Tha Hall of Game

An all-time classic of West Coast rap and the pinnacle of E-40’s glorious mid-career run, *The Hall of Game* has lost none of its luster in the 14 years since it was released. The album brings together veterans (Too Short, Spice 1), peers (B-Legit, Celly Cel) and soon-to-be stars (Keak da Sneak). In another way, the album functions as a compendium of California hip-hop style. “Million Dollar Spot” is a laid- back portion of G-Funk, while “I Wanna Thank You” and “I Like What You Do to Me” nod to the vintage, electro-inflected sounds of early-‘80s funk. The dizzying “Ring It” even predicts the future creation of hyphy. Of course, the main attraction is 40’s own self-styled “mob music” and the outlandish lyrical content that goes with it. Bay Area hip-hop just doesn’t get more definitive than “Record Haters,” “Rapper’s Ball,” “Growing Up” and “Smebbin’,” but, the album’s best verse should be awarded to the poignant reflections of “The Story”: “I think it goes, ya live by the dirt, ya die by the shovel / You can repent and come with God or you can go with devil… Churches, wakes, nothing unusual / Seem like every other damn day I\'m buyin’ a brand new suit for funerals.”

After several years on the underground rap circuit, E-40 released his first great album, In a Major Way, in 1995, and a year later he released his second, Tha Hall of Game, a similarly fashioned album that some fans believe is the better of the two.