Raw: Iconic Bay Area rapper E-40 speaks at Tupac Shakur Way dedication

Um, this next icon that I'm gonna bring up on stage is blood related. We didn't find that out until a couple of years ago, but it made sense because I always noticed him. He was walking in greatness from the beginning, and I think he personified everything Tupac did as well. When I used to hang out at that same apartment, everybody's talking about. I used to sit on the couch and and hear pot talk about protecting black women. Um, he talked about financial literacy even when the mics and cameras were off. That's what he was talking about. And this man has walked in that plight when it comes to business and economy and longevity and being authentic and being a visionary and representing the Bay Area everywhere he go. I see him all over the world, and he's representing the Bay Area, and he's setting fine examples, and I don't know. I think he would beat money being a battle. Please welcome the one and only e 40. Come on, Bob. Shit. Let's check it out from the S. C. Phone. Double up stick in the front of the home. Want me to come smoke? What's happening? Tomorrow. Oh, man. Okay. Okay. Hey, man. I'm I'm glad I get to get up here on this historical day. My man, Ray Love, had hit me and say, Man, I know you want to say a few words for you got Pac man. And so it was mandatory that I made it here. I want to say, first and foremost, when I first I've been knew about Pac, but I didn't meet Pac until, like, 90 to 90, like 92. But the person we in school, we had Davis. I think it was Juneteenth or something. And, uh, my man, Richie Rich, he was there. He was like, he say we're gonna leave. Oh, double up double. Okay, there we go. Double R was like, uh, 40. I gotta give you a two pack number, man. You wanna? You wanna get in contact with you? And I say, huh? Like that, right? He said, Yeah, he did it. I called Pac. I left a voicemail. He hit me. I didn't even know it was his number. I didn't trip. I was like, I trip when he just he left a voice. We say, Yo, 40. Word is Pac. You know, he had a little bit of New York any word, right? So I hit him, man. From then on, it was we was come on, man. I mean, I mean, we just talked and we talked about things that a lot of people might not even talk about, man, you know, but he was genuine. If he loved if he liked you, he loved you. If you was on some sucker stuff, he ain't feeling you because he was too real. He was the realest rapper ever. He was very bright. You understand me? He was a triple threat. Movies, rap, poet, everything. You understand me? Um, you know, made positive music, self esteem, lifting music for females like Dear Mama. You know what I'm saying? Brenda's got a baby. Keep your head up. We're going on forever, you know? So all I know is it was always good time to get in the studio. And when we in the studio, he would, um, he would actually write within, like, 10 minutes, right? This whole verse. I've never seen nobody right that quick. It was incredible with the pen. We was last time I've seen him. We was, um, in Calabasas and my practice looking hard video. And, uh, it was a star studded event. We was on the trailer on my trailer. He playing songs that I never heard before. He was just telling me about Machiavelli. I was like, I'm fine. So really, he was like, I'm Machiavelli. He had. He had. He had a song. I tripped out because I didn't even know on that that same year, the Hall of Game album. I had a song produced by Mike Moseley, and it was called Things that never change. And so I didn't know. I put that out. I didn't know, like a year later or a few months later that he he had to record it around the same time or even before he had the song changes. Bruce Hornsby. We both sampled it. It's crazy. That's that's the pattern we was on. But the songs that he played for me when he was, you know, he told me it kind of bothered me. I never heard nobody say this before. He said, 40. I got I got I got albums that for when I die. He told me that it sound regular now. But at that time, it was kind of shocking to me. You know what I mean? But I understood it. And now I know I got albums for when I pass because that's all I do is record. This is our art. We got a passion for rapping. This is what we really do. I really feel in my heart that two pockets in heaven because he believed in the Lord real heavy. You know what I'm saying? He spoke up for our people, for our culture. You understand me? And he was one of them. He's the greatest rapper that ever did it, man. He did so much in so little time. You understand what I'm saying? So I don't want to take up speaking of time. I want to take up for everybody time. But this is a great event, and I know he's looking down and heck of happy, hella happy. So I love y'all 40 water out.