E-40

I was a little bit ahead of my time.

I've been rapping on some crunk beats and getting down on the South music for years. I feel like I can do it all.

When I was in the marching band, I used to take my snare drum and turn it over and use my drumstick and scratch on the other side. That was just being creative.

Music is really a medicine, it can make you feel good.

I didn't invent the word 'hyphy' and I'm not trying to say I'm the king of hyphy.

I love working with different artist with different styles and different producers with different sounds, creativity is everything.

Rap evolves and to still be current you have to evolve with it! Get in front or get left behind.

What motivates me is true talent, it's golden when talent acknowledge talent.

Some people be game-goofy and words don't sound right coming out of their mouthpiece. But whenever E-40 says something it's just solidified.

I had a song back in 1992 talking about 'It's all good.' Then my partner Theo who used to work for 92.3 The Beat in L.A. started saying 'You know it's all good' on the radio and everybody took it back to their soils like that was the new Cali word. But that's a regular word form the Bay Area.

I'm the first rapper ever popping his collar.

You feel me' - that's straight from me. You can put a stamp on that.

Long as the Earth is here, hip-hop'll be here.

I'm not boasting or nothing but a lot of people have a lot of love for me. I'm a legend, but I stay H and H, hungry and humble.

I'm the most humblest guy you can ever talk to or meet.

I paint pictures with my raps.

I'm just a storyteller.

I don't listen to rap all the time. Even though I rap, rap can be nerve-wracking.

When I do listen to music a lot of times I listen to old school music, I'm talking about Earth, Wind & Fire, I'm talking about the Isley Brothers, the O'Jays. It just eases my mind.

I looked up to Too Short before I was making my own music.

When I was 20, I was the hustler - rubbing my temples, stressed, trying to get out the streets, trying to take my life to another side of the game with something I really loved to do: rap music.

I used to love Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel, and the Human League.

The earliest music I remember hearing is Al Green's 'Let's Stay Together.' That was when my momma and my daddy were together, before they went their separate ways.

As you get older, you start trying to eat a little bit better, and just do a little better.

I don't just talk about jewelry and cars and houses and belittling those that don't have that. I'm a democrat. I speak for the democrats. I speak for the soil.

I did a double CD, 'The Element of Surprise,' in 1998. That album went gold.

I'm the greatest game-spitter of all time. I talk about the swell, the block, the 'hood. I'm a street commentator. I narrate how people live. That's E-40.

I will rap circles around anybody.

Ebonics is me. I'm the king of slang, hands down.

I was the class clown when I was a little young mustache.

The West ain't been the same without 'Pac.

I respect cats that can rap and everything, but the artist that inspires me is Turf Talk.

You know, Tupac would go into the studio and make like six or seven songs in one day. That's how he operated. He was real quick with his pen.

I had T-Pain on one of my singles before anyone really knew of him. I was the first one to put that to life of having T-Pain on the hook.

It's nice to have video play, radio play but as long as I can work my virals on the Internet, or yet get it out to where people hear it and can see it anytime, I'm cool.

I talk about things that real street cats can relate to.

I make up many words but we can go on for forever about slang words that E-40 created. That has always been one of my things since was youngster. I have always being creative with my words.

The 'Day Shift' songs are things that would unfold during the daytime. 'Night Shift' is what would unfold during the nighttime. So, that's how I put that whole thing together. I did both all on one album budget.

When you do mixtapes, a lot of times your fanbase can say, 'We've been getting this for free for so many years, his new album is about to drop, we've listened to it, and we're not going to buy it. We'll download it for free.'

Before me, there was no offbeat flow.

The rap game without me would be like woofers without bass.

It's always a dream come true to do music with your pops. And your son.

I would like to work with Dr. Dre.

I love funk! That's the music I grew up on.

People, a lot of times, don't like what's different. When it's something different out there, the majority of people will be like 'aww, that's wack!' but if it's regular, plain or a straight through flow, it's easier for them to adapt to, because everyone likes the normal.

I think the Internet is right on time. I think it's very important. It's reaching out to millions of people. Even the most slimiest and grimiest hood cats out got iPhones and Smartphones so they're able to view everything on the Internet, so they're well in tuned to what's going on.

Communication, that keeps everything cool. Not holding anything back, you got to tell each other what's on your mind, that's really it. Otherwise when one gets mad at one, it can burst and you just let it out and it can just come out wrong.

Any relationship, I'm talking about even with your kids, when you got something they can relate to - both of y'all - it helps.

In the early '90s, Too Short was like one of the first dudes who kinda discovered Lil Jon. So I always used to see him at concerts and we'd pow wow - a good dude, you know?

You know, I don't turn down autographs. I try to sign as many autographs as I can.