Legendary Bay area rapper Too Short is back with his 13th album due later this summer. His current single is "Blow The Whistle."

How did you transition from Oakland to Atlanta in the early 90s?"
Too Short-It was actually a two part thing. Freaknic. Remember that little thing called Freak-Nic?

Yeah.
Too Short-Freaknic '93 is like legendary. A friend of mine from Oakland was living in Atlanta. He told me I should come and check out this event and it was all that and some more. I had been to Atlanta many times and I had been up in the Magic Cities and done several shows out there but that one event showed a new light of Atlanta to me and not just the partying and stuff. There was a pretty healthy music scene out there with Laface Records and Jermaine Dupri, Dallas Austin, Toni Braxton was there, Bobby Brown was there, ABC, TLC, Arrested Development. I recognized that they were active in the music industry and it was a good move for me.

What was it like working with Jazze Pha and Lil Jon on your new album?
Too Short-I had been working with those guys for many years since before either one of them was rich and famous. Lil Jon, I was extremely instrumental in him getting his career started. Jazze Pha I was giving him working and paying him for beats when nobody was paying him. Them are my homies and I have been working with them for years and years. Jazze Pha and Lil Jon have been producing songs on my albums since the late 90's.

Now I know you have retired several times what makes you keep coming back to the game?
Too Short-I retired for two months in '96 and I've made seven albums since then and everybody keeps saying I retired I don't know. That was 1996. I never announced it ever again. I said it that one time and that one time was partially a publicity stunt.

I guess people remember because I remember I was sad. Well what made you want to retire at that time?
Too Short-There are all these stereotypes that when you get older you have to stop rapping. I was feeding into that but I'm not feeding into that anymore.

Which of your classic songs do you incorporate into your set list?
Too Short-Well they would be mad at me if I didn't do "Freaky Tales," "Cuss Words," "Don't Fight The Feelin'," "Gettin' It," those are the songs that they have to hear.

Do you do "In The Trunk?"
Too Short-I don't do "In The Truck" because it's not one of the Too Short classics. It was a good singles and it was really hot at the time. I used to put it in my show years ago but it's not one of the long lasting popular ones like "Blowjob Betty."

Speaking of "Freaky Tales," I know you used to have a real nasty, dirty, freaky element to your music. Is that something that your fans will find on this new album or have you moved past that?
Too Short-It never went away ever.

I know that Jive is a label you were with as far back as the 80s. What led you back to working with Jive again?
Too Short-I've actually been through two contracts with Jive. I did the first one we did about six albums and this time around this will be the 7th album. I've done 13 albums with Jive.

What can you tell me about your new album?
Too Short-Well the production was Jazze Pha and Lil Jon did most of the album but what's on there that is of some interest to the world is the Snoop Dogg Will.I.Am song was produced by Will.I.Am. It has Fergie and Will.I.Am on there. Snoop Dogg got the Dogg Pound back together and I did a song with them. I have a duet with David Banner. There aren't a lot of guess appearances because I wanted it to play like a Too Short album. You know a lot of our favorite artists we listen to know their albums are compilations. I just didn't want to get caught up in that.

Outside of music what other business ventures have you taken up?
Too Short-Well I am a music man all the way around. Most of the things that I do are music related. I guess the main thing that I do is I am like a pornography dabbler so to speak. I'm not in the porn industry but I frequent around events and do invest in certain little projects. I'm really not feeling that so I'm trying to shift over to some seriously explicit R rated films. That's my next venture.

Too Short on side ventures

Do you ever get a chance to get on the Internet and see what the fans are saying?
Too Short-Well yeah I have a couple of websites that I get printed out e-mails from that are directly sent to me. I'm not really…even though I'm Internet savvy I'm not churned out enough to sit on Myspace for hours.

I know you've worked with a lot of artists over the years but are there any of the collaborations that stand out as favorites?
Too Short-Well I always tell people my favorite artists to work with are E-40 and Scarface. We've done like so many songs together. Pimp C and Bun B we've done a lot of songs together over the years. My producers my man Ant Banks we worked together for many, many years. Just recently, my favorite two producers are Jazze Pha and Lil Jon. They seem to know how to work without any communication we always seem to be on the same page.

Is there a common theme to the album or anything in particularly that you are talking about?
Too Short-I think on this album the goal that I was striving for was too establish that at the age of 40 there is still room for a hip-hop artist to be relevant. There is a serious, serious, stereotyping going around that age and rapping and getting older just don't go together. People are really saying in their interviews "I want to be rich, I don't want to be an older rapper." It's music. You're doing what you love. So matter how rich you get or how many hit records you have who says that you can't keep doing it. I don't know who started this thing. Hip-hop, we all grew up on it. It hasn't become something that your 70 years old saying I grew up on hip-hop. It's still young. The hip-hop audience has not gotten older like senior age. I am trying to figure out who laid down the law saying you have to stop rapping at twenty-something. I don't know who started it.

Related Links-http://www.tooshortworld.com/