The Click

Formed in Vallejo as a tight-knit Bay Area unit, the four-piece hip-hop outfit Click revolved around rapper E-40, born Earl Stevens, alongside his brother D-Shot, sister Suga T, and cousin B-Legit, all raised under one roof. Although E-40 later scored individual breakthroughs, the collective actually launched his recording path when it assembled in 1986 under the name Most Valuable Players and took the stage at a Grambling State University talent show. Positive feedback prompted an immediate rebranding along with a push toward professionalism, resulting in the 1987 single “The King’s Men.” At the same time, E-40—already known by the nickname Charlie Hustle—adopted an enterprising approach by hawking cassettes from his car trunk throughout the late 1980s while simultaneously running a family clothing store and holding a refinery job. He soon founded Sick Wid It Records, which issued several early Click cassettes before delivering the group’s first proper album, Down & Dirty. Momentum built in 1993 when E-40 appeared on Spice 1’s 187 He Wrote, drawing the interest of Jive Records and securing a distribution arrangement for Sick Wid It. Following the strong 1994 reception of E-40’s debut Jive project The Mail Man, the label issued Click’s major-label introduction Game Related the next year. Solo projects by all four members then delayed further group work for six years until Money & Muscle surfaced in summer 2001, once again showcasing dense West Coast G-funk grooves occasionally tempered by playful rhymes, among them “Hector da Ho Protector,” a clear extension of E-40’s 1994 hit “Captain Save a Ho.”