Too Short

Todd Anthony Shaw (born April 28, 1966), better known by his stage name Too Short (stylized as Too $hort), is an American rapper and record producer. He became famous in the West Coast hip hop scene in the late 1980s, with lyrics often based on pimping and promiscuity, but also drug culture and street survival. This is respectively exemplified in his most popular songs "Blow the Whistle" and "The Ghetto". A pioneer of West Coast hip hop, Shaw began recording in 1983, cultivating a large following in his native Oakland. In 1987, his fourth album Born to Mack attracted the attention of Jive Records, who signed him and distributed the album nationally. His subsequent 1988 album Life Is...Too Short was highly successful, going double platinum, and he remained prominent into the 1990s. Early life Shaw was born and raised in Los Angeles. In 1980, he and his family moved to Oakland. He was a drummer in the band at Fremont High School in Oakland. Career In the mid-1980s, Shaw along with a high school friend Freddy B, produced custom songs (called "special requests") locally on cassette for people in Oakland and the Bay Area. In 1983, Too Short started his solo career and released his debut album, Don't Stop Rappin' on Oakland record label 75 Girls Records And Tapes which, along with four 12" releases, featured raw, simple drum beats from a LinnDrum drum machine. This was also one of the first hip hop records to use the word "bitch" – a word which became one of the rapper's trademarks and was the focus of subsequent raps such as "Ain't Nothin' but a Word to Me".