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The unparalleled legacy of Too Short, Oakland's greatest hip-hop icon 🎤, in this exclusive interview on Sway In The Morning. From his groundbreaking independent hustle to his influence on generations of artists like Snoop Dogg, UGK, and OutKast, Too Short breaks down his journey in the music industry. Watch as he shares untold stories, reflects on Oakland's rich contribution to hip-hop culture, and discusses his latest project, "Sir Too Short Volume 1: Freaky Tales."
Plus, hear about his collaboration with Ryan Coogler for the upcoming "Freaky Tales" movie, his enduring impact on the Bay Area sound, and why staying independent is more important than ever in today’s industry. This is a must-watch for fans of hip-hop, Oakland history, and anyone inspired by entrepreneurial success.
Don’t forget to subscribe for more exclusive interviews, hip-hop discussions, and iconic moments only on Sway’s Universe. Join the conversation and celebrate the legends shaping the culture! #TooShort #OaklandHipHop #SwayInTheMorning #FreakyTales #HipHopLegends #BayAreaMusic
#rap #cityofdope #ebkjaaybo #bayarea #hiphop
CHAPTERS:
00:54 - Too Short’s New Album
03:51 - Too Short’s Fast-Paced Career
06:58 - Oakland’s Contribution to Hip Hop
09:05 - Early Bay Area Hip-Hop Scene
13:25 - San Francisco's Hip-Hop History
16:58 - Connection Between Too Short and E-40
20:10 - Relationship With Pimp C
22:00 - Ubiquity in the Music Scene
24:34 - Too $hort's Longevity in Hip-Hop
26:52 - Coping With Loss: Losing Your Brother
32:07 - Freaky Tales: The Movie Insights
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0:01
that's it right there heather B i know it you know town the town is taking over the film industry right now ryan Cooler
0:08
just had a number one movie with Shout out to Ryan Cougler freaky Tales is the
0:13
number one cult classic right now it's already a cult classic shout out to Simba who was just here uh two weeks ago
0:20
to talk about uh Freaky Tales and shout out to it executive producer man this
0:25
guy when I say this fact I remember the first time I said this I saw him turn around at me and looked at me like are
0:31
you serious when I when it comes to hiphop Too Short put out his first album
0:39
before Run DMC did that's still crazy to hear and everybody in the room look back
0:44
at me like I was lying or something i'm a historian i was there for his first album and I was there for Run DMC's
0:52
first album when you listen to his this new project that he has out sir two
0:58
short volume one freaky tales there's a song at the end called check the status
1:05
I want to run that song real quick okay let's play that song DJ Tyler drop that song check the status and I want y'all
1:12
to listen to the lyrics you got that Tyler the one and only two short is in
1:18
the building citizen hey um uh real It's um it's check the
1:24
stats just check the stats okay check the stats just I'm just saying go get on Google whatever and just check the
1:30
numbers man and just see like Google rappers with the most platinum albums and see where I'm where I'm at on the list where where are you on the list i'm
1:37
in the category with the Sixers the six platinums so it's not a it's a lot of lot of twos and threes and fours then
1:44
when you get to five the numbers start shrinking like a lot of rappers with five platinum albums uhhuh little less with six quite a few less with seven and
1:51
then when you get to the eight and it it starts dwindling of rappers who have eight platinum albums i don't think
1:56
anybody got to the nines and tens yet maybe uh-huh but it's um it gets real thin when you get up there it gets real
2:02
thin is this a is this a stat that you always knew i mean I did six platinum
2:08
albums in a row in like six years so okay um it was 1996 uhhuh i announced my
2:16
retirement i said album number 10 is getting close to the end it wasn't five rappers that had 10 albums
2:23
in 1996 that's right so I I was working at a really fast pace um the thing that
2:29
kept me under the radar was probably I always as a rapper I always tried to
2:34
like dumb it down a little bit for the punchlines and the spitting game and the curse words i was emphasizing the bass
2:41
the funk in the music you know what I'm saying and just kind of like making it for the trunk of the car and not for
2:47
another MC yeah so it kind of flew under the radar a little bit they like who is too short [Â __Â ] ain't on the radio [Â __Â ]
2:53
you know like this but it was going platinum platinum because of the streets a lot of my biggest records were not my
2:58
singles they weren't your singles right like well freaky tales don't fight the feeling all that [Â __Â ] doing be there's a
3:04
bunch of them cuss words uhhuh bump so they made my albums go platinum so you purposely you said dumb down the lyrics
3:12
to have a broader appeal slow it down i don't even know i don't even think it was that it was just that's the style me and Freddy B did our early style
3:18
remember it's Freddy B on the microphone it was like people like that so I just kept going with it you kept going freddy
3:25
B by the way Heather B is somebody that when Two Short First came out he had a partner Freddy B that came out as well
3:32
so those two were the first from Oakland that I ever heard rapping right there
3:37
wasn't nobody before you right i I would say somebody dabbled there were there were dabblers okay but nobody got on
3:45
before Two Short and Freddy B we were the first popular rappers in the Bay Area period but short I want to go back
3:50
a bit cuz I feel like you you you said it but I'm thinking even as a former artist doing it 24/7 why were you
3:58
working so fast how did you have the wherewithal to do it so fast back then so I had a rap career in the streets
4:05
from 1980 to like 1985 before I ever seen a studio and in the streets we put
4:10
out a lot of tapes so I would really write every rhyme and put them in like a
4:15
box like I had a box of rhymes or wherever rappers keep their their rhymes yeah nike box whatever i had a box full
4:21
of like booklets and pages and all kind of stuff and when I started making records I started reverting to my box of
4:28
raps that I wrapped in the streets so my technique was the box was like it was like a U-Haul box full of rhymes and I
4:34
would just if I ever reused another rhyme from the streets on a record I would just put a line in it so when I go
4:40
through the box anything that didn't have a line in it was unused to the world it was only known in Oakland and
4:46
literally I did an album called Born to Mac jive Records picked it up uhhuh and
4:53
they've sent me the money the album's already made they sent me the money for the album and then they sent me the
4:58
advance for the second album the next one I made off the advance was uh Life is Too Short but like I said I'm just
5:04
digging in the box of rhymes put the [Â __Â ] out and they sent me the back end i'm like "Oh [Â __Â ] this how this works."
