Associated Press
[Source: AP]
At 60, Too $hort is helping usher hip-hop into what he calls its senior citizen era. Just don’t expect him to rap like one.
The Oakland hip-hop pioneer is still recording, touring and talking slick more than four decades after he began selling homemade tapes on the streets of the Bay Area.
While the genre has long treated aging like an unwritten career-ending offense, Too $hort is breaking the rule and challenging the culture’s elder statesmen to keep going with him.
His latest proof is “Sir Too $hort Vol. 2: Drink & Smoke,” his 23rd studio album, produced entirely by longtime collaborator Lil Jon. It arrives Friday, exactly 20 years after the release of his enduring hit “Blow the Whistle.”
Too $hort, whose catalog also includes classics like “The Ghetto” and “Shake That Monkey,” says he isn’t interested in slowing down anytime soon. That was certainly evident when he and E-40 performed at the NFL Honors in February.
In an interview with The Associated Press this week, Too $hort reflected on turning 60, challenging hip-hop’s age limits, preserving the legacy of Lil Jon’s late son, DJ Young Slade, the staying power of “Blow the Whistle” and why he has no plans to stop until “the wheels fall off.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
