E-40 - Rapper's Ball ft. Too $hort, K-Ci

What this video is

Released September 18, 1996 as the lead single from E-40's major-label debut Tha Hall of Game on Sick Wid' It/Jive Records, 'Rapper's Ball' represented a landmark collision of two Bay Area legends whose collaboration followed a near-confrontation, resulting instead in a celebratory anthem. Produced by Ant Banks and featuring a sample of Too $hort's 1985 track 'Playboy Short,' the record bridged Vallejo's hyphy…

Why it matters

A canonical document of mid-90s West Coast rap's commercial maturation, 'Rapper's Ball' fused Bay Area hyphy antecedents with G-funk production infrastructure and smooth R&B hooks, demonstrating the region's stylistic breadth beyond Los Angeles-centric gangsta rap. Its multi-artist cameo format…

The director

Born December 26, 1970, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Haywood began his career as a music video director while enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, earning a B.A. in Filmmaking. He directed rap and R&B videos in the 1990s for artists including E-40,…