Too Short

Todd Anthony Shaw (born September 28, 1966), better known by his stage name Too Short, is an American^{United States} rapper who started his career at the age of fourteen in Oakland^{East Oakland, California}, California. Too $hort has sold about 11 million albums in the US alone with 17 albums released and an average of 600,000 copies per album.

Shaw was born September 28, 1966 in South Los Angeles, and raised in East Oakland^{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. as well as the Priority Records compilation Nuthin but a Gangsta Party. 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^{Scarface(rapper)} and B-Legit. Too Short relocated to Atlanta in 1994, but he did not begin working with a more diverse variety of Southern artists until 2000, when he collaborated with Lil Jon. With the 1999 release of Can't Stay Away, Too Short fully came out of retirement and released a number of new albums within the next few years, most of them taking on a crunk or Dirty South type sound, as he had become involved in the Southern rap scene. However, he didn't totally give up on his trademark funk grooves or ***ually explicit style. New albums released 2000-2003 were You Nasty (2000), Chase the Cat (2001), What's My Favorite Word? (2002), and Married to the Game (2003). These albums all charted fairly well, as they all were in the top 71 of the Billboard Hot 200, but they didn't do quite as well as Too Short's earlier 1990s releases as none of them reached the top 10..

In 2004, his earlier 1990 single "The Ghetto" appeared on popular videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on West Coast hip hop radio station Radio Los Santos.

For his next album, 2006's Blow the Whistle, Too Short now took advantage of the new hyphy rap music that was emerging out of his original home base in Oakland. This saw somewhat of a resurgence for Too Short as it peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 200, much better than each of his previous three releases.

In 2009, Too Short recorded for Daz Dillinger, Lil' Jon, Soopafly, Scarface^{Scarface (rapper)} and B-Legit.Due to Too Short's normal rap topic of pimpin', he isn't credited with making uplifting, positive and political songs. Several of Too Short's themes are similar to those reflected in the works of author Iceberg Slim. However, Too Short has made several songs encouraging people to survive, stop drug use, not to be a gangster and get money. Such songs include famous hits, "The Ghetto" and "Gettin' It".

Too Short has influenced many rappers who claim themselves as a pimp or to live the pimp lifestyle such as Snoop Dogg. His flamboyant use of the word "Bitch" (pronounced as BeeITCH or Biatch) that he has used since the Born to Mack album has been picked up and emulated by various other rappers (and popularized in the mainstream by Snoop Dogg) and was turned into a popular slang vernacular used in other media, such as radio, television, and movies. Other artists have gained much influence from his lyrics which include Mac Dre, Snoop Dogg, E-40, Rappin' 4-Tay, Mac Mall, Lupe Fiasco, The Dogg Pound, Jay-Z, MC Eiht, Spice 1, Eminem, Young Buck, Turf Talk, 50 Cent, UGK, T.I., The Pack, The Luniz, Ludacris, and among countless others. For his last albums Too Short collaborated with many Southern Rap artists, included Lil' Jon. That gave a new Dirty South and Crunk sound to his works.Too Short runs his own record label—Up All Nite Records. Artists on the label include The Pack^{The Pack (group)}, Dolla Will, Boo Ski, and Li'l J & Boi Payton, FX. In addition to creating Up All Nite Records, Too Short has been a mentor at Youth UpRising, a group serving at-risk youths for several years.Too 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.

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.

Too Short has also appeared in an episode of The Game^{The Game (U.S. TV series)}.*1983: Don't Stop Rappin'
*1985: Players^{Players (album)}
*1986: Raw, Uncut, and X-Rated
*1987: Born to Mack
*1988: Life Is...Too Short
*1990: Short Dog's in the House
*1992: Shorty the Pimp
*1993: Get in Where You Fit In
*1995: Cocktails^{Cocktails (album)}
*1996: Gettin' It
*1999: Can't Stay Away
*2000: You Nasty
*2001: Chase the Cat
*2002: What's My Favorite Word?
*2003: Married to the Game
*2006: Mack of the Century... Too $hort's Greatest Hits
*2006: Blow the Whistle^{Blow the Whistle (album)}
*2007: Get off the Stage