5:11
So so um Life is Too Short comes out it goes double platinum and I'm like before
5:16
Job could even go here's the front money i just send him another album and they had to send me like the advance and the
5:22
back end at one time i was like okay I got this now you can figure it out right about every nine months i just just send them an album i I never had a ANR
5:29
intervening i would send them on the same day without even going "Hey I'm sending the album Tuesday." It would
5:34
just show up it'd be the credits written out it would be the album mixed mastered it'd be the artwork for the cover and I
5:42
would just be like here and I just did that [Â __Â ] for like seven eight albums and you did it with already pre-written
5:48
rhymes exactly a lot of it i would just revert to subjects I titles I had used
5:53
before punchlines I used and I would just it would be it would be like half and half what was your style of writing
5:58
like did you like we hear stories of Rock Kim who used to write in a circle or Eminem had a crazy way of writing
6:05
what was your style of writing so on my paper which I used to mostly like line paper just from school with the three
6:11
holes in it every line would be the rhyming word would be at the end of the line but then I would write something
6:17
like um I write on a piece of paper I bust a nut and killed the [Â __Â ] and I'm
6:22
like I got to make a rhyme 16 bars 30 bars whatever [Â __Â ] a whole song to end up that's the last thing I'm going say
6:28
in the song so I'm writing to get to this punch line sound like a comedian and that song I just mentioned was a
6:35
[Â __Â ] Betty [Â __Â ] Betty that was a popular one in the streets i thought it was sounded funny if I said I busted nut
6:40
and killed the [Â __Â ] it was talking like in [Â __Â ] terms the nut got she choked on it and [Â __Â ] i had to write a whole
6:46
song to get to the punch line and it's a classic and every girl named Betty in the Bay Boy said she caught it [Â __Â ]
6:53
Betty [Â __Â ] Betty i remember that yo so when I listen to check the stats and
6:59
I listen to and it was like wow man i always try to always when I talk about your career because it was so
7:05
influential not just in Oakland but Northern California West Coast but I
7:11
years ago I started looking at it in a broader way like your influence on the music game as a whole and even Oakland
7:19
because of you Oakland's legacy uh to the hip to hip hop as a culture and to the music industry what would you say
7:27
the town's biggest contribution has been to hip-hop well if you take um hip-hop
7:33
from the beginning there's a lineage from hip-hop before me that's in me i
7:39
would be a part of super rhymes Jimmy Spicer because he like to rap really
7:45
long without the hook and he like to talk about his tell stories so I adopted that i would say I'm part of the lineage
7:52
of Spoon G cuz he was always talking about his escapades with the ladies he wrapped really smooth he didn't put a
7:57
lot of energy in the delivery and he raped for a really long time i'm like these are my heroes melly Mel cuz he
8:04
Melly Mel when he made the message and started doing that and got in that lane I really I was inspired to write the
8:10
story of Oakland so that's all their DNA is in me because I got that from them
8:15
but if you take the two short DNA and where did I hand it down to that's a lot of debate a lot of debate is is a is a
8:22
spin-off of Two Short and E40 yeah our hustle our independent hustle our the way we spit game because we were we were
8:29
doing the street lingo and the pimp lingo and putting it in the songs which made it real slick and then you look at
8:35
today my DNA legacy would be Pimp C outcast so who did Pimp C influence who
8:42
did UGK influence who did Outcast influence you know who did Snoop Dogg influence because Snoop Dogg was
8:47
influenced by Too Short and then you start doing the trinkle down you're like what in hip hop comes from the lineage
8:53
of Too Short and it's a lot any little rapper that's out there you know talking his little sex capades and me mentioning
8:59
little pimp references that's from too short so you know that's how I see it round of applause come on so both of
9:05
y'all have to give me some history then because being on the East Coast I remember like okay late super early 80s
9:15
hearing Jimmy Spicer hearing super hearing Super Roms these songs were played in like mix shows if you will mhm
9:22
i had no conception of that being played on the West Coast so how did you guys get the music like how uh There's a day
9:28
of the week called Tuesday okay every Tuesday at a record store called Tease Y
9:34
Uzi in the East My Mall in East Oakland yes uh my brother Moses would order
9:39
every [Â __Â ] hip-hop record that was available to order and it would sit in the record store in the little rap
9:44
section of just 12 inches not a lot of albums came out back then just 12 inches and Oakland if you're a distributor if
9:52
you're a label back then you learned early on that Oakland and the Bay Area were a good market for you like if you
9:59
look at when Soundscan came about different markets it'd be the Houston the Dallas the Chicago Detroits New York
10:06
Jersey you know the bigger cities would be where they got the most sales la and
10:12
the Bay was always up there top 10 on markets that bought hip-hop know unbeknouncsted to a lot of rappers from
10:19
New York City and the five burrows as well as Jersey we were on that [Â __Â ] from
10:24
day one i heard Rappers Delight i heard maybe Brand Master Flash and Fierce Five
10:29
Freedom uh some Curtis Blow Christmas rapping i probably had heard 10 records period and I was like I'm doing this
10:36
[Â __Â ] too yeah and I was a rapper summer in 1980 i first heard rap summer in 1979
10:41
a year later I'm a rapper so we was on it man i was the Tuesday guy i'm in that [Â __Â ] every Tuesday i bought
10:48
every whack ass rap record that came out every dope record that came out i didn't return [Â __Â ] i still got my CR all from
10:55
this one record store you guys Yeah that was our store that That store also made a lot of us like we did consignment
11:03
