Vallejo-born rap legend E-40, born Earl Stevens, raised a glass of his Tequila brand E. Cuarenta Tequila from the Culinary Stage and led the crowd in a toast.
“I ain’t above you, I ain’t below you. I’m right beside you,” he said, sparking a loud roar from fans.
Then E-40, fellow Bay Area rap artist Too Short and retired Oakland Athletics left-fielder Rickey Henderson clinked their glasses to what has been a breezy second day at the festival.
The West Coast legends were at the Culinary Stage ahead of their festival set — as Mount Westmore, which also includes Southern California rap greats Ice Cube and BottleRock Culinary Stage veteran Snoop Dogg — to join Oakland pit master Matt Horn, a James Beard-nominated chef who just three years ago was slinging barbecue from a BottleRock booth. This year, he was onstage to teach the local celebrities a thing about fried chicken. His pro tip: Generously season the flour.
Too Short said he grew up eating spices from his mother’s native New Orleans, noting his “seasoning game is on point.”
“There was no recipe, that’s how the older generation did it,” Horn said. “Chicken is soul, chicken is love.”
“My seasoning game is on point,” -Too$hort from the culinary stage at#BottleRock2022@SFC_Datebookpic.twitter.com/k1NN7tqbQG
— Julie Johnson (@juliejohnson)May 29, 2022
In the front row, Vallejo couple Quentyn Manuel and Brittany Sims were gobsmacked and giddy seeing their hip-hop favorites. E-40 lyrics grew out of the same Vallejo streets, the same neighborhoods, they said.
Among the songs that blasted from the stage were E-40’s 2014 single “Choices (Yup),” which Manuel said brought him back to his childhood bedroom, where his mother would yell for him to turn it down.
西姆斯甚至说他r friend was cast in the video for E-40’s 2012 hit “Function,” featured when he sang about the girl from Vallejo.
“They supported us,” Sims said. “We are here to support them.”
Mount Westmore is scheduled to close out the Verizon Stage tonight at 8:30.