventionally, although he executes it in a way that also feels natural and true to his model.
It’s a disgrace {that a} lack of high quality management holds Rule of Thumb: Rule 1 again from being nearly as good because it might have been. A number of tracks sound like throwaways that didn’t must be right here. He’s nonetheless dropping jewels, exuding that very same exuberant swagger and rapping his ass off, however extra of the identical shouldn’t be sufficient to justify the sheer quantity of songs right here, nor the instrumental misses that plague a very good chunk of the venture.
It’s unlucky that after a comparatively prolonged hiatus, Rule of Thumb: Rule 1 feels so inconsequential as a document, however on the very least it’s stable sufficient to chorus from being a blemish on E-40’s legacy.
