Look up product in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Product may refer to:

Business[link]

• Product (business), an item that ideally satisfies a market's want or need
  • Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution
  • Nanoproduct, a product that has been enhanced with nanotechnology

Sciences[link]

• Product (biology), something manufactured by an enzyme from its substrate
• Product (chemistry), a substance found when a chemical reaction ends
• Product (mathematics), the result of multiplying
  • Product (category theory), a generalisation of products

Arts and entertainment[link]

• Product (Brand X album), 1979
• Product (De Press album), 1982
• Product, a three-CD compilation set by Buzzcocks
• .the .product, a notable "64K demo" by the demogroup Farbrausch

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Lupe Fiasco
Lupe Fiasco at WGCI Radio, Chicago, Illinois.
Background information
Birth name	Wasalu Muhammad Jaco
Born	(1982-02-16) February 16, 1982 (age 30) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Origin	Chicago, Illinois
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Rapper, producer, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, keyboard
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Atlantic
Associated acts	Child Rebel Soldier, Japanese Cartoon, Matthew Santos, B.o.B, Kanye West, All City Chess Club, Sway DaSafo, Pharrell
Website	www.lupefiasco.com

Wasalu Muhammad Jaco (born February 16, 1982), better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco ( /ˈluːpeɪ/ LOO-pay), is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. He rose to fame in 2006 following the success of his debut album, Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor. He also performs as the frontman of rock band Japanese Cartoon under his real name. As an entrepreneur, Fiasco is the chief executive officer of 1st and 15th Entertainment.

Raised in Chicago, Fiasco developed an interest in hip hop after initially disliking the genre for its use of vulgarity. After adopting the name Lupe Fiasco and recording songs in his father's basement, 19-year-old Fiasco joined a group called Da Pak. The group disbanded shortly after its inception, and Fiasco soon met rapper Jay-Z who helped him sign a record deal with Atlantic Records. In 2006, Fiasco released his debut album Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor on the label, which received three Grammy nominations. He released his second album, Lupe Fiasco's The Cool, in December 2007. The lead single "Superