West Coast Tycoon E-40 is going to start 2012 on an ambitious note: He’s releasing three LPs simultaneously on the same day in March.
“I putting out The Block Brochure: Welcome to the Soil 1, The Block Brochure: Welcome to the Soil 2 and The Block Brochure: Welcome to the Soil 3,” 40 explained recently via phone from his home in the Bay. “They’re all coming out the same day. You gonna see them in stores all sitting side by side. And they’re on iTunes.
“We’re also gonna have a special edition where you can get all three in one bundle,” he added. “A three-pack for a nice price. But if you only have enough gudda for one, get one. Then come back in a couple of weeks when you get your check and get another one. I’m milking the system. I have my own label, ain’t no liaison, no middle man. I have my own distribution. I’m not signed as no artist. I got a P&D deal which is a lovely situation.”
40 says that throughout his three discs, he’ll be telling his patented brand of ghetto tales. Brotha Lynch Hung, YG, T-Pain, Raheem DeVaughn, 2 Chainz, Snoop Dogg, Nipsey Hussle and The Hieroglyphics all appear on the projects. So, why put out three LPs at once? 40 says for one, he has “a lot to say.”
“Rappin’ is my passion,” he added. “Then there’s gonna always be people who wanna hear me. It’s like chitterlings, a lot of people don’t like chittterlings, but a lot of people love em. I’m an acquired taste. Some folks putting out three, four or five mixtapes a year. This is no dis to mixtapes. I like mixtapes. But you have some people putting out mixtapes when it really is their album, but [calling it a mixtape] is just a security blanket in case the project don’t perform well. Like ‘oh, that’s just my mixtape.’ With me, I’m putting out albums. Aint no need of beating around the focal point. With me, when you spit the shit people wanna hear, it’s gonna spread like the flu and become contagious like a yawn.” —Shaheem Reid