''Get In Where You Fit In'' is the eighth solo studio album by American rapper

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. A pioneer of West Coast hip-hop, Shaw was among the first acts to receive recognition in the genre during the late ...

. It was released on October 26, 1993, through

Jive Records Jive Records (later stylized as JIVE Records) was a British-American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary of the Zomba Group of Companies, Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chic ...

, making it his fifth release for the label. The recording sessions took place at Dangerous Studios. The album was produced by the Dangerous Crew and

Quincy Jones III Quincy Delight Jones III (born 23 December 1968), better known as QDIII, QD3 and Snoopy, is a Swedish-American music producer, composer and documentary film producer. Family Jones was born in Wimbledon, London, the only son of American musicia ...

. It features guest appearances from

Ant Banks Ant Banks (born Anthony Banks, May 16, 1969), is an American record producer and rapper from Oakland, California. Biography Anthony Banks was born in Oakland, California on May 16, 1969. In band lessons at school, he learned to play classical ...

, Ant Diddley Dog, Father Dom, FM Blue, Mhisani, Pee Wee, Rappin' Ron, Ronese Levias, and

Spice 1 Robert Lee Greene Jr. (born July 2, 1970), better known by his stage name Spice 1 (an acronym for "Sex, Pistols, Indo, Cash and Entertainment"), is an American rapper from Hayward, California. He began releasing albums in 1991, where he gained p ...

. The album peaked at number four on the ''Billboard'' 200 and topped the

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip-hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...

chart. It was certified Platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

on November 16, 1994.

Critical reception

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' reviewer gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, stating: "on his fifth album, ''Get In Where You Fit In'', Short plays his usual

blaxploitation In American cinema, Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from the exploitation film genre in the early 1970s, consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the black civil rights movement, the black power movement, ...

character, only he ain't battlin' the man, he's on his way to get some. Between " I'm a Player", "Playboy Short" and "Blow Job Betty", Short sounds like he's getting more than Shaft, Sweet Sweetback and Superfly combined". Dimitri Ehrlich of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' found that: "In ''Get In Where You Fit In'',

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

rapper seems to be operating on mental cruise control as he recounts gratuitous tales of life as a player in the streets and bedrooms of his hometown. Producer Ant Banks' antiseptic assemblages lack all the grit of the original recordings from which they were sampled. The result?

N.W.A N.W.A (an abbreviation for Niggaz Wit Attitudes) was an American hip-hop group formed in Compton, California in 1987. Among the earliest and most significant figures of the gangsta rap subgenre, the group is widely considered one of the great ...

redux meets

P-Funk Parliament-Funkadelic (abbreviated as P-Funk) is an American musical collective, music collective of rotating musicians headed by George Clinton (funk musician), George Clinton, primarily consisting of the funk bands Parliament (band), Parliame ...

lite".

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

reviewer wrote: "Although he tries to cop part of the current P-Funk-inspired

gangsta rap Gangsta rap or gangster rap, initially called reality rap, is a subgenre of rap music that conveys the culture, values, and experiences of urban gangs and street hustlers, frequently discussing unpleasant realities of the world in general th ...

, Too Short sounds lost and dated on the overlong, sample-reliant, grotesquely misogynist, and musically muddled ''Get in Where You Fit In''". Veteran critic

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

gave the album a "neither" rating.

Track listing

;Sample credits *Track 1 contains a sample of "Don't Fight the Feelin'" written by Kevin McCord and performed by One Way *Track 2 contains a sample of "Hollywood Squares" written by William Collins, Gary Cooper, and George Clinton, Jr., and performed by

Bootsy Collins William Earl "Bootsy" Collins (born October 26, 1951) is an American bass guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Rising to prominence with James Brown in the early 1970s before joining the Parliament-Funkadelic collective, Collins established himse ...

*Track 3 contains a sample of "Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll" written by Gregory Bufford, Jerome Bell, and Vaughn Mason, and performed by Vaughn Mason & Crew *Track 4 contains a sample of "Love Spell" written by Bill Curtis and performed by Fatback Band *Track 5 contains a sample of " Hollywood Swinging" performed by Kool and the Gang *Track 6 contains a sample of "Ring the Alarm" written by Clive Bright and performed by Tenor Saw *Track 7 contains a sample of "Shameless" written by Jean Roussel, Martin Simon, Tony Colton, and

Wilson Pickett Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter. A major figure in the development of soul music, Pickett recorded more than 50 songs that made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the '' ...

, and performed by Wilson Pickett *Track 8 contains a sample of "Freak of the Week" written by George Clinton Jr., DeWayne McKnight, and Pete Bishop, and performed by

Funkadelic Funkadelic was an American funk rock band formed in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1968 and active until 1982. As one of the two flagship groups of George Clinton's P-Funk collective, they helped pioneer the funk music culture of the 1970s.John, ...

*Track 13 contains a sample of "Heart of Stone" written by

Sylvester Levay Sylvester Levay (originally Lévay Szilveszter, Serbian language, Serbian: Силвестер Леваи, ''Silvester Levai'') is a Hungarian people, Hungarian recording artist and composer, born in Yugoslavia (now Serbia). Life and career Levay ...

and Stephan Prager, and performed by

Silver Convention Silver Convention were a German Euro disco recording act of the 1970s. The group was originally named Silver Bird Convention or Silver Bird. History The group was initiated in Munich, then West Germany, by producers and songwriters Michael Kun ...

Personnel

*Todd "

Too $hort Todd Anthony Shaw (born April 28, 1966), better known by his stage name Too Short (stylized as Too $hort), is an American rapper. A pioneer of West Coast hip-hop, Shaw was among the first acts to receive recognition in the genre during the late ...

" Shaw – main artist, mixing *Anthony "Ant" Banks – featured artist (tracks: 7, 8, 11), keyboards, drum programming, producer, mixing *Robert Lee "

" Green, Jr. – featured artist (track 8) *Mhisani " Goldy" Miller – featured artist (track 8) *Ramone " Pee Wee" Gooden – featured artist (track 8) *Russell " Rappin' Ron" Royster – featured artist (track 9) *Anthony "Ant Diddley Dog" Nelson – featured artist (track 9) *Leslie Calaway – featured artist (track 10) *Damani "Father Dom" Khaleel – featured artist (track 11) *Roniece Levias – featured artist (tracks: 10, 12) *FM Blue – featured artist (track 13) *Stuart "

Shorty B The Dangerous Crew was an American hip hop band formed by Oakland, California rapper and producer Todd "Too Short" Shaw. The Dangerous Crew consisted of both live musicians and rappers: Stuart "Shorty B" Jordan (bass, guitar, drums), Ramone "Pe ...

" Jordan – lead guitar & bass (tracks: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 13) *Stan "The Guitar Man" Jones – guitar (track 3) *Ramon " Pee-Wee" Gooden – keyboards, live drums *

– keyboards & producer (track 3) *Sean G – drums (tracks: 5, 10) *Kirk Felton – digital editing * Rob Chiarelli – engineering (track 3) * Tom Coyne – mastering *Nick Gamma – design *Victor Hall – photography

Charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1993 albums G-funk albums Too Short albums Jive Records albums Albums produced by Ant Banks Albums produced by Quincy Jones III