deals they they open later when we became artist yeah when we became artists you can you could do your own music independently and tiwis will put
11:11
you in the shelves every 30 days you come check to see what you sold but then it was also like um Kool Kpouble O radio
11:18
station Marcus Clemens and KK and those guys that's how I would hear it too it's like on the on the transistor radio just
11:26
sitting back in my mother KPO is a radio station that's playing rap nobody else is playing in the bay and the [Â __Â ] in the hood in Fillmore
11:32
San Francisco yeah so it's a lot of lot of lot of you know uh early days uh West
11:38
Coast stuff and I keep hearing the story mhm the story is being exchanged from a
11:44
curious person to like people from LA they're like you know tell me about West
11:50
Coast Hip Hop and they run you down a LA version and I'm like true story true story but it's a different story in the
11:57
Bay it's not the same story 8 1980 81 8283 different things were happening in
12:02
the Bay were happening in LA different things were hot in the Bay that were in LA it was a lot of exchanging but we had
12:09
our own Everybody got their own story miami has a story of how it came to be like ask Luke he'll tell you a different
12:15
story ask Scarface to tell me about Houston you know what I mean ask Common to tell me about Shytown everybody had a
12:21
little early 80s experience we all we all supported that [Â __Â ] so you know
12:26
that's why I always say like um Sha Kim Queen Latifah that flavor unit that was
12:34
Jersey when you hear Chill Rob G and Lati and Lim Sha Baz like double Apache
12:40
double X posi that's that route for for us it would it was before Red Man and
12:45
and Ny they taking nothing away from them but those were the early ones yeah brick City might be um they might have
12:52
number one status on the collective of best MC's best MC's right ever yeah
12:58
jersey right they might be the winner ever if you add them up the collective
13:03
Yeah yeah collective it's a lot it's a lot so you know the bay the Bay still I
13:09
think people would they they put every you know every city in the Bay you know when you talk about Oakland they include
13:14
every city in the Bay okay but you mentioned San Francisco san Francisco has a even a different history than
13:20
Oakland than Oakland right even though it's right across the bridge but who did you fratonize with back in the early
13:27
days who were the MC's of San Francisco and what can you what do you remember about that development so like I said
13:33
I'm the guy who breaks out early and before everybody else freddy B would have been my rap partner throughout my
13:38
whole career but right when we got out of high school he went to prison and you know I think he got out and went back
13:45
and basically you know after that he straightened his life out he's a preacher right now but Freddy B's a
13:51
preacher he preaches I think in Sacramento my man okay he's he's a deacon okay he's a deacon but um uh by
13:58
the time he had got out the second time I was like platinum i was out of there we did a lot of songs together but I was gone but um in the early days so I'm on
14:06
I get this independent spirit of how to do the records and stuff from Dean Hajes 75 Girls Records dean figured it out you
14:14
know he bought his way into the game and learned how to make records and distribute records and get the money back he taught that to me so I'm um
14:22
starting my own label after after 75 girls i started Dangerous Music and I'm
14:28
taking people like Spice One spice One was in high school and I I think my DJ Pierre the Beat Fixer brought Spice One
14:35
to my attention we go get him from his house he's in 11th grade and we got to
14:40
um ask his mama "Can he go to the studio?" Cuz because you know they say he's a really dope rapper i'm like "Well let's get the [Â __Â ] to the studio." Same
14:47
thing with Danger Zone the uh they highlight them in the movie Freaky Tales they went to the same school as Spice
14:52
One and they were they were kids like um get to their parents yeah we're going to put them in the studio i was in um San
14:59
Francisco one day i did a show at a club called The Solar System and it's in Hunter Point and I go in there to do my
15:07
show and when I get in there rapping Forte is on stage and the walls are sweating the crowd is singing every word
15:13
and he's just up there rocking the crowd and I'm like who the [Â __Â ] is that cuz I'm you know I'm the guy that been I'm
15:19
the guy that's been rocking the crowd and I don't really see nobody else rapping rocking the crowd i'm like who is that soon as I get off stage and I'm
15:25
like "Bro we linking up." And you go look back I was doing records with those guys when they were youngsters and what
15:31
I would do is instead of trying to be like Russell Simmons or Sylvia Robinson
15:36
I was just like "Bro I know some shit." Yeah that you could just go in studio do this i was telling everybody how to [Â __Â ] flip the game and take the
15:43
records and be like a drug dealer you know like get your money back like these albums is like kilos [Â __Â ] like we we get paid and I just spread the
15:50
word man to everybody it's crazy in the Bay that the Bay has this independent spirit yeah cuz 30 miles away from me is
15:57
E40 who is learning this he got the same [Â __Â ] as him and his family and they
16:02
figur trying to figure out how to get in this and they luckily have a uncle named Charles who knows a little bit of the
16:07
game he know the game and he's giving them the playbyplay on how to do it so they're 30 minutes away not long after
16:15
me trying to figure it out on their own and they figured it out and they taught a bunch of people the game that's how we
16:20
got that independent spirit you know what I mean and I was friends with E40 and Dshot and Be Legit before we ever
16:27
did songs together we was homies vallejo and Oakland always got along we used to go to Vallejo on Sundays and hang out
16:33
with them [Â __Â ] they acting wild dancing and [Â __Â ] and all that [Â __Â ] and you know Vallejo style and we just come
16:38
out there and and we might possi up and go to um Sacramento and we leave the
