Steve 'Flash' JuonOdds are better than not that if you’ve heard of 40 Glocc it’s because of his extensive record of legal problems dating as far back as 1996. Things have been remarkably quiet since he caught two hot ones at a funeral in 2017 though. He survived (thankfully) and released two albums in 2020 called “Constantine” and “Quarantine” (a familiar theme that year) and since then I’ve heard of nothing legally or musically. That’s not to say I’m checking on a regular basis. It’s usually the other way around — people ask me things when they want to know about a rapper, which is when I realize they’ve been up to something lately.
“The Jakal” comes from one of those relatively drama free periods in 40’s life where he could focus on music first. That freedom also allowed him the time to collaborate with other big figures in rap such as Kurupt, who can be heard on the Prodeje produced “Ohh!” It’s not a mind blowing song by any means but it stands up to the decades since the album dropped as listenable, as does the Westside Bugg produced “Hot Shit” with overlooked Cali emcee Bad Azz. Given how connected he was in the West coast with these collaborations it’s a little surprising that some may know him better for his time signed to/working with East coast stalwarts G-Unit.
And when I say connected, I mean it. How many emcees do you know who could pull in Dr. Dre to produce a track and also have him give you a shoutout on the intro? That’s exactly what happens on “Pa Pa Lil Soldier.” It may be Dre’s only contribution to “The Jakal” but one track is still one more than 10,000 other rappers will ever get. 40 Glocc would be on some sort of legendary list for feats like this if he had better promotion during his career and less legal troubles slowing his roll.
Wait a minute… am I one hundred percent certain about that? Let me be honest — I enjoy this album but that has almost as much to do with the cameos as 40 Glocc himself. The list of collaborations is truly impressive. Ras Kass is on “What Type,” Spice 1 and Tray Dee are on “Game,” and the Pomona Pimp himself Suga Free laces “Leave Me Alone” alongside Mr. Shadow. 40 Glocc isn’t bad. He’s serviceable. He’s better than most. Despite that aren’t many times that I think “that was an amazing bar/great punchline/incredible moment” during his verses. He’s a decent storyteller. That’s it.
And that is ultimately his undoing. “The Jakal” shows evidence of a solid rapper who knows a lot of people, but those people have more presence and personality than him on his own album. This is a wildly hypothetical idea not to be taken as anything other than pure speculation, but it seems to me a lot of the things that 40 Glocc is known for (stealing Young Money chains from Tyga, testing the hood credentials of Plies at a video shoot) are fueled by a desire to keep the streets talking. If the music doesn’t do it then the weight he can bring to bear on anybody will. It’s Suge-esque. I’m thankful for Mr. White it hasn’t turned out as badly as it did for Mr. Knight, and that he seems to be largely retired from such antics in the present day. All the best to you sir.