E-40: Tiny Desk Concert

This Black Music Month, Tiny Desk honors the anniversaries of landmark albums that have shaped the course of music and culture.

Bobby Carter | June 2, 2025
Bay Area ambassador E-40 moves with the energy of an up-and-coming emcee, but he's been around a minute. To put it 40 Water's way: "I've been doing this since Kermit the Frog was a pollywog!" Our biggest hurdle to clear was packing in three decades of music at the Tiny Desk, but 40 Fonzarelli and his band clocked weeks of rehearsal to make sure this office was rockin'.

E-40's sophomore solo album In a Major Way dropped in 1995, one of the most competitive years in hip-hop history, with certified classics dropping weekly by the likes of 2Pac, Mobb Deep, Goodie Mob, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Raekwon and GZA. Straightforward and plain has never been E-40's nature, and that left-of-center spit has been the thing that has sustained his illustrious entertainment career.

At the Desk, Charlie Hustle sets things off with "Da Bumble" from In a Major Way and continues to bounce through a catalog of big hits sprinkled with nods to his day ones. Producer Lil Jon brought him back to the mainstream in the early 2000s with "Tell Me When to Go," "U and Dat" and "Snap Yo Fingers," while TikTok injected new life in "Choices (Yup)" and introduced him to Gen Z. "I'm on my fourth wind!" 40 tells us. No lies told.

SET LIST
"Da Bumble"
"Yay Area"
"Sprinkle Me"
"Captain Save a Hoe"
"Snap Yo Fingers"
"U and Dat"
"Choices (Yup)"
"Hope I Don't Go Back"
"1-Luv"
"Function"
"Tell Me When to Go"

MUSICIANS
E-40: vocals
Kev Choice: music director, keys
Bosko Kante: music director, background vocals
Martin Luther: guitar, background vocals
Howard Wiley: saxophone, EWI
Marcus Phillips: bass, keys
Dame Drummer: drums, background vocals
Silk-E The People's Champ aka Sherri Stack-A-Grip: background vocals
DJ KMP: DJ, background vocals

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Bobby Carter
Director/Editor: Joshua Bryant
Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell
Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Maia Stern, Kara Frame, Mitra I. Arthur
Audio Engineer: Andie Huether
Production Assistants: Dora Levite, Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Zayrha Rodriguez
Tiny Desk Series Editor: Lars Gotrich
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#nprmusic #tinydesk #e40typebeat

Support for NPR Music comes from Capital One. Presenting sponsor of the 2025 Tiny Desk Contest. What's in your wallet? Learn more at CapitalOne.com.