E-40's had a good few years -- or decades, depending on when you start counting. The rapper, one of the founding fathers of the hyphy movement, has added commercial success in the adult beverage industry to his roster of far-ranging achievements.
But community-minded titan of Bay Area rap that he is, it should hardly be surprising that E-40 (real name: Earl Stevens) likes to pay some of that success forward. In an appearance Aug. 23 at Franklin Middle School in Vallejo -- the school Stevens, a Vallejo native, attended -- the rapper announced he was donating $25,000 in backpacks and other school supplies to help kick the school year off right.
"School is everything," he told KTVU reporters, who captured the event in a video below. The former honor roll student is especially heartfelt in talking about his Vallejo pride: "I just want to be an example, an inspiration, tell [students] you can make it." Stevens also wants us to know he spared no expense on the quality of the donated goods. Those backpacks are Jansport. Lifetime guarantee.
Again, this is hardly out of the ordinary for the Bay Area rapper, who's well-known for being, ahem, loyal to his soil. In 2007, he donated $12,000 to Hogan High School, also in Vallejo, for musical instruments and other band equipment. Between 2013 and 2014, he donated $12,500 to the Salvation Army. Meanwhile, his contemporary Mistah F.A.B. hosts a locally legendary turkey giveaway every Thanksgiving -- now in its eighth year. In 2016, he added an Easter egg hunt.
