Too Short
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Categories: 1966 births | African American musicians | San Francisco Bay Area rappers | California musicians | Living people | People from Los Angeles | People from Oakland, California | People from Atlanta | West Coast rappers
Todd Anthony Shaw (born April 28 1966 in Los Angeles, California), better known by his stage name Too Short (seen on album covers as Too $hort), is an American rapper who started his career at the age of fourteen in Oakland, California.[1]
BiographyBorn in South Los Angeles; raised in East Oakland, California during his teenage years. In the early 1980s, Short produced custom raps (called "special requests") for people with his high school friend, Freddy B. In 1983, Too Short released his first album, Don't Stop Rappin', on the local label 75 Girls.[1] This and his next three releases had raw and simple drum beats using a LinnDrum drum machine in the early 1980s, switching to mostly the TR-808 and TR-909 by the mid-to-late 1980s. With his 1988 release, Life Is...Too Short, he began infusing replayed established funk riffs (rather than samples) with his beats. In 1986, Too Short and Freddie B. founded the Dangerous Music record label to distribute his music regionally.[1] Dangerous Music later changed names to Short Records, and then Up All Nite Records. He first developed a noticeable fan base with the album Life Is...Too Short in 1989, which started a string of platinum albums. Too Short's songs are principally recognizable for their emphasis on Pimpin' and related sexually charged topics. With the rise of gangsta rap in the late 1980's/early 1990's, his style found a natural place in mainstream rap. Not surprisingly, Too Short's popularity peaked in the 1990's with Short Dog's in the House in 1990 and Shorty the Pimp in 1992. The latter included classics such as "No Love from Oakland" "Hoes," and "Step Daddy," all of which deal with his exploits as a pimp, and playing hoes. While macking hoes was a common topic in other gangsta type rap of the time, including the popular rap put out by Death Row Records, it should be noted that Too Short was never really a gangsta rapper. His work chronologically straddled the rise and decline of gangsta rap, and never really dealt with guns, killing, drugs, or gangs, and very rarely used the word "Nigga," but rather focused on the life of a pimp, and getting laid. Indeed, often his lyrics criticize crack cocaine users. Subsequent work including Get in Where You Fit In (1993), and Cocktails (1995), dealt with similar issues. He retired from full-time solo rap with the 1996 release of Gettin' It.[1] Subsequent work was primarily collaborative, including work with Diddy, The Notorious B.I.G., Scarface, UGK, Jay-Z, and Snoop Dogg. He appeared TWDY's hit single "Player's Holiday" from their 1999 debut album Derty Werk[2] as well as the Priority Records compilation Nuthin but a Gangsta Party.[3] After these appearances, he began working on his eleventh album, Can't Stay Away. The album included guest appearances by 8Ball & MJG, Jay-Z, Jermaine Dupri, Sean Combs, E-40, Daz Dillinger, Lil' Jon, Soopafly, Scarface and B-Legit.[4] Too Short relocated to Atlanta in 1994, but he really didn't begin working with a more diverse variety of southern artists until 2000 including Lil Jon. In 2004, "The Ghetto" appeared on popular videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on West Coast hip hop radio station Radio Los Santos. InfluenceAlthough he isn't usually considered a true gangsta rapper because the topics covered were almost solely about sex and rarely touched on other aspects of the "gangsta" lifestyle, Too Short nonetheless had influence in early and modern gangsta rap. Too Short's songs had a great influence on Ice Cube's (rapper and songwriter for N.W.A) early writing. [5] Following his relocation to Atlanta, he worked with a variety of snap and crunk artists. Too Short has influenced many rappers who claim themselves as a pimp such as Snoop Dogg. Because of Too Short's normal rap topic of pimpin, he isn't credited with making uplifting, positive and political songs. Though he has made several songs encouraging people to survive, stop drug use, not to be a gangster and getting money. While most older rappers from the late 1980s-early 1990s (the so-called Golden age of hip hop) have criticized those genres for their lack of lyrical complexity or content, Too Short has been one of the few who were active in that time to embrace the new styles.[6] His flamboyant use of the word "Bitch" (pronounced as BeeITCH or Biatch) that he has used since "Don't Fight the Feeling" has been picked up and emulated by various other rappers (and popularized in the mainstream by Snoop Doggy Dogg) and was turned into a popular slang vernacular used in other mediums, such as radio, television, and movies. Up All Nite RecordsToo Short runs his own record label—Up All Nite Records. Artists on the label include The Pack[7], Dolla Will, and Boo Ski. Too Short in filmToo Short played the role of Lew-Loc in the film Menace II Society. Too Short has also worked in the adult film industry, with the 2003 film Get In Where You Fit In.[8] Along with Snoop Dogg, Short was one of the only interviewees in American Pimp who were not current or previous full-time pimps, a testament to his contribution to the Pimp culture. Discography
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