Too $hort Was Never A Great Rapper.

Despite being considered a "pioneer of West Coast hip-hop", the Artist known as Too $hort, having worked with the likes of Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., Snoop Dogg, and Ice Cube, leaves a legacy that just falls short of some of the big name collaborators he's worked with. Having "hits" that scraped the bottoms of the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100 lists, didn't leave this artist with the household name some of his peers received.

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Now you could say that moving into the record label business could be considered a mark of success. Pulling strings behind the limelight for other artists to get their shot may sound admirable, but it really just musters up the old saying "those who can't do, teach". What it really brings to mind is a persona I often see in the recovery community. Think of a dog that barks louder than the rest but just doesn't create good music... the sound of that dog's barking just fades into the past, being forgotten in the shadows of the giants writing timeless hip-hop classics.

"You want flowers, I'll buy your ass a rose, but later on you're comin' out them pantyhose." —Too $hort

What this really reminds me of are the loud voices in the community. More often than not, you see/hear the loudest voices making promises, showing up at events to make sure people know they're still relevant even though their only success story is outdated by 3 years, talking over people to make sure they're not forgotten, or straight being full of a bunch of B.S. The reality behind this behaviour is the starvation of attention, and adapting behaviours trying to fill that attention gap instead of healing the trauma damage existing in their psyche.

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Now, this may sound harsh, but it's a process I've been through personally AND keep seeing in the community I live in. A saying "the squeaky wheel is the one that gets greased" also comes to mind and I think that's the intention behind this loud barking behaviour... The reality of dealing with these people who are more bark than bite is that they generally fade into the background once people realize there's no substance behind all the noise making. Kinda the vibes we're getting from our old friend Too $hort...

The moral of the story is to have substance to your words or projects. The good ones speak for themselves and don't need the annoying barking over everyone around. With enough result-driven credibility...your legacy is going to speak for itself.

Until next time.