Outlawz member, E.D.I. Mean, recalls Tupac’s reaction to the Outlawz first listening to E-40 and thinking the bar area rapper was trash!
Growing up in Brooklyn all the way to dirty Jerz, all the Outlawz knew was that east coast sound. During the 90s, the east coast was very critical of the west coast sound, and to many vise versa. Just as it took time for both coasts to understand each other’s styles, it also took time for the Outlawz to stop their “snobbish” ways.
“It was super different to me. His style took a minute to adjust to, but once you got to hear what he was saying and where he was coming from with it, it’s like yo this s*** is genius,” said E.D.I. Mean during his interview on Holdin Court podcast. “We were very snobbish. ‘Pac recognized that in us and that’s why he forced feed us Bay area hip hop. Because I was exposed to N.W.A., Eazy-E, MC Eiht, DOC and all of them, but not really real Bay area rap. I wasn’t a Too Short fan at the time. I learned to love Too Short as I got older. But at the time, hell yeah we were east coast kids and very snobbish with our taste of hip hop.”
Born in Brooklyn, E.D.I. Mean would also spend much of his earlier days in the Midwest, Minnesota to be exact. It didn’t take long for E.D.I. to recognize E-40’s greatness, but for the rest of the Outlawz that was more of a challenge.
“‘Pac was like, ‘Ya’ll don’t know s***. This is real hip hop,” recalled E.D.I. “Rest in peace to Kadafi, cause he was the toughest to crack. His mouth was flagrant. He didn’t mind agitating ‘Pac, they were like brothers. ‘Pac would be playing some E-40 or something and he be like, ‘Man take this country s*** off. What the f*** this n**** said.’ He couldn’t just get E-40, but he ended up loving him. We all ended up loving 40.
While living in Oakland as a teen and before signing with Death Row Records, most of his earlier material came from the Bay Area. Tupac would also give credit to Oakland for teaching him the “game.” During his time in the Bay, Tupac instantly clicked with various artists, including E-40. The two formed a bond and went on to collaborate on various songs together, such as “Ain’t Hard 2 Find” and “Dusted ‘n’ Disgusted.”
“‘Pac took us around the Bay, spoon fed us this Bay area hip hop, it’s legendary up there. Not only would he take us around to these cats, he would make us rap too. He would make us rap for him and out us in the trenches early to see if we could hold our own up in Oakland coming with east coast styles.”
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