40 Water- The Rapper, and Now the Drink

After two decades in hip-hop, Oakland rapper Earl "E-40" Stevens is reinventing the "40" in his name to brand his latest venture, 40 Water. Though he received his numerical moniker from a beer-drinking habit developed in the '80s, the enhanced water beverage he's now promoting is flavored with lemon-lime, fruit punch, watermelon and grape rather than fermented grains.

"They call me '40 Water' anyway," he said in an exclusive interview with BET.com, "why not do a beverage called '40 Water'? ... Instead of making a beer ... let’s make it something healthy."

Health, he said, is important to him because, "mind, body and soul, you want to stay healthy. If you want to be on this earth, you try to cut back on alot of things that you was doing before that was detrimental to your health."

Utilizing the independent business savvy that led him to his major label deal with Jive Records and helped sustain his longevity in hip-hop as the "Bay Area Ambassador," Stevens said he looks forward to working 40 Water from the ground up and hopes it will become a national product like his platinum-selling recordings did.

"It’s an untapped market for me. It's like one or two people doing it. Of course you got 50 [Cent] doing his [Formula 50] with the company Glaceau Vitaminwater, and I decided to do my own independently ... We did the testing, the tasting and everything.”

Proud that he was able to "come from the streets" and invest his earnings, Stevens also recently signed deals to franchise the Fatburger and Wingstop restaurants, a goal, he recalls, he made note of in one of his earlier albums.

"I had a line where I said 'I never would've thought that I would realize that I would invest my money in a franchise' [it's from the song "Fed Ex" on In a Major Way]," he said.

Another dream of his was actualized at this year's BET Hip-Hop Awards. He was the announcer for the event. "I was happy that BET involved me in something like that and recognized me." Another highlight of the night for Stevens was personal recognition from Lil' Wayne. "Lil' Wayne, when he was performing, he came over to me and he kind of like saluted me like 'I see you, OG.'"

Stevens will officially unveil 40 Water next Thursday (Nov. 15) at his birthday/20 year anniversary celebration in Las Vegas. He will also give his audience a special preview of tracks from his next album "The Ball Street Journal," due in 2008.

Tell the people that 40 Water is back ... literally.
Source: BET.com