E-40

Following in the platinum footsteps of his last full-length, 2006's My Ghetto Report Card, E-40 opens up his 11th record with a Digable Planets vocal loop - "play me in the winter, play me in the summer, play me in the autumn, any order" - and again, the sample kicks off the proceedings beautifully. A coiner of slang and slanger of coin, the prolific, ballerific Earl Stevens is now 41 but he's aged flamboyantly in a genre of the young. Just like Too $hort, E-40 won over a core audience (primarily residing in the West and South) more than 15 years ago and occasionally broadens his reach via strategic guest appearances. This time 'round, the wily vet's high-profile invite list includes the Game, Snoop Dogg, Akon, Bun B, Ice-T, Shawty Lo and the aforementioned Mr. $hort. While the Auto-Tune sap of "Give Her the Keys" is a T-Painful grasp at radio play - 40 looks better setting trends instead of following them - and the 79-minute CD runs way too long, Ball Street is rich with Rick Rock's hyphy production, and the pride of the Yay Area still bounces around with the energy of a hustler half his age. And, to borrow a 40 phrase, that's "rare like white running backs."