16:44
Vallejo Sunday and a bunch of Vallejo [Â __Â ] in Oakland [Â __Â ] go to Sacramento and go mix and mingle with them [Â __Â ] like what's up [Â __Â ] and
16:50
hang out at they party i was I was outside you was outside i only went home to change clothes and sleep sure was
16:56
outside so hey so when P came to the bay when Master P came to the bay y'all was
17:02
How did y'all first connect so P he talked to guys like 40 they was all interacting i remember the Master P
17:11
early songs and I tell him to his face like that first [Â __Â ] he put out yeah
17:16
like this [Â __Â ] can't rap told P that no I say I would tell him right now okay okay the first ones yeah
17:23
[Â __Â ] wasn't flowing yeah but you know I think in the Bay it was about what you saying it wasn't really about the flow
17:29
with a lot of rappers it's like what are you saying and Master P literally when you hear his story in like on like um uh
17:37
Unsung or something it's like this [Â __Â ] had a little family Little Romeo and his wife and they lived in a record store
17:43
that they ran they lived in the back of the store and he literally was selling
17:48
probably a lot of local Bay Area artist music and he's sitting there listening to it and watching how hot it is he
17:55
probably was like one day like I could [Â __Â ] do this [Â __Â ] and he caught the bug he's like I'm not going to just rap
18:00
i'm going to rap and sell my own records so I think that owning a record store watching what was selling and then
18:07
catching the bug and then when he caught the bug and figured it out put some [Â __Â ] out probably make some money he's like I
18:12
got to go home and do this and it probably was just in him like run New Orleans and take this [Â __Â ] I just
18:17
learned and it [Â __Â ] works so you know that independent spirit is something that should be talked about a lot right
18:24
now these [Â __Â ] labels ain't [Â __Â ] we know the history we seen what major labels do in a 40-year period in hip hop
18:30
they ain't [Â __Â ] they blow you the [Â __Â ] up then try to tear you the [Â __Â ] down they play all kind of games with your
18:35
career they sign you kiss your ass on the way in give you a [Â __Â ] check and then two years later they won't take
18:40
your [Â __Â ] calls sit you on the shelf you like "Nigga I don't like you either let me go they like "No we can't release you." The [Â __Â ] is this [Â __Â ] and then
18:46
they own your masters and then and they and they dwindle your [Â __Â ] fame down and go "Okay you can go now." Like [Â __Â ]
18:53
I'm not popular no more but I'm saying that independent spirit should be something that's preached now with the
18:58
internet we're streaming we're trying to fight our way into this fair payment of
19:03
streaming we know we getting ripped off again same old [Â __Â ] the reason why streaming is not paying right is because
19:08
of the [Â __Â ] majors they in bed with the spotifies and [Â __Â ] like keep these [Â __Â ] creative [Â __Â ]
19:14
broke it's crazy man so as independent as you can stay sometimes let's say if
19:19
you making 200,000 a year independent but you would be getting 2 million a year if you own a label that 2 that
19:26
200,000 may actually make your life better if you stayed there and stayed away from that big check with that extra
19:32
zero that extra zero could be the [Â __Â ] reason why you have a shorter career yeah and that money that check i
19:39
was just telling Lonnie Light our uh associate producer here once you take the check you got to answer the phone
19:45
and sometimes you don't feel like answering the phone for people you really don't i mean it sounds crazy but
19:51
that's the reality because the check they they own you and then some uncre some uncreative [Â __Â ] gets a job
19:58
that wasn't even working there when you was first signed it's like I think you should do this you should do that they're all in your sessions
20:05
don't know what the hell they talking about man too short is here man give this dude a round of applause love this
20:11
man you You got a song called Still Macking that's on this project and you in it you
20:17
go into some of the exploits um that you've had with PimpC you know talk to
20:23
me about how you fostered that relationship with UGK uh I was I was a big brother to Pimp he was um very
20:30
inspired by my album Born to Mac mhm on the album cover I have multiple gold
20:37
chains on i'm sitting on a Cadillac and it's like I meant this [Â __Â ] i heard that he's like "I want to be like that
20:42
nigga." And he he just he just said he said "Man
20:47
when I seen you sitting that Cadillac man," he said "I ain't even listen to the album." I said "That's what I want to do for a living." And Pimp C is a
20:53
music guy mhm guys like Pimp C Scarface they really get in the studio and play instruments and produce their songs and
21:00
sing and [Â __Â ] and you just don't know it cuz you get fascinated by the bars and you don't realize that's that [Â __Â ]
21:05
singing the hook and he made the beat he's one of those people that get in the studio and before you can even like the
21:10
weed it's already a beat playing you're like "What's that?" He's like "So I'm just cooking." Like what so Pimp C was
21:17
um very uncontrollable with with his um mood swings and for some reason
21:24
I was deemed one of the people who could bring him down off his uh tirades when
21:30
he was like pissed about something and you know his mama used to come to me B they'd be like "Man see there man talk
21:35
to that nigga." But I wouldn't I people think that I I could be like see calm down i could never do that yeah i
21:41
literally just was you know skilled in my people person [Â __Â ] and I would just divert him to a new activity like bro
21:48
it's some hoes down the hall let's go [Â __Â ] with him
21:54
like that i'm saying I just I just would get him off that and put him on something else and then we just be gone
21:59
and and it would the problem would go away you know man Sh I realized because me and Shore bumped into each other a
22:06
lot we bumping i prided myself on being everywhere all the time but I would see
22:11
you everywhere all the time and this is a part of your your your career that I I
