E-40 – “Front Row 40”

If you’re even a casual fan of the NBA, then you’re probably used to seeing Bay Area rap pioneer E-40 sitting courtside while the Golden State Warriors win championship after championship. On Saturday night, E-40 was ejected from his courtside seat during the first game of the Kings and Warriors’ round-one series in Sacramento. In a statement, 40 called for an investigation, saying that he’d calmly responded to a heckler and blaming “racial bias” for the ejection.

Today, E-40 has released a new single called “Front Row 40.” Given recent events, people wondered whether this would be a song about that ejection. It’s not. Instead, it’s just E-40 rapping charmingly over an extremely Bay Area beat, celebrating his own local-dignitary status and talking about seeing himself up on the Jumbotron: “I love the area teams, I’m a superfan/ I’m sorta like Spike and Jack Nichol-saan”

On “Front Row 40,” E-40 talks about supporting his local baseball, football, and hockey teams, but he’s clearly most aligned with the Warriors. Right now, the Warriors, the reigning and defending NBA champions, look like they’re about to get bounced by a fired-up young Kings team, so maybe 40 just figured he had to drop the song before that happened. He did not manage to release the song before owners announced that the A’s were moving from Oakland to Las Vegas. Rough week for Bay Area sports. Check out the video below.