''Shorty the Pimp'' is the seventh 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 July 14, 1992, via Jive Records. The album's title is taken from the 1973

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, ...

film of the same name, featuring an eponymous character. The recording sessions took place at One Little Indian Recording in El Cerrito and Live Oak Studios in Berkeley. The album was produced by Ant Banks, D'Wayne Wiggins, and Too Short, with Ted Bohanon serving as executive producer. It features

guest appearance The term guest appearance generally denotes the appearance of a guest in an artistic or pop-culture setting. The guests themselves (referred to as guest artists, featured artists, guest stars, or guest fighters, depending on context), are disting ...

s from Ant Banks, D'Wayne Wiggins, Mhisani and Pooh-Man. The album debuted at number 6 on the US ''

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a rec ...

'' chart with 82,000 copies sold in its first week. It was certified Gold 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 September 18, 1992 and achieved Platinum certification on January 19, 1996. It was supported with two singles: "I Want to Be Free (That's the Truth)", which peaked at No. 41 on the

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

and No. 5 on the

Hot Rap Songs Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by '' Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stat ...

, and "In the Trunk", which made it to No. 23 on the Hot Rap Songs. The album's second single "In the Trunk" can be heard in the opening scenes of the 2018

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

film ''

Black Panther A black panther is the Melanism, melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical Rosette (zoology), rosettes are al ...

''. The song "So You Want to Be a Gangster" was earlier included in 1991 ''Juice'' (soundtrack) and later was featured on the 2013 ''

Grand Theft Auto V ''Grand Theft Auto V'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the seventh main entry in the Grand Theft Auto, ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2008's ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', and ...

'' in-game radio station 'West Coast Classics'.

Track listing

;Sample credits *Track 3 contains samples of "Slow Dance" written and performed by Stanley Clarke and "Cannot Find a Way" written and performed by

Curtis Mayfield Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Dubbed the " Gentle Genius", he is considered one of the most influential musicians of soul and socially conscious Afric ...

. *Track 4 contains a portion of the composition "Take Your Dead Ass Home! (Say Som'n Nasty)" written by George Clinton, Bernie Worrell,

Garry Shider Garry Marshall Shider (July 24, 1953 – June 16, 2010) was an American musician and guitarist. He was musical director of the P-Funk All-Stars for much of their history. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, with fifteen ...

and Glenn Goins. *Track 5 contains a portion of the composition "Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples" written by George Clinton, Garry Shider and William Collins. *Track 6 contains a sample of "I Want to Be Free" written by James Williams, Clarence Satchell, Leroy Bonner, Marshall Jones, Ralph Meadowbrooks, Marvin Pierce and William Beck and performed by the

Ohio Players Ohio Players are an American funk band, most popular in the 1970s. They are best known for their songs "Fire" and " Love Rollercoaster", and for their erotic album covers that featured nude or nearly nude women. Many of the women were models f ...

, and a portion of the composition "Sweet Music, Soft Lights & You" written by Kenneth Williams, Mel Kent, James Ralph Bailey and

Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records in the 1960s, serving as an in-house songwr ...

. *Track 8 contains a sample of "Agony of Defeat" written by

Ron Dunbar Ronald Dunbar (April 15, 1939 – April 3, 2018) was an American songwriter, A&R director and record producer who worked closely with Holland–Dozier–Holland, and with George Clinton. His co-writing credits include the hit songs " Give Me Jus ...

, George Clinton and

Donnie Sterling Donnie Sterling is a musician brought in by Parlet's Mallia Franklin in 1978 as Parlet's band leader and bass player. After writing three songs on Parlet's second album, '' Invasion of the Booty Snatchers'', Sterling and Franklin both left Parl ...

and performed by

Parliament-Funkadelic 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 ...

. *Track 9 contains a portion of the composition "Pack It Up" written by Louis Crane and Belda Baine. *Track 10 contains a portion of the composition "Black Frost" written by Grover Washington Jr.

Personnel

*Todd " Too $hort" Shaw – vocals, producer (tracks: 2, 4, 9, 11, 12), mixing (tracks: 2, 4, 8) * D'Wayne Wiggins – vocals & producer (track 7) *Anthony "

Ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...

" Banks – vocals (track 11), producer (tracks: 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11), mixing (tracks: 2-12) *Lawrence " Pooh-Man" Thomas – vocals (track 11) *Mhisani " Goldy" Miller – vocals (track 11) *Carl Wheeler – keyboards (track 7), piano (track 11) * Raphael Wiggins – synth-bass (track 7) *Dale Everingham – recording & mixing (track 7) * Tom Coyne – mastering *Ted Bohanon – executive producer *Victor Hall – photography

Charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1992 albums Too Short albums Jive Records albums Albums produced by Ant Banks Albums produced by Too Short