22:17
don't know if people recognize or know but you've been like at the nucleus for
22:22
a lot of different artists you you let artists working with Big working with
22:27
Jay working with all these different people from all over the country you introduced them properly to the Bay Area
22:33
you were what do you call those like a great connector yeah and and don't forget to mention you when you see me I
22:39
I'll be solo bolo you be by yourself might have one or two females and one homie it ain't no
22:45
Rogers and stuff i mean I I do have the crew i will call the crew on your but I'm saying I go a lot of places and just
22:53
slide in by myself and it's cool i I don't fear over the years I never really fear fear like I oh I got my jewelry on
22:59
let me play it low key i just was in tune with the with the straits and [Â __Â ] i'm the [Â __Â ] that I hear this story all
23:05
the time about the resistance they got from Pimp C doing uh the [Â __Â ] uh song
23:12
with Bun B and Jay-Z was the song of Big Pimp was that done big pimping yeah [Â __Â ] i'm the [Â __Â ] that got him down to
23:19
Miami cuz they shot they shot the video in Trinidad and Miami and Bun is in the
23:24
Trinidad with the floats and stuff he doing his part but Pimp is only in the Miami scene pimp was in Atlanta
23:30
after all the uh resistance of doing the song he was doing the same [Â __Â ] again about doing the video and he was in
23:37
Atlanta thinking about going to that shoot they were shooting i'm getting the call somebody got to get this [Â __Â ] to
23:42
Miami so I came up with the idea he had just bought a brand new Mercedes i think it's in the video a little silver
23:48
twodoor Mercedes uh S-Class twodoor CL whatever the [Â __Â ] it was back then and
23:54
I'm like "Bro I just bought this Porsche let's take the cars down to Miami let's just get on the road and go and we took
24:00
a little road trip we got down there i He got to the V we in Miami now so it was easier to get him to the shoot he
24:05
only had eight bars on the song he did his one part and then we stayed in Miami like two weeks just going around just
24:10
kicking it and [Â __Â ] but if we didn't go to Miami to flex the new cars and hang out for a while he wouldn't be in the
24:17
big pimping video wow that's that's my god that's the other part of the story bun He don't know about the road trip he
24:23
don't know about the road trip bun don't even know that one wow he might he might
24:28
remember but I really had to like say "Bro let's put the let's put the whips on the road go down there [Â __Â ] miami." So let's get to the movie man this is
24:35
Give this man round every time I say his name round of applause too short damn it
24:40
i'm proud of you bro i'm just Yeah man longevity it's been 1983 that first
24:46
album came out but he just said he been rapping since 80 right so that's 45
24:53
years yeah since I was 14 man yeah I'll be um 59 years old a week from today my
24:59
man looking great in good shape amen dad now I'm I'm a young father you're a
25:04
young father i'm I'm what I call a granddaddy daddy a granddaddy so my first child was born at the same time
25:11
all my homies are ushering in grandkids uhhuh so I'm like let me let your grandkids play with my kids yeah what
25:16
What did that I know you get asked this a lot but and it's hard to tell till years pass by but what but how how has
25:23
your kid added to your to your being i feel like I had a kid late in the game
25:29
because I had planned at some point on like avoiding having kids altogether
25:34
Kumo D style and I think what happened was the divine universe was like "You
25:42
got to slow down [Â __Â ] you're the oldest [Â __Â ] in the club now." And and here's a
25:47
reason that you know it's like a lifesaver to me man like literally I went from drinking five days a week to
25:53
two days a week i went from hanging out six days a week to one two days a week just when I got to do shows and when I
25:59
got to be there and I kind of um really just I lost my mother the year before my
26:05
daughter was born that's right and and it was like this handoff of like I was
26:11
always in that that care of that umbrella under my mother of how to stay sensible and the thing you know when
26:17
your mama be like you know you get on the phone like where you at Todd all that too short goes out the window yeah and you you have that grounded thing to
26:25
always turn to a meal a holiday you go to your mama and when I lost that I
26:31
immediately got my daughter and I'm like it just was another anchor to stop me from going too far to the edge you know
26:38
and going over so it really really doubted back in a mental space
26:43
where nobody no thing had to do it i just automatically felt it like felt it
26:49
you're you're a different person you got to be a different person for this person mhm i love you sharing that too man i
26:54
want to say um I want to say I've sent a message to you about your brother you lost your brother recently man and what
27:01
what can you tell us about your brother that people may not know my brother been there my my entire career at T callaway
27:08
and folks may not know all the contributions he made what can you share about your brother well without my brother you really don't ever get too
27:15
short it doesn't exist my brother is the guy when I got to Fremont High i'm 5 foot2 i'm in 10th grade he in 12th grade
27:23
um I'm 5'2 at a school where you know size matters you gonna like [Â __Â ] is gonna test you yeah and day one they
27:29
like see this little [Â __Â ] right here [Â __Â ] with him don't [Â __Â ] with him so I I got that to get through the hallways you
27:35
know what I mean but then you know we we sometimes take that long walk from uh from Foothill and High Street to
27:42
MacArthur and High Street to get to the house and this nigga's cussing me out the whole way you little stupid ass
27:47
[Â __Â ] you you ain't weak ass rap ass [Â __Â ] you know what I'm saying
27:53
big brother [Â __Â ] like [Â __Â ] they like my [Â __Â ] they like your [Â __Â ] here but you ain't ll Cooj
27:58
[Â __Â ] like it was it was constant and um you know it was just that [Â __Â ] you like
