›› MUSIC
Straight outta Marin Marin—the birthplace of gangsta rap? by G r e g Cahill
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those recordings through a far-flung indeeady for a bit of local music pendent distribution network that included trivia? Here’s a footnote you probably mom-and-pop record stores around the won’t find in the annals of Marin’s rock country, helping to set the stage not only for Too Short’s subsequent success, but also such history museum—in the mid-’80s, San West Coast innovators as NWA and Tupac Rafael’s City Hall Records, an indeShakur (a former Marin City resident). pendent music distributor located in I worked there at the time, coding City the Canal district and owned by Robin Hall’s extensive catalog, and used to watch Cohn, played a major role in helping to Too Short unloading the boxes from his car nurture the West Coast rap scene. trunk. Before Too Short beNone of us knew at the came the first successtime where all this would ful West Coast rapper, COMING SOON lead. thanks to a 1988 major Too Short performs label deal that turned The L.A.-born rapper— Saturday, Jan. 22, at 10pm, at his Born to Mack into nee Todd Anthony Shaw— 19 Broadway in Fairfax. $25. a gold record, the Oakwas raised in East Oakland land rapper used to and started recording in drive across the Rich1985 with the debut release mond-San Rafael Bridge, hop off at Don’t Stop Rappin’, which featured an early the Andersen Drive exit, cruise past the version of his classic “Playboy Short.” yuppie shoppers at the now-defunct The beats were simple, the raps raw. Whole Earth department store and The mean streets of Oakland—immortalback his car up to the City Hall load- ized in his song “City of Dope”—provided ing dock to deliver boxes of vinyl and plenty of fodder for his rhymes. In 1993, cassette tapes of his earlier hard-hitting he brought that street-smart image to the self-produced rap songs. big screen when he landed a bit role in the City Hall personnel would then distribute
Todd Shaw, above and inset circa 1985, has come a long way since those horizontally challenged days self-distributing his rap records in the Canal.
hood flick Menace II Society. He went on to influence Snoop Dogg and collaborate with Tupac, the Notorious B.I.G. and others. And while his music is often associated with the pimp lifestyle and gangsta rap (he is credited with popularizing the term “bitch,” or be-yatch), Too Short’s lyrics often urge fans to forsake the gangsta life, embrace family and make it through hard honest work. His own work ethic is legendary: In 1996,
he retired only to return in 1999 with Can’t Stay Away, a solid set of crunk. He gained a wider audience in 2004 when his song “The Ghetto” was included on the popular video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. In 2008, he was feted on VH-1’s fifth annual Hip Hop Honors, along with Cypress Hill and Slick Rick, among others. More recently, his music has veered toward a hyphy sound. His most recent album, last year’s Still Blowin’, was hailed as one of his best and featured guest appearances by Jazze Pha and Birdman, Silk E and SNL. Since his salad days, the 44-year-old Too Short has sold more than 11 million albums—and it all started with a lot of hard work and determination on his part and the help of a nondescript Marin business tucked among the auto body shops and offices that line the streets of the Canal. ✹
›› SPiN OF THE WEEK Chet Baker Sings: It Could Happen to You (Riverside/Concord) Chet Baker Looking for a hip soundtrack to a romantic evening? Jazz trumpeter and vocalist Chet Baker croons in his signature ultra-cool style—that has been imitated by Michael Buble and Harry Connick Jr.— in a set of standards recorded in 1958 and newly remastered with four bonus tracks added. The all-star band features pianist Kenny Drew and an ace rhythm section. Baker sounds more world-weary here than on his earlier quartet sessions, but, hey, this ain’t kids’ stuff.—GC
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›› pacificsun.com/music JANURAY 21 - JANUARY 27, 2010 PACIFIC SUN 25