{"id":226711,"date":"2026-05-03T09:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T07:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/?p=226711"},"modified":"2026-04-28T22:52:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T20:52:59","slug":"too-hort-still-here-still-raw-still-oakland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/too-hort-still-here-still-raw-still-oakland\/","title":{"rendered":"Too $hort: Still Here, Still Raw, Still Oakland"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

(Source: tidal.com<\/a>)
\nJes\u00fas Trivi\u00f1o Alarc\u00f3n<\/a><\/p>\n

At 60, Todd Shaw is navigating loss, legacy and life as a girl dad. For the first time, the music might be the least interesting thing about him.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Too $hort is a man of his word. Believe it. The Oakland legend was on his way to view his father\u2019s body when he took this call. That\u2019s not morbid \u2014 that\u2019s life. And unfortunately, death is a part of it. But we\u2019re here to celebrate $hort\u2019s iconic life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

There are a few things most hip-hop fans associate with the West Coast legend: independence, pimpin\u2019 and the Bay. But as he turns 60 today, Short Dog is a changed man. His musical legacy speaks for itself but the man behind it, Todd Shaw, is now a girl dad to a seven-year-old daughter. And fatherhood changes any man. Too $hort is no different.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

On his milestone birthday, he reflects on his early beginnings as an MC, becoming a parent, navigating grief after losing close family, and what it means to be an elder statesman in hip-hop.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Feeling Comfortable in Oakland\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Somewhere around \u201981, less than a year after moving there, I felt safe. I knew how to move around, I had the right friends, and I was starting to get my popularity as the rapper, the little guy that raps.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Beginnings as an MC\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

In 1982, I had a rap partner named Freddy B. We started talking and he\u2019s like, \u201cYou should come by my house, let\u2019s record together.\u201d When he heard my setup, he said, \u201cYou should come to my house.\u201d So we did. We recorded it, played it back, and he goes, \u201cMan, we can sell this shit.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cSell it? Where?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

First Customers\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Freddy said, \u201cLet\u2019s go to the park down the street.\u201d So we go to this park where drug dealers are at, play the tape, get one of them to put it in his car. 10 drug dealers leaning on this little dope boy car, listening to our one tape. When we asked if they wanted to buy it: \u201cThe fuck we want to buy your shit for?\u201d Real aggressive on the sales pitch. But Freddy had been in and out of juvenile facilities, he knew a lot of bad guys. One of those guys he knew pops out the tape: \u201cI\u2019ll buy it. How much?\u201d Five dollars. Done. Another guy goes, \u201cI want one too.\u201d From there, we just started like a paper route, only going to drug dealers, only hitting corners. And everybody was waiting on us.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Hip to the Game<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

In 1985, a friend whose older brother ran a recording label introduced us. The label was called 75 Girls. His name was Dean Hodges. First time we went up there, he slammed the door in our face. \u201cMan, I\u2019m busy.\u201d We came back, sat down, chopped it up and he was like, \u201cYeah, we\u2019re getting in the studio.\u201d If you want a visual, he looked like a mix between Rick James and Jimi Hendrix. Titties in the living room,\u00a0Good Times<\/em>\u00a0reruns on TV \u2014 he was just that guy. We started recording at Different Fur in San Francisco, 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Professional musicians from the Bay: Pointer Sisters, Tower of Power, Sly and the Family Stone. Every session was a party. It was either the greatest experience or the most fucked up thing in the world. But it was good for me. Dean was learning how to run a label, manufacturing, distribution, collecting money. And making sure I was learning it, too. In 1986, he went to jail for a year and told me and his little brother to hold it down. That\u2019s really where I learned. Keep the supply going, stay on top of the manufacturer, tally the boxes, collect from the distributor, drop the money with his mother. Repeat. When he got out in \u201987, he called us into the kitchen and said somebody told him I said I didn\u2019t like him, his brother, or his father. I told him, \u201cThat sounds crazy. If I didn\u2019t like you, I\u2019d tell you.\u201d He said, \u201cI don\u2019t want to hear that shit. Get the fuck out.\u201d And just like that, the dream was over.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

