Society always celebrates the records that top the Billboard 200 album chart. Back of The Billboards is a Music Times weekly segment that looks at the opposite end: the new record that finished closest to the back of the Billboard 200 for the previous week. We hope to give a fighting chance to the bands you haven't heard of. This week we look at hyphy hype-magnet E-40 and part two of his four-part 'Sharp On All 4 Corners' series.
Week of 12/19/2014
WHO: E-40
WHAT: Sharp On All 4 Corners: Corner 2
SPOT: 197
Spotify know that when they check out a relatively underground performer on Spotify, that artist's "most played" tend to start at the new album's first track and go down from there. People lose interest quickly these days. This has an unfortunate effect on sales for West Coast emcee E-40 and his excellent Sharp On All 4 Corners: Corner 2, which dropped the same week as Corner 1...the first chapter came in at no. 61 on the Billboard 200 while section two only got to no. 197.
Hyphy fans may want to head back to the record store and make sure they've got both (the third and fourth chapters will drop during 2015).
If you weren't familiar with E-40 and his cast of characters such as Keek da Sneak, Mistah Fab et al: Hyphy is a hip-hop movement that, while occasionally discussing the art of hustling, tends toward more enjoyable and comical subject matter ("ghost riding the whip" is a trend largely attributed to the scene). E-40, somewhat the spokesman for the subgenre, demonstrates a typical attitude during "Sellin' Dope Ain't Fun" and busting out on a budget for "It's The First."
If you dig the thumping approach of DJ Mustard, you may be 15 years late...producers such as Rick Rock got that ball rolling during the mid-'90s with Bay-area emcees and Compton-based Mustard probably took heed in his own work. It's not too late to give credit where credit's due however.
