Celly Cel, E-40

Known throughout his long career for slick, drawling, and hard gangsta rhymes backed by funky productions -- sometimes his own -- Celly Cel has been a vital part of the Bay Area scene since the early '90s. He achieved his commercial peak with the low-key slow jam "It's Goin' Down" and its parent album, Killa Kali (1996), his second of three Jive-distributed LPs for E-40's Sick wid' It label. The rapper has remained active throughout the ensuing decades with solo albums on his own Realside label and full-length collaborations with Spice 1 and Jayo Felony (as Criminalz), and D E...