Today, we say happy birthday to one of the original West Coasters, Too $hort, born on this date in 1966.
As one of Hip Hop’s first self-made businessmen, $hort started off his career pumping his own X-rated mixtapes out of the trunk of his car. Releasing fifteen albums between 1987 and 2012, Too $hort has made tracks with everyone from B.I.G. and 2Pac to Lil Jon and Pimp C. As one of Hip Hop’s most versatile emcees, he’s found himself featured on, and featuring, tracks with the world’s other most respected lyricists.
Hailing from Oakland, he is considered one of the pioneers of the West Coast style, with many of his early works charting several times in the Top 10 for Billboard. Years later, he relocated to Atlanta, experimenting with the “Dirty South” sound for several years post-2000, resulting in his most well known party starter, and recent hit, “Blow The Whistle”.
Mount Westmore, the California rap supergroup made up of E-40, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, and Too Short, has returned with their latest video, “Bad MF’s,” after making their debut last year with “Big Subwoofer.” The new video, shot in striking black-and-white, follows the quartet as they hold court at a photoshoot, record in the studio, and oversee parades of lowrider cars through the streets of Los Angeles over a mellow, funk-laden beat. The video does a great job of showing off the four hip-hop veterans’ easygoing chemistry, which has been forged over decades of reigning as the godfathers of West Coast rap.
Individually, the members of Mount Westmore have been upholding their impressive legacies in different ways, but all have continued to use their stature to extend hip-hop into new arenas and maintain their independent grinds. While Ice Cube promotes his Big 3 basketball league, he recently introduced a Nascar crowd to some of his historical hits. Meanwhile, E-40 has expanded his business interests to the realm of Mexican-style beer with his E. Cuarenta Cerveza company after helping celebrate his and Too Short’s status as Bay Area legends on Verzuz. In February, Short Dawg made the most of that momentum with a Tiny Desk Concert for the history books.
A quarter century ago today in Hip-Hop history, Notorious B.I.G. released his second album, Life After Death. The double LP was released posthumously by Bad Boy Records. Biggie, who was killed two weeks prior to its release, was nominated for three Grammy’s for this project: Best Rap Album, Best Rap Solo Performance for “Hypnotize” and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for “Mo Money Mo Problems.”
Featuring artists like 112, Jay-Z, Lil’ Kim, Ma$e, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Too $hort and R. Kelly, along with tracks like “Kick In The Door,” “What’s Beef,” “Notorious Thugs,” “Ten Crack Commandments” and “Sky’s The Limit,” it can be said that Life After Death is one of the greatest rap albums of all time. The album hit #1 on the Billboard 200 chart and the US Top R&B/Hip Hop chart. It went diamond (that’s 10,000,000 copies sold) in the United States alone, double platinum in Canada, and platinum in the UK. Life After Death has also made appearances on top music charts across the globe. The album has been ranked by countless publications as one of the top rap and Hip-Hop albums of all time (The Source ranked it as #8 in 2005).
Salute to Diddy and the rest of the Bad Bot family for this timeless piece of Hip Hop history!
With the shocking consistency of rappers going to jail, being shot, and worse, Bay Area legend Too Short appeared on Club Shay Shay with Shannon Sharpe to talk about the downside of rap wars in the streets.
Short Dog says that the incarceration and/or death of a rapper hurts not only the artist but the people around him that have now been provided a way out of their otherwise bleak circumstances.
“That’s why I think we’re losing a lot of rappers, because, you know, chop it off at the head. That’s the bread and butter,” Short said. “When you gun down the rapper, you just gunned down five other employees’ income; you just gunned down school kids’ clothes, Christmas, a dope birthday that was going to happen.”
Don’t look for Too $hort to retire anytime soon. During an appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast, the Oakland legend revealed why he still takes the stage in 2022 and beyond.
“I do it because, once upon a time, I announced that I was retiring,” Too Short said. “I was 30 years old, and it was a big promotional push behind, ‘Too $hort retiring’ – I was on my 10th album at the time and I remember DJ Red Alert said to me, ‘You don’t ever see jazz musicians retiring or blues? Diana Ross and Smokey (Robinson) – they’re still on the stage. Why does a rapper have to stop?’
“So when he said that, I never ever considered retirement ever again. And I think that, the more I get older and wiser, I’m thinking somebody’s got to keep doing this.”
During his time on Club Shay Shay, Too $hort also discussed rap beef, visiting Atlanta in the 90s, Biggie and Tupac, and more. You can check out the full episode below.
In case you missed it, Too $hort has released a new single called “Big Sexy Thang,” which is a modern take on Hot Chocolate’s iconic song “You Sexy Thing (I Believe In Miracles)” and will be featured on his future album. The new release features Lil Duval.
The news comes only one day after $hort debuted the tune at his critically lauded NPR Tiny Desk (Home) Concert, highlighting his rap career longevity in honor of Black Music Month. The Bay Area legend, who is the only active hip-hop artist to have released albums in each of the last five decades, played a slew of classics from the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 10s, and 20s, including “Big Sexy Thang,” “Blow The Whistle,” “The Ghetto,” and others.
Before releasing “Big Sexy Thang,” $hort debuted “Nasty Dance” at a virtual strip joint, thanks to a collaboration with Kid Cudi’s interactive live music app Encore. The two worked on “Live from Too $ hort’s Funhouse,” a series of augmented reality live concerts.
Too $hort has released a new single called “Big Sexy Thang,” which is a modern take on Hot Chocolate’s iconic song “You Sexy Thing (I Believe In Miracles)” and will be featured on his future album. The new release features Lil Duval.
The news comes only one day after $hort debuted the tune at his critically lauded NPR Tiny Desk (Home) Concert, which highlighted his rap career longevity in honor of Black Music Month. The Bay Area legend, who is the only active hip-hop artist to have released albums in each of the last five decades, played a slew of classics from the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 10s, and 20s, including “Big Sexy Thang,” “Blow The Whistle,” “The Ghetto,” and others.
Prior to the release of “Big Sexy Thang,” $hort debuted “Nasty Dance” at a virtual strip joint, thanks to a collaboration with Kid Cudi’s interactive live music app Encore. The two worked on “Live from Too $hort’s Funhouse,” a series of augmented reality live concerts.
Too $hort performing an NPR Tiny Desk (Home) Concert during Black History Month is only right. The Hip-Hop icon pulled up on NPR to celebrate his longevity and dope career, which includes releasing an album in five different decades.
The Bay Area legend brought to an NPR a set that included “Blow The Whistle,” “The Ghetto,” and even the Mount Westmore collaboration “Big Subwoofer.” Fans also get a preview of his new single “Big Sexy Thang” with Lil Duval.
To celebrate his 50th birthday today, Snoop Dogg just released the music video for Big Subwoofer featuring West Coast rap icons E-40, Too $hort, and Ice Cube. The video is set in the future with Snoop and his crew on a spaceship where they encounter all types of characters including a 3-boobed alien bartender. It […]