We walked down the street sad as fuck. No more cars, no more access to the big house. And we just said, \u201cFuck it, let\u2019s do it ourselves.\u201d In 1987, I started Dangerous Music and did everything 75 Girls did, play for play. The first release was\u00a0Born to Mack<\/a><\/em>, with \u201cFreaky Tales.\u201d We made about $250,000 in six months. Never looked back.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Fatherhood<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

That little girl is in the car with me right now. She\u2019s seven and a half. I was 52 when she was born. Before that, I was the guy who had been partying since high school. From 21 to 51, I was always prepping for the next event, what\u2019s the next thing, what town, what club? On average, five nights a week for 30 years straight. Freaknik, Daytona Beach, a fight in Vegas, whatever the function, we were there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

When I was 28, I had a traumatic experience with a girlfriend who had an abortion. It really fucked me up. From 28 to 51, I did everything not to get anybody pregnant. Then at 51, I wasn\u2019t even thinking about it, I was just in love with my daughter\u2019s mother. When she got pregnant, I was genuinely happy. I couldn\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

I remember being 50, still at the club, looking around and realizing I might be the oldest person there. I started feeling real shitty about it. And then, after all the girlfriends, all the womanizing, I was given this gift of a little girl. And it just turned everything off. I\u2019d have a drink and it tasted like poison. I changed my life just based on looking at this little baby.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Now I just really realize: this little girl saved my life. I tell her and her mama all the time. \u201cThank you. You have no idea what was about to happen.\u201d My mother passed a year and a half before she was born. She looks like my mother. I think that\u2019s God doing what God does.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Overcoming Grief<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

My brother was murdered a year ago. And right now I\u2019m driving to view my father\u2019s body, his cremation is tomorrow. It\u2019s a lot.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Grief doesn\u2019t hit you the day somebody passes. Doesn\u2019t hit you at the funeral. My mother hit me when they closed the casket. My brother \u2014 it didn\u2019t hit me until right before the Super Bowl. I went to watch the game and realized I couldn\u2019t call him to talk shit. I can\u2019t tell you how many times this past year I wanted to call him about a basketball game, or just some goofy shit. That\u2019s how I mourn.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Right now, the only thing giving me strength, one thing and one thing only, is my daughter. That\u2019s my foundation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Staying Alive<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

For the last 10 years, I\u2019ve been very health conscious. I stay active, watch what I eat. But I\u2019m losing friends consistently \u2014 every few months, somebody\u2019s gone. I think about my kid graduating, getting married, having kids of her own. My father made it to 87. My mother, 76. There\u2019s no guarantee I get what they got. My job right now is to raise this little girl and be there as long as possible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Music is on autopilot. But I have a mission: I want to give hip-hop the story of rappers who didn\u2019t fall off. We didn\u2019t have examples of active 50-year-old rappers, now we\u2019re building that. I commend Grandmaster Caz, Melle Mel, JA\u0178-Z, rappers who pushed well past their forties. I just did a sold-out show with Snoop and Ice Cube, 20,000 people. Snoop\u2019s the baby of the group. That\u2019s the legacy. But the most important part is being in my daughter\u2019s life as long as possible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Aging Gracefully\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Embrace young and dumb. I think it\u2019s fun, it\u2019s the natural learning curve. A lot of us don\u2019t survive it, but if you do, your thirties is when you start learning the long version. If I went back as smart as I am now, the only thing I\u2019d change is financial. But then you\u2019d miss being young and dumb. I don\u2019t want to miss that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

As for 60, I hear people are depressed about milestone birthdays, and it\u2019s so sad. For me, it keeps getting better every time I turn a corner. I\u2019m not trying to fight 60 looking 30. I\u2019m just focused on doing it better than before, because I know more than I used to. I tell people: it gets better.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Source: tidal.com) April 28, 2026\u00a0by\u00a0Jes\u00fas Trivi\u00f1o Alarc\u00f3n At 60, Todd Shaw is navigating loss, legacy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-226711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pG6fW-WYD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226715,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226711\/revisions\/226715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}