"Rappers' Ball" is a song co-written and performed by American rappers

E-40 Earl Tywone Stevens (born November 15, 1967), better known by his stage name E-40, is an American rapper. Stevens is a founding member of the rap group The Click (band), The Click and the founder of Sick Wid It Records. He has released 27 stud ...

and

Too $hort Todd Anthony Shaw (born April 28, 1966), better known by his stage name Too Short (stylized as Too $hort), is an American rapper. A pioneer of West Coast hip-hop, Shaw was among the first acts to receive recognition in the genre during the late ...

and American R&B singer

K-Ci Cedric Renard Hailey (born September 2, 1969), known professionally as K-Ci (formerly Little Cedric as a member of Little Cedric and the Hailey Singers), is an American singer, songwriter and member of K-Ci & JoJo and Jodeci. Although Hailey i ...

. It was released on September 18, 1996 via Sick Wid' It/

Jive Records Jive Records (later stylized as JIVE Records) was a British-American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary of the Zomba Group of Companies, Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chic ...

as the lead single from E-40's third full-length solo studio album ''

Tha Hall of Game ''Tha Hall of Game'' is the third studio album by American rapper E-40. It was released on October 29, 1996, by Sick Wid It Records and Jive Records. The album features production by Ant Banks, Mike Mosley, Rick Rock, Studio Ton and Tone Capone. ...

''. Co-written and produced by

Ant Banks Ant Banks (born Anthony Banks, May 16, 1969), is an American record producer and rapper from Oakland, California. Biography Anthony Banks was born in Oakland, California on May 16, 1969. In band lessons at school, he learned to play classical ...

, the song contains a portion of Too $hort's 1985 composition "Playboy Short". Charting in the United States as a b-side of the album's second single " Things'll Never Change", "Rappers' Ball" peaked at number 29 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, number 19 on the

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

, number 40 on the

R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay (previously known as Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay) is a chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the top R&B and hip hop songs in the United States, based on audience impressions from a panel of radio stations monitored ...

, number 4 on the

Hot Rap Songs Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by '' Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stat ...

and number 26 on the

Dance Singles Sales The Dance Singles Sales was a record chart released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine listing each week's best-selling dance singles in the United States. Its previous names include Hot Dance/Disco 12-inch Singles Sales (1985–1987), Hot Dance Mu ...

charts. An accompanying

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was filmed on July 13, 1996 by Eric Haywood. Beside E-40, Too $hort and K-Ci,

B-Legit Brandt Jones , better known by his stage name B-Legit, is an American rapper from Vallejo, California. Career Before he started his music career, he went to Grambling State University. He became a member of The Click, a rap group formed by his ...

Joe Clair Joe Clair (born February 13, 1969), also known by the nickname "Joe Cleezy", is an American stand-up comedian, radio personality, VJ and actor. A native of the Seat Pleasant, Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C., Career Clair is best known as ...

Mack 10 Dedrick D'Mon Rolison (born August 9, 1971), better known by his stage name Mack 10, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and record executive. He was a member of hip hop supergroup Westside Connection along with WC and Ice C ...

and Richie Rich among others provided

cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...

2Pac Tupac Amaru Shakur (; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor, regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all tim ...

, who also made a cameo appearance in the music video, winks at the camera when E-40 rapped in his verse "Don't buy an $85,000 car before you buy a house", making reference to

the Notorious B.I.G. Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in the New York rap scene and gangsta rap tradi ...

owning expensive cars but still not having purchased his own home. The music video was released for the week ending on September 1, 1996.

Track listing

Personnel

*Earl "

" Stevens – lead vocals, executive producer *Todd "

" Shaw – lead vocals *Cedric "

" Hailey – background vocals, vocal arrangement *Anthony "

Ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...

" Banks – keyboards, drum programming, producer, recording, mixing *Ryan Arnold – recording *Eric Janko – recording *Carlos Warlick – mixing *

Tom Coyne Tom Coyne may refer to: * Tom Coyne (writer), American writer and professor * Tom Coyne (broadcaster) (1930–2015), British television presenter * Tom Coyne (music engineer) (1954–2017), American mastering engineer * Thomas Coyne (cricketer) (18 ...

– mastering *

Pen & Pixel Pen & Pixel Graphics Inc., was an American graphic design firm based in Houston, Texas that specialized in musical album covers, especially for gangsta rap artists in the Southern United States. For a long time, it was the house design firm for ...

– artwork *Chaz Hayes – management

Charts

References

External links

* {{Too Short (rapper) 1996 songs E-40 songs 1996 singles Too Short songs Jive Records singles Songs written by E-40 Songs written by K-Ci Songs written by Too Short