This album would occupy space on my CD shelves right beside my last review (Told Slant). Will it earn a spot, though? Is it shelf-worthy? Read on and find out.
Disc 1508 is…. Life Is…Too $hort
Artist: Too $hort
Year of Release: 1988
What’s up with the Cover? Too Short himself, looks down into the grave of a sucker MC who has apparently “died on wax”, presumably after being defeated in a rap battle by our titular hero.
“Died on wax” was a new expression to me, inspiring a bit internet sleuthing. Only a bit, however, as befits my modernist and direct approach to writing these reviews.
Turns out “dead wax” is that part of a vinyl LP after the band’s music stops playing, but before the label in the middle. It’s the place where information about the album is printed (important for record collectors to see if the record is a re-issue, or other details). So I guess if you are a sucker MC and you run out rhymes, you have metaphorically “died on wax”? That’s my best guess, anyway.
How I Came To Know It: My friend Ross brought some Too Short over for a game night. I remembered liking it, but not enough to go seek it out. However, I was in the local record store and saw this album up for sale at the low price of $9. I decided to give it a chance.
How It Stacks Up: This is my only Too Short album so it can’t really stack up.
Ratings: 2 stars but almost 3
Too Short had been in the rap game for some time when he released “Life Is…” but despite his sterling reputation, and strong sales (the record went double platinum) the record never pulled me in like I had hoped.
This is surprising because late eighties/early nineties rap is totally my jam. This is the golden era of the style, where you get a beat, a few samples, and then let the MC take over and spit some clever rhymes.
All those ingredients are in place on “Life Is…” but – and I never thought I’d say this – it is a bit too simple. There are a lot of basic heroic couplets here, and generally they land on the end of the bar (fine), but a bit sparse when it comes to clever metaphor. Too Short is content to tell his stories with very plain street language. When the narrative intrigued me, it worked, but often I wanted a bit more poetry in amid the rhymes.
The worst offender is “I Ain’t Trippin’” which feels almost like he’s just talking. That isn’t to say Too Short doesn’t have flow. He has a laid-back slide to his vocals and a natural talent for sitting down in the pocket. It is the overall style I tend to favour, and I can see why he is well loved, but for most of the first half of the record I wasn’t feeling it.
Things start to improve with “Oakland” at Track 5, which didn’t satisfy me with its rhymes, but has a killer beat and an insistent organ sample (and sexy backup singers cooing “Oakland!” that together make the song feel like an instant party.
“Don’t Fight the Feelin’”, “Cuss Words” and “Pimp the Ho” are all also solid (all appearing on Side Two) and also all step up their game on both lyrics and metaphor. They also all have unpleasant misogyny in their lyrics, so be forewarned that this is how Mr. Short rolls. “Don’t Fight the Feelin’” balances things out with female rapping duo Danger Zone. Danger Zone matches Too Short’s various nasty suggestions with a litany of disses that include references to Too Short’s bad breath and small dick.
Finally, this record has some sketchy production, with the songs sounding distant and generally lacking ‘oomph,’ taking away from the impact the killer basslines demand. I’d like to hear this record on vinyl, because 1988 was not the best era for artists understanding how things will sound on CD. Even so, there are fluctuations in overall volume level, which pulled me out of the experience.
This is unfortunate, because “Life Is…” has a lot of solid songs, they just come a bit too late on the record, and too infrequently. I thought of keeping it, but then I compared it to some of the other rap records I have from 1988. Here’s a list (with links to those I’ve already reviewed):
- Big Daddy Kane – Long Live
the Kane (Disc 1108)
- EPMD – Strictly Business
- Eric B. & Rakim – Follow the
Leader
- Ice-T – Power (Disc 639)
- NWA – Straight Outta Compton
- Public Enemy – It Takes a
Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (Disc 513)
If you’re not into familiar with late eighties rap, any of these amazing records are a fine place to start. Because of this, I can’t see myself pulling “Life Is…Too Short” off the shelf over one of them. As a result, I’m going to pass this record along to someone who will appreciate it more. It deserves more love and playtime than it will get from me.
Best tracks: Oakland, Don’t Fight the Feelin’, CussWords, Pimp the Ho
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