In “Captain Save a Hoe”, E-40 spouts a bitter tirade directed at a man who is every gold digger’s dream – a guy who wants to help a woman who has made a lot bad decisions in her life and treat her like a queen. According to E-40:

A captain is somebody that goes out of his way to impress a broad

It was E-40’s debut single, taken from his 1993 EP The Mail Man. The song was released to radio under the cleaner name “Captain Save Them Thoe”. Peaking at #94 on the Hot 100 in the summer of 1994, it didn’t break any Billboard records, but it’s definitely a classic.

In 2014, E-40 applied for a copyright on the term “Captain Save a Hoe”. In 2017, author Erika Kane wrote a book titled Captain Save a Hoe and E-40 sued the publisher for having “wrongfully appropriated” the term. The publisher then countersued, claiming E-40 “had filed incomplete trademark requests and his rights do not cover” it.