28:04
it just that push you know and and even like about life like as my brother come
28:09
in the house man that's the [Â __Â ] outside say he want to fight you and you won't come out i'm like man I ain't a fighting that [Â __Â ] like [Â __Â ] yes you
28:15
are hey come on [Â __Â ] hey everybody go around the corner basketball court come
28:21
on and we marching the whole block to the to the court cuz my brother say "If I don't fight fight dude I got to fight him." And he three years older than me
28:27
I'm not winning that fight so let me go fight this [Â __Â ] so he was just that guy and then later on in life you know when
28:34
we got to Atlanta is when he really uh he got involved with like my career cuz
28:39
now I'm platinum he he avoided me for a long time on just like fake ass [Â __Â ] mhm and he had this theory that um if if
28:46
if you're a rapper Mhm instantly you're in the fake [Â __Â ] category just for being a rapper cuz he from the real
28:52
[Â __Â ] who did time in the pen and real [Â __Â ] who aren't rappers that's just that was just his [Â __Â ] so um I would
29:00
bring artists around and my I would you know me and a couple of the homies we knew what was going to happen you got to
29:06
get past Wayne Lok emotionally physically to even like get into the
29:12
circle but Wayne Lo is the gate mhm and he's immediately going to like hover around you if he smell fake [Â __Â ] on you
29:18
he going to talk to you and he just want the fake [Â __Â ] to come he wants all of us to see the fake [Â __Â ] in you and then
29:23
he like I heard the verse you spit that [Â __Â ] was whack short ain't going to like that [Â __Â ] he would say that wow he like
29:30
he like and it's just he like he just you're sitting in my house right you don't want to disrespect my brother and he's like I can just see you just a fake
29:37
ass [Â __Â ] like he's just killing you but if you get past that if you dare say "I
29:42
ain't no fake [Â __Â ] [Â __Â ] my birth is tight." Then he like you he likes you but if you just crumble and he just This
29:49
fake [Â __Â ] over here I don't even know why y'all let this fake [Â __Â ] in the house like he just was that dude man
29:54
like my brother was All the little kids in our family that's related to us love Wayne Lo but Wayne Lo is the guy on
30:01
December 21st who walks past the kitchen and the aunties and the little kids go
30:06
"Merry Christmas Wayne." and he just never breaks stride and go [Â __Â ] y'all
30:14
but they all love him they all love it so I I can't say nothing else about it that is Was he proud of you though man
30:20
yeah in the end he kind of um he kind of said you know man I used to just be hard on you cuz uh cuz you know I was trying
30:26
to make you hard i was trying to make I always liked your raps i like [Â __Â ] quit lying [Â __Â ] now you being a fake [Â __Â ]
30:32
right and then and I I know you do this with your brother we exercise our brains
30:38
by arguing yeah bro and I can argue with people and have certain emotions about
30:43
that argument afterwards but with my brother every argument is like we can hang up on each other [Â __Â ] you [Â __Â ]
30:49
it's just I love that [Â __Â ] like it wasn't it wasn't a fluctuation like we go from an argument of like we love to
30:55
call each other stupid ass [Â __Â ] your theory is stupid cuz we arguing theories but then five minutes later like [Â __Â ]
31:01
did you see the Warriors game yeah it's just like that right yeah so that I I lost that if I lost anything a few
31:07
months ago I lost my person to argue with intellectually and I lost a [Â __Â ] to call and analyze sports
31:13
with that's that's important that's important right cuz we know the history of our lives and the stories of sports
31:19
like sports is not about the game 100% right it's all the stories that go along with it you got to know about the
31:25
emotions the players going through where they used to be all this [Â __Â ] and you know the the history of the teams yeah
31:31
and we talk that [Â __Â ] that that sports theory and that life theory well rest in peace Dwayne Lope a round of applause
31:37
for that man i got a lot of text messages in my phone you know your family will text you them
31:42
[Â __Â ] eight page text so I I can go back and visit him every now and then you know cussing me out in Texas you got
31:48
a big brother big brother from Oakland you going to go through exactly that is it the same diff it's two years with you
31:54
and Cal as well yeah yeah so it's uh And I mean to this day but man when I see
31:59
him it ain't nothing like it man i I mean he the realest to me on the planet so when I see them I'm at my realest you
32:06
know so it definitely makes a difference uh Too Short is here man we celebrating a couple of things the Freaky Tales
32:12
movie the new album Coo Short Volume Value One Freaky Tales that's out now yes sir bro to have this
32:21
movie talk to me about just even have being an executive producer on this movie is this the first movie you've
32:28
you've executive produced yeah and the directors um had a title a working title
32:33
called Freaky Tales uhhuh uh the one director Ryan Flex said he was um 10
32:39
years old when Freaky Tales came out and when he got older he just had that title
32:44
written down somewhere he's like "One day I'm going to make a movie called Freaky Tails." 20 years ago he had this
32:49
in his head and when it started happening they said they went through many many ideas of what that could be
32:56
and when they finally started getting it right him and his uh his partner Anna who co-directed it um they um got in in
33:04
touch with me one of the you know it's four chapters one of the chapters is about my story so they wanted me to be
33:11
involved from the start when they ran it down to me sent me the script it wasn't even I don't even think I I said yeah
33:17
before I even read the script yeah you know what I mean i knew what level it was on i knew their history of movies
33:22
that they had already directed and I knew it was the real deal but I think um the thing I'm most proud of is um not
33:29
really seeing Simba play me on screen but he killed it though i know i know he looked like me he was he was uh eating
