Pioneering rapper Too $hort hasn't released an album of his own since 1996's Gettin'

It (Album Number Ten).

His most recent appearance on an LP was Jermaine Dupri Presents: Life in 1472,

a 1998 rap concept album. Too $hort also released two maxi-singles last year: More

Freaky Tales and Invasion of the Flat Booty Bitches.

Too $hort was born Todd Shaw 33 years ago today in South Central Los Angeles. After

moving with his family to Oakland, Calif., in the early '80s, Shaw began selling tapes of

his music from the trunk of his car. His sound was influenced by such early rap acts as

the Sugar Hill Gang and Melle Mel.

Indie label 75 Girls signed Shaw as Too $hort and issued 1983's Don't Stop

Rappin'. Too $hort was fond of sampling the music of such soul groups as Sly and

the Family Stone, Graham Central Station, and Kool and the Gang. After issuing three

more albums, Too $hort formed the Dangerous Music label with Freddy B.

Too $hort's 1986 Born to Mack sold more than 50,000 copies, mostly on the West

Coast. Jive Records, based in New York, released the album nationwide a year later.

Life Is ... Too Short (1989) went platinum, and although Too $hort's lyrics often

explicitly boasted about his sexual prowess, radio could no longer ignore his popularity.

XXXXXX%2F1241413532000a03.ra&x=1&y=3">"The Ghetto" (RealAudio

excerpt), from 1990's $hort Dog's in the House (also featuring "Bitch Killa"), went

to #12 on the Billboard soul chart and received airplay on top-40 stations.

$horty the Pimp (1992) and Get in Where You Fit In (1993) both went

platinum, and Too $hort reigned as the West Coast's rap king. The former album

reinforced Too $hort's image as a hustler and introduced his longtime collaborators Art

Banks and Shorty B.

But as the decade rolled on, a plethora of gangsta rappers began to steal Too $hort's

thunder. After Gettin' It (Album Number Ten) went platinum in 1996, Too $hort

announced he would retire.

Too $hort's retirement evolved into a hiatus. In 1998 he released the maxi-singles

More Freaky Tales and Invasion of the Flat Booty Bitches, which included

the tracks "Couldn't Be a Better Player" and "More Freaky Tales."

Too $hort, who has remained unapologetic about what some see as the misogynistic

depiction of women in his songs, is readying his long-awaited new LP, Can't Stay

Away, to be released next month. It will include such tracks as "Still Strugglin'," "Be

My Dirty Love" and "What Happened to the Groupies" and will include guest artists

Horace Brown, Eightball, Jay-Z, Shabba Ranks, B-Legit and Lil' Kim.

Other birthdays: John Wolters (Dr. Hook), 54; Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth), 46; and Eddie

Jobson (Roxy Music/Jethro Tull), 44.