BY KEVIN CORTEZ • JANUARY 16 2019

Twenty years ago, E-40 named his album, Charlie Hustle: The Blueprint Of A Self-Made Millionaire. While the moniker and subtitle may have been accurate at the time, the founder of Sick Wid It Records has seemingly lived up to that statement ever since.

As 40 Water’s career has been going strong for nearly 30 years, the Vallejo, California native has become a beacon for investing as a key figure within Rap landscape. Like Too Short, JT The Bigga Figga, and others early on, 40 showed artists far beyond the Bay the values in independent music hustling. The Click member later held several franchises of Fat Burger, which he mentioned in interviews and on wax. His expansive portfolio now includes a Wing Stop, being a spokesperson for Landy Cognac, and starting his own brand of energy drink called “40 Water.”

E-40 thrives in wine and spirits now, most notably in the form of his Earl Stevens wine label. However, one of Rap’s vino devotees for decades also makes sure that his product is quality. 40 heads should know the rapper’s been passionate about wine since his earliest days of rapping, name dropping Carlo Rossi with his crew, The Click, on the song “Let’s Get Drunk,” and then later dedicating an entire Federal track to the drink alongside B-Legit.

READ MORE AT AMBROSIA FOR HEADS