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E-40, along with Too $hort and Shock G, were pioneers of Bay Area hip-hop during the 1980s and 1990s. The North California rap scene has spawned some exceptional talent since its rise, but it is often overlooked when assessing the music landscape of the US.

2Pac himself called himself a product of Oakland, and since his death, the city and surrounding areas have grown stronger. The All Eyez On Me lyricist began his career as a hypeman for Digital Underground. However, the Oakland collective was far from irrelevant during its time.

Although songs like ‘The Humpty Dance’ may have been novel, Digital Underground most definitely put the Bay Area on the musical map. It allowed artists such as E-40, Too $hort, and 2Pac to top the charts and attract more talent.

Last year, as hip-hop celebrated its 50th anniversary, the Associated Press (AP) sat down with some of the culture’s most integral figures to find out what types of music shaped them and inspired them to enter the world of rap music.

From its beginnings at block parties and community gatherings in the Bronx to a nationwide movement, each area of the US brought a different flavour to hip-hop, spawning subgenres, each one more intriguing than the last. The melting pot of hip-hop has seen MCs and producers from different backgrounds experiment and add something fresh to the sound. Whether it be funk, soul, jazz or techno, the fusions of the past can still be heard today.

That said, during his interview with the AP, Oakland native Too $hort unveiled that his household was one of funk. With songs such as the Ohio Players’ ‘Love Rollercoaster’ and Funkadelic’s ‘Knee Deep’ ringing loudly in his home. However, he revealed that it was the cross between funk and the rap delivery that really caught his attention in 1979. Speaking about when his taste evolved, the emcee recalled, “I was on my funk stuff, then this ‘Rapper’s Delight’ record came out, and it was like 15 minutes long. I’d be at my pop’s house just bumping the loud stereo.”

Too $hort revealed that as he explored hip-hop culture more, he bought records from his local cassette store and got himself a radio to play them on. Opening up about this, the lyricist revealed, “I had to get a radio with two speakers. That was mandatory.”

He continued, “I was the guy with the radio who was hitting play going ‘You ain’t never heard that before’… I had the whole room, the whole bus jumping.”

However, Too $hort wasn’t the only Bay Area musician paying attention to the hip-hop movement, Vallejo native E-40 was also excited about the movement. The rapper was in seventh grade when ‘Rapper’s Delight’ was released and loved the interpolation of Chic’s ‘Good Times’.

Unveiling this, E-40 explained, “I was like ‘Ohh, this is hard. I’m hooked. From then on, I loved rap. In 1979, when I first heard The Sugarhill Gang, I wanted to be a rapper. I would play around with it. We grew up on New York rap. All of us did. We wanted to be hip-hop. We wanted to breakdance. We did it all.”

However, other New York acts influenced him greatly as he concluded, “But that changed everything after we heard Sugarhill Gang. Next thing you know, you’re hearing Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Kurtis Blow and ‘Roxannne, Roxanne.'”

As a member of The Click, Stevens encouraged them to record, resulting in the crew releasing their 1990 EP Let’s Side. E-40 recorded some solo material along the way. However, in 1993 The Click had a commercial breakthrough with their comical song ‘Captain Save a Hoe’. With his unique style and humour, E-40 developed a heavy regional following in the Bay Area, eventually spreading nationwide.