Hip-hop took over as the dominant voice at SXSW this year. Vine stars like Dej Loaf join the adorable Rae Sremmurd and previous maestros Chance the Rapper and Smoke DZA. Despite a youth movement, the Festival can still give the old guys some love, especially when you’re talking E-40 and Kurupt.
E-40 is San Francisco’s greatest export since Willie Mays. He’s a cartoon character; a pair of Merlin glasses resting on the tip of his nose, hat backwards at an always consistent angle, voice an eccentric bounce. He’s also one of the best rappers ever, and someone who never gets the mainstream attention he deserves despite a boatload of hits and admirable work ethic.
You can catch him on every pop station in the country tempering his one-of-a-kind flow to Big Sean’s instant classic “I Don’t Fuck With You.”
The nice thing about not getting the respect you deserve is it means that when you play something like SXSW, you’re able to fill a room with a diehard cult. Fellow West Coast originator Kurupt laid the groundwork expertly. It didn’t matter that the PA was tinny.
E-40 then blasted through 30 minutes of iconic moments and called it a day right after the clock struck 2am. It was everything great about SXSW. Two world class rappers owning a stage about the size of your bedroom.
That’s precisely what keeps us coming back every year.
Complete SXSW Music coverage at austinchronicle.com/sxsw/music
This article appears in March 20 • 2015.