Shorty The Pimp

Personnel: Too Short, Shorty B, Ant Banks (rap vocals). Additional personnel: Carl Wheeler (piano on "Something To Ride To"). Recorded at One Little Indian Recording, El Cerrito, California and Live Oak Studios, Berkeley, California. Shorty the Pimp was Too Short's seventh album. As one would expect from an entertainer with six albums behind him, Too Short had by now perfected his craft. Though his focus was still on womanizing and pimping, by 1992 the rest of the rap world had "caught up" with the Oakland rapper's explicit brand of boasting and bragging. Aware of this, Too Short had gradually begun adding battle rhymes ("In the Trunk"), social commentary ("I Want to Be Free"), and cautionary tales ("So You Want to Be a Gangster") to the mix. Never particularly gifted as a rapper, Too Short's proved himself a wily veteran in his ability to squeeze every bit of effect out of his relatively simple style. But what separated Shorty the Pimp from the rest of the now-crowded rap field was the music. Producer Ant Banks, multi-instrumentalist Shorty B, and Too Short himself created a satisfying blend of funk samples augmented by live drums and deftly played basslines. Many of the backing tracks are composed well enough to be successful on their own. ~ Mtume Salaam