![Happy Birthday, E-40!](http://townsquare.media/site/625/files/2015/11/GettyImages-485689784.jpg?w=630&h=420&zc=1&s=0&a=t&q=89&w=980&q=75)
Happy Birthday, E-40!
E-40 is a Bay Area legend that has been spitting rhymes in the rap game for nearly 30 years. 40 Fonzarelli turns 50 years old today (Nov. 15).
E-40, whose real name is Earl Stevens, is a legend for multiple reasons: his creative, technically-dense flows and his work ethic. Although he doesn't get his deserved credit, 40 is one of the West Coast's most important artists and a godfather of the Bay Area.
His 90s classics like In A Major Way and The Hall of Game broke 40 through to the mainstream, as stars like Too $hort and 2Pac worked with the Vallejo rapper and hit singles like "Captain Save-A-Hoe" elevated his profile.
In the 2010s, E-40 remains one of hip-hop's most celebrated elder statesmen. He had a verse on Big Sean's hit, "IDFWU" and was on Ty Dolla $ign's single, "Saved." E-40's 2015 project, Sharp On All 4 Corners, features the infectious hit, "Choices (Yup)." And he released The D-Boy Diary: Book 1 and Book 2 in 2016.
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