TOO $HORT(February 2012) | Interview By:
Nima Etminan
Dubcnn had the opportunity to catch up with the legend Too $hort
just in time for the release of Short Dogg's 19th official studio album, "No
TrespASSing", which is in stores on February 28th 2012. The album features
the likes of Snoop Dogg, E-40, 50 Cent, Devin The Dude, Twista and Dom
Kenendy and Short tells us a little bit about the making of the album and
the story behind some of the collaborations on there.
Short also confirms his collaboration album with E-40 for 2012, clears the
air on his feud with Messy Marv and has a few words for the person who
impersonated him on the fake Too Short & E-40 song that leaked a few months
back.
Read on and enjoy. As always feel free to hit upnima@dubcnn.comwith
questions or comments.
Too Short: I'm getting ready to drop a new one, man. Album number
19, it's dropping February 28th and it's been getting a lot of positive
feedback. I know it's a lot of haters out there with the "take yo' old ass
out of the game" stuff, but at the same time it's a lot of people that
realize that this is Hip-Hop, it's here to stay. Some of you rappers, when
you get my age, will wish that you could drop your album number 19. It's a
nice album too.
It's called "No TrespASSing", it will be available online and in stores
February 28th and it's got some nice guest appearances and features, from 50
Cent, Devin The Dude, Snoop Dogg, Dom Kennedy, Beeda Weeda, Twista, some
nice features.
Dubcnn: And E-40 is on the first single.
Too Short: No doubt, me and E-40 always get on each other's albums, always
make sure we're on each others stuff. We did a show in Las Vegas with Snoop
Dogg, DJ Quik, E-40, Ice Cube and myself, it was a pretty big show and of
course there were a lot of digital cameras backstage and me and E-40 just
happened to be shooting a video during the show. It was the "Money On The
Floor" video. We're just trying to get people used to it, first we had the
"Bitch" record moving around and we're getting ready to drop our duet album
in 2012.
Dubcnn: So that's still dropping in 2012?
Too Short: Yeah no doubt, we just inked the paperwork, it's all done.
Dubcnn: You've got 50 Cent on the album. Did that happen off the
strength of him jumping on the "Bitch" remix?
Too Short: It was a trickle down effect, 50 wanted to be on the remix and he
called me after that. I went and did a couple of songs for projects he's got
going on and then he came and did a song for me. So we've been mixing it up
a little bit, if you noticed 50 has been working with a lot of artists
lately. I figure that that's his way of staying in the mix and bridging the
gap between his last album and his new album.
Dubcnn: What videos can we expect off the new album?
Too Short: I shot a bunch of videos for the new album, we plan on dropping a
new video every two weeks. We've got a video to "Hey" featuring Silk-E from
Oakland, she's been around on a lot of E-40 songs. Just be looking for a lot
of Too Short videos. I've also been working with some young artists out of
Oakland, Rico The Kid, DJ Upgrade, Trunk Boyz, we've been shooting videos on
them so just keep your eyes open!
Dubcnn: A few months ago there was a lot of controversy about what
was going on between you and Messy Marv. Has that all been put aside?
Too Short: Well the Messy Marv situation never really made it to the big
picture with me. But at the same time, it was something that I had to
address because it was starting to seem like… Mess be doing these things
where he got people outside of the Bay thinking that he's riding 'round the
Bay with pistols slapping everybody and that he runs the Bay.
I understand that Marv is a battle rapper and likes confrontations with
rappers on mixtapes, but at the same time I'm like E-40, we're OG's of the
Bay. We blaze the trail for most Bay rappers and you can't bite the hand
that feeds you. You can't disrespect your OG's. If I stepped up and started
disrespecting the Grandmaster Flash's and Run DMC's and the guys that paved
the way for me… it's not good karma. So basically, Marv said a bunch of
stuff on Twitter, whatever, I made a lil song trying to be funny, and it
went away.
If it resurfaces, it is what it is, but for now, it went away. To me, it
wasn't a good look for the Bay in the first place and I hope it doesn't come
back around. Battle rapping is good and I love seeing rappers go at each
other, but you don't wanna be in the Bay and be known as the guy that goes
around dissing E-40 or Too Short. It shouldn't happen.
Dubcnn: Alright man. Before we get out of here, a while back a song
leaked that was supposedly by you, E-40 and Raphael Saadiq….. But it really
wasn't!
Too Short: *laughs* I was hoping that the fake E-40 and Too Short song
featuring Raphael Saadiq would have a video to follow and everybody could
see that it was a parody and it would have been real funny if they had a
dude that looked like 40 and a dude that looked like me. But actually, that
song fooled a lot of people! They thought it was a new Too Short and E-40
song.
E-40 called me like "Man, what's this song they saying we got?" I was like
"Dude, that ain't you or me on that song!" I called Raphael Saadiq like "Man
what is this song?" He said "That's a old Toni Tone song and somebody must
have found a TV mix with the hook on it and put new raps on it. So it was a
good joke! Whoever did it, you should have shot the video, muthafucka!
