On this evening’s airing of Vh1‘s Hip Hop Honors, viewers will see Too Short [click to read] honored, among Slick Rick, Cypress Hill, De La Soul and Naughty By Nature [click to read]. Speaking with HipHopDX late last week, Bun B [click to read] spoke about the significance of his longtime musical brother in Hip Hop.
“For a person like Too Short, who has been around since I started
listening to rap, to finally get his just due…there’s so many others
in this industry that don’t get our proper respect and our proper
appreciation. I don’t think there’s one emcee who’s rapping today who
hasn’t been able to express his freedom, and express himself and his
opinions, that doesn’t get that directly from a person like Too Short,” Bun said. In 2007, UGK did “Life Is 2009” [click to read], a song paying tribute to a Too Short classic, and his unique delivery.
Bun went on to defend Short‘s lyrics and legacy in the mainstream. “People think it’s just all about bitches and hoes and shit like that.
But anybody who really listens to a Too Short record knows, he’s really
one of the first people to show you what it’s really like living in
that Oakland, Bay area. With songs like ‘The Ghetto’ [click to read] showing you the
poverty and what people were going through, you’ll see there’s more to
the man than you thought.”
The man who helped make Texas tangible to many listeners added, “When you look at the De La Souls and the Slick Ricks, it’s important
that you look at the Too Shorts too, because a Too Short in Oakland has
just as much significance as a Slick Rick in New York or a Naughty By
Nature in New Jersey.”
Hip Hop Honors airs tonight at 10pm EST on Vh1. Bun will join a cast of others in paying tribute to Too Short.
