E-40 Puts on for the Bay During NPR Tiny Desk Concert

June 6, 2025

E-40 rocked NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series and served notice that he has one of the strongest catalogs in the game. The Bay Area godfather helped open Black Music Month with an impressive set on Monday (June 2), showcasing his decades-long discography, from “Da Bumble” to “Sprinkle Me.” And his hits were perfectly suited for the live band.

40 (born Earl Stevens) was an indie workhorse in Vallejo, CA before he broke through nationally with In a Major Way back in the mid-1990s. He saw a commercial resurgence in the early 2000s via the crunk era; he helped put hyphy on the national map and has now been embraced by Gen Z via TikTok. His Tiny Desk was a great reminder that when speaking about longevity in hip-hop, 40 Fonzarelli has to be in that conversation.

The band’s chops and production of the show itself were top-notch, and 40 clearly relished the performance. The transitions and interplay were perfect, and music director Bosko Kante filled in for T-Pain’s auto-tuned vocal performance on “U And Dat.”

“This next song was done at Stankonia studios,” he said when introducing “U And Dat.” “That’s OutKast’s studio. Legendary. I called one of my partners up. He goes by the name of T-Pain. I love you T-Pain. I love you Lil Jon.” The band included Kev Choice, Howard Wiley, Marcus Phillips, Dame Drummer, Martin Luther, Silk-E, DJ KMP and more.

40 has cemented his status and he remains a beloved son of the Bay. In May, he helped welcome the Golden State Valkyries — the WNBA’s first expansion team in 17 years — with a halftime performance at their inaugural home opener. Thirty years after In A Major Way helped turn him from local upstart to industry star, E-40 has built one of hip-hop’s strongest legacies.

You can watch E-40’s Tiny Desk concert below.