33:35
that girl out before the show that never happened oh that never happened in real life never ever that's all that's
33:42
theatrics that's theatric okay all right it was believable though yeah i mean it was it was funny it was funny yeah i
33:48
said I let it slide because it made me laugh too but um um I think that the what I'm most proud of is that the movie
33:55
was filmed in Oakland and we have a lot of talent from Oakland tom Hanks makes a big cameo in the movie yeah he's from
34:01
Oakland you know you know legendary film people like Clint Eastwood went to
34:07
[Â __Â ] I think he went to Castle M oh wow i didn't know that clint Eastwood is from Oakland you know what I
34:12
mean so you got Clint Eastwood you got Tom Hanks you got Ryan Cougler i'm talking the years and I can go back um I
34:19
was just googling people from Oakland one day you know who popped up the the the man from uh uh the black dude from
34:25
the Love Boat isaac isaac the I think his name is something Washington um
34:31
something something Ted Ted Ted Lan yeah ted L he came up as Oakland
34:36
resident man i'm just saying like we have a lot of legacy in this little town and we just don't use that backdrop for
34:45
movies i see these San Francisco movies over the years the hills the Bay Bridge you know we got the Miami movies the New
34:51
York movies the LA movies where the city is the backdrop new Orleans even Atlanta
34:56
but Oakland has such a rich legacy yeah like we we don't just put people in
35:03
position to be stars they become like cultural icons you know what I mean like
35:09
I have a list a working list i have You got it on you yeah i will show it to you so you can pop your color i need that i
35:16
need that short cuz I'm being in here by myself man it's just me and you you know don't stop rapping and and sway the
35:22
morning we the only ones legends let's see where you at hopefully my name in there too bro
35:29
heather just said "Are you on the list?" Sway come on bro sway on the list yeah I'm just saying let me see the list
35:35
shoot him down the list bro oh my gosh let's listen to it from Oakland huey P newton damn bill Russell i didn't know
35:42
that point Pointer Sisters i knew that tom Hanks Tower of Power Ricky Henderson
35:48
MC Hammer Rafael Sadik Tony Tony Tony Invogue Mr fab Zenaia Gary Payton Felix
35:56
Mitchell Kehani G Easy Jason Kid Brian Shaw Mark Curry Damen Lillard Marshon
36:04
Lynch Sway Callaway Kesha Cole Lil D the Raiders the A's the Warriors Jimmy
36:12
Rollins Ted Lens uh Don Barkstdale the Mac the movie right look
36:20
up on that one the Mac the movie Andre Ward and the Ward brother
36:25
okay uh Clint Eastwood um I didn't know that one till today what's my man um
36:31
Dell Lindo uh Dell Lenroy slide Ryan Cougler back in there too it's Ryan Cougler but the actor d Lroy the actor i
36:40
think he's from Oakland okay let me look it up look that up he's a newer newer actor like last five 10 years right yeah yeah uh uh man look at this and you even
36:47
got What is this a verse it's a song bro it's called Oakland Legends oh [Â __Â ] i
36:52
made it in a song god damn it damn damn short thank you man you You got two mentions in the song actually you got two mentions in the song oh man I'm in
37:00
the song tracy not even though he's not from Oakland but from Oakland oh man yo
37:06
when you read this and I and what's Grandmaster Flash's TV show um they did
37:11
the show about um Flash was the was the overseas oh that's right the um the Wonder uh one of the stars in that show
37:17
was from Oakland from Oakland right young homie yo there's a lot of And this What's my man that's in that that passed
37:22
away um uh Angus Angus Cloud angus Cloud is from Oakland he was in he was in Euphoria right um and that that's not
37:30
even to mention all the new upand cominging people that's coming out of the town but I I I I made that list
37:36
uhhuh to find some kind of way to get that list to younger people and go
37:42
"These people on this list walk the same streets as you they went to the same schools as you and they had the exact same opportunities and and tools and
37:50
stuff and I mean you know it's like be great like the people that walked the sidewalks before you like Harlem has
37:55
that motivation newark has that motivation when you give examples then you have something to look up to you
38:01
know what I'm saying you set see where the bar was set um a lot of people on the list might not be born in Oakland
38:07
but they got it from Oakland and you know I didn't even have Tupac on the list tupac lunell yeah Lunell i mean god
38:12
damn why could I got She's in the song oh Mahersa Ali oh my
38:18
god souls of mischief it's a lot bro yeah it's a lot of folks it's I'm actually like you know you can hit me
38:26
later seven names you forgot yo I'm I'mma shoot so many to you but I
38:32
I feel really proud to be on that list well man I I say this man you you a big
38:38
part of making us believe letting us not be even beyond beyond belief is to know
38:45
you let us know it could be done so you got to be at the top of that list and you've been doing it longer than as far
38:52
as I'm concerned any of those names you mentioned and you did it in the Oakland way like when he talk about the
38:58
entrepreneurial spirit we all had hustle in us you know you know we've always I
39:03
think I think Mr shaw is one of the smartest people to come through the music industry and for you to have this
39:08
kind of longevity is evident in that so we definitely got to salute you for it man hey man i'm just proud i made it in
39:15
the song short man come on man i keep the channel with me man i I don't think um I don't know if you guys got a number
39:21
how many episodes you guys as a as a team as a show as a show the wake up show
39:27
but I don't think you they did one show without saying the word Oakland oh definitely short definitely
39:35
man thank you see I'm not by myself but he's from Oakland sean I be tired of
39:40
that [Â __Â ] you know what it is that's what we do man yo you'll never have to ask this [Â __Â ] where he's from
39:46
where you from man you know what it is i'll give you the whole play from the hospital to the to the [Â __Â ] high
