Federal, Original Master Peace

the take

The only song I knew of for years was "Nuttin Ass Nigga", which I enjoy, because it was part of a playlist I had saved on my Google Play Music account. (God, that was ages ago.) That said, I didn't really have interest in E-40's "Federal" until I gave his "The Mail Man" project a fair shake and enjoyed the latter. A part of me kinda thought the musical direction on "Federal" would be similar to which on "The Mail Man", but it's really the main reason why I found this to be a bit underwhelming to me. E-40 still maintains his unique rapping flow and style, as he's a bit more versatile on here, given the beat he worked with. That actually made for a very interesting listen, as 40 Water was trying to refine his sound. Some of my newly-discovered favorites include "Drought Season", "Extra Manish", and "Carlos Rossi" (the latter being my most favorite on here). As I mentioned earlier, the production kind of diminishes the edge E-40 and his collaborators were trying to project to the listener. While some production sounds a bit childish, it doesn't make the song suffer too much. And then... there's "Rasta Funky Style". I can see why E-40 wanted to make a song like this, because his flow is reminiscent of a reggae artist. The only reason I didn't put it in the "trash" category is because it's actually humorous to listen to an attempt as such. Still clearly the worst song, though. To me, E-40's "Federal" is a notch below "The Mail Man", but I do respect E-40 attempting to be versatile early on in his career. There are still some great tracks on here, and I'd still recommend this project to anyone listening to early E-40's music.