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| Pitchfork |
 Few MCs release as many consistently great rap songs as E-40. The list of veterans with two-decade careers who aren't reiterating old formulas is even shorter. The Revenue Retrievin' series doesn't just cement E-40's legacy, it extends it. With four full-length LPs released in just under 12 months, the records are less a set of distinct statements than a data dump. It's several hundred megabytes of diverse and wide-ranging music whose sense of purpose is proportionate to its overwhelming size. The two most recent additions to E-40's creative renaissance, Overtime Shift and Graveyard Shift, are only vaguely conceptual. Instead, the idea seems to be for E-40 to create a panoramic view of street rap from as many narrative angles as possible.The entire project suggests a profound level of confidence from E-40. Although there are tracks that seem like potential minor hits or have unique pop sensibilities, the trend-chasing days of 40's career appear to be over. Even T-Pain feature "Serious" seems more like a sincere attempt to highlight the singer's strengths, rather than a too-late bone thrown to a chart-rap audience. These are exceptionally balanced records, moving swiftly through a huge variety of production tics and songwriting styles. The meat comes courtesy of producer 40's son Droop-E, who has transformed the sound of hyphy's brief geographically-linked moment into E-40's personal house production style. But just when it seems like post-hyphy minimal bangers start to dominate, the acoustic bass-driven "43" switches gears into noir-ish atmosphere. Or "My Money Straight" arrives, a revival of the classic Bay area mob music sound with an invigorating verse from RBL Posse member Black C. Most of the guests here come from the Bay area; rapper Beeda Weeda has a particularly impressive moment on "In the Morning", and rising star DB Tha General stands out on the striking "Streets Don't Love Nobody". When it comes to guests from outside the Bay, Bun B and Slim Thug's generically titled "That Candy Paint" is redeemed by euphoric production. "Lookin Back", which features Devin the Dude, is a nostalgic look at both rappers' transformations from struggling artists to successful career rappers. "Fried" features Tech N9ne, one of rap's more under-recognized grassroots success stories. For the most part, the guests seem chosen for their musical chemistry rather than any illusions about getting national club or pop radio play....full text |
| Hiphopdx |
| When E-40 raps, “The beat keeps knocking down my rear view mirror,” true fans know exactly what their idol is talking about. The production on Revenue Retrievin': Overnight Shift will be heard annihilating speakers for months to come. Tracks like “Beastin” or “Rear View Mirror” make your car shake and head nod. It’s the production that we have all come to expect from the Sick Wid It Records founder: heavy bass, hard hitting drums, accompanied with an emcee whose energy makes Four Loko’s look like depressant. A companion album to Revenue Retrievin': Graveyard Shift, Overtime Shift has its strengths, but also greater weaknesses than its partner album. The work falls short of the lyrical bar that its counterpart created, but the album more so is hurt by questionable hooks. It’s impossible to even discuss the merit of a track like “Drugs” without first discussing its awful hook. Despite “Me and My Bitch’s” legendary title, it doesn’t live up to its notoriously big expectations and ends up feeling more Lonely Island than music delivered by The Ambassador of the Bay. With that said, when an artist delivers 40 tracks of material on any given day, there is almost always a variety of quality and the Revenue Retrievin' series exemplifies this point. Songs like “Beastin” showcases 40 going in. Even as he attacks the beat, he gives listeners laugh out loud moments like, “I’m not an alcoholic, I’m just a serious social drinker.” On “My Money Straight” E-40 captures the west coast mobbing scene in a manner that would make onetime label-mate Spice 1 proud while “Hillside” see’s the emcees classic double time flow spit to perfection. Yes, tracks like “Guns” and “Drugs” are tracks that fail from track title to delivery and even the sincerity of a track like “I Love My Mama” can’t overcome the topics forefathers, but E-40’s greatest gift is his ability to take the cliché, flip it and make it his own....full text |
| Cduniverse |
| E-40's Revenue Retrievin' series turned into a quadrilogy with the simultaneous release of his 13th album (Revenue Retrievin': Overtime Shift) and his 14th (Revenue Retrievin': Graveyard Shift). No doubt, Graveyard is the more thematically sound and, overall, the more satisfying release, but Overtime serves to round up all of the Bay Area bangers the rapper couldn't relate to the dark Graveyard, so expect scattershot heat and an overflowing, sort-it-out-yourself track list. That said, the woozy "Drugs" comes with a wicked, insanely catchy chorus ("Every hood I'm in I get love from the plug/And I probably sold your family member drugs"), and if you want to understand the charm of the often brutish E-40, dig the way the threatening gangster track "Hillside" puts daytime television references ("I ain't Wayne Brady, but let's make a deal/Like Drew Carey, man the price is right") next to the absurd idea of "country ass city boys" bringing hunting rifles to a hood fight. Displaying range his detractors always fail to notice, the rapper goes from a WB sitcom style with the domestic strife of "Me & My Bitch" to true social commentary with "Born in the Struggle," a track that works in a historical lesson concerning African-Americans' relationship to pork. Interesting stuff, and overstuffed too, but if the zombie hyphy style of the Graveyard Shift gives you chills, the more familiar Overtime Shift is your E-40 release for 2011. ~ David Jeffries...full text |
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