39:52
school uh you got to do that uh short man congratulations man i We only got so
39:58
much time here man i'm Hey man listen brother i'm proud of you don't Stop
40:04
Rapping um Rock the Bells Radio yeah Don't Stop Rapping that's the show that's That's my theme for my career and
40:10
my radio show yo you got a awesome show man we I You know when I when I listen
40:16
to you on the radio man I I sit and I and I learn you have a very alluring
40:22
style about your conversation man and it's all real you know you know it was um it was really on training wheels and
40:29
you you gave me some game one day you was out here in LA and I took that game and changed the whole show at Little
40:35
Smith game cuz you told me you start start bringing in some guests talk you know just kind of broaden it out a
40:40
little bit so I I expanded my horizons and I'm I'm just doing my version of upholding the legacy of hip hop there
40:47
you go man i appreciate that man and guess what guess what i now have all the passes and badges to get through this
40:53
building there you go you finally got it no it's hard getting that [Â __Â ] man they
40:59
take you through it it takes some years hey man hold on we got a couple of people on the line let me get to them real quick i know we got to go lord
41:05
Sears up next l in Hollywood what you want to say what up L man I Hey hey hey
41:11
hey hey sway in the morning you know K you know how it is uh first time caller but a long time listener to you man
41:20
listen to you celebrate it man welcome to the tribe we got mutual family we got
41:25
mutual family gary up up in the Bay i know you know your fam G what's Gary i know a couple gary Gary Wise or what's
41:32
Gary gary Archer what Gary hart hart aka
41:37
uh Stable gary Hart my god yeah yo damn you yeah that's that's hot that's cool i
41:43
was there last time you was there we got family you know I've been trying to hook up uh cuz I got a couple things but let
41:49
me tell you about two Shore being a legend though for sure for sure for sure and uh just like uh you were saying he's
41:55
everywhere and I'm always in the bird i'm always here and there and I see him i don't care what time it is he's on the
42:02
bird somewhere come from somewhere going somewhere solo for sure for sure and but
42:08
I just want to say uh yeah born and uh life is too short man that that that
42:14
thing is a frame right now it was almost like uh you know porno for the for for
42:19
for your earn you know I was only about seven years i'm not even going to go deep into it but I'm going go I was only
42:26
about 7 years old when I when I first got my hands on that and it was sitting and my family I used to sit and listen
42:33
and and watch them and they would leave the house and they would just sit there on the table and I'll be glazing at the
42:39
cover of it okay hey L you got a question for short though l you got a question for short yeah yeah yeah i got
42:46
I got a I got a What makes you so passionate about being in it for so long
42:52
because you're still in it you're still doing it and you're a hip-hop head not a old hip-hop head you you the hip-hop
42:59
head um I'm a music guy and I think a lot of us rappers and R&B singers and
43:06
you know just people in the music industry uh a lot of artists are artists and they come to the studio and they
43:12
work with producers and they make good songs but a lot of us artists are actually producers and musicians and we
43:18
love the music so even if um I couldn't put out music to the public I probably
43:23
would have a home studio and make music anyway you know just that that that love you produced for Spice One name all the
43:29
people you produce i mean I made some early beats man i did some beats for you know Rapforte um I I my thing my thing
43:36
is I was making beats out of necessity i'm like I can do this i got a drum machine in front of me and I'm like let me figure out how to work this
43:42
[Â __Â ] and just just do it man i was making homemade tapes that sounded really good just using a DJ mixer and
43:48
turntables and instrumentals so when it came studio time I'm like "Let me figure this [Â __Â ] out." But then I met the guy named Ant Banks ant Banks come on so
43:56
that's a round of applause and is Ant on the list did we say Ant Banks on the list he's definitely on the list okay and when um and when you meet a person
44:03
like that you're like "Oh [Â __Â ] this [Â __Â ] does what I do way better than me." And I'm like "Okay I can focus
44:09
on other parts of music making." and Ant Banks took over with like the mixing and the beats and stuff he Oh man he laced
44:17
us yeah e40 Spice One you know Drew Down he laced a bunch of us a bunch of us so
44:24
um shout out to that brother for sure and Banks is like EA Ski and Banks um these are just a couple of producers
44:31
that help really cement a a signature Bay Area sound right um hey L you're a
44:38
citizen man thank you brother Short man thank you for coming through i know it's early but you're a radio guy you know
44:43
what this is come on yeah yeah yeah um I'm not usually getting up and out the
44:49
show i get up early but I just don't move around i hate the [Â __Â ] morning driving people i hate them
44:55
that's pretty That's pretty much your audience yeah that's my audience he doesn't mean nothing by that y'all y'all keep listening he loves you citizens i
45:02
don't hate you as people i hate you as drivers cuz you guys are so mad you got to get up and go to work in the morning
45:07
i'm like I'm like only there cuz I'm trying to catch a flight i'm I'm like I'm not the one i'm sorry I won't be here tomorrow yo that's You drove
45:13
yourself to the airport i drive myself to the airport i drove myself here i I prefer to not have a driver because I
45:20
drive fast cars and I drive fast okay good to know town business man ta man
45:25
give it up for too short man love you brother keep going it sir too short buy your one freaky tales is out now on all
45:32
platforms make sure you watch the Freaky Tales movie as well too short the legend
45:37
the icon don't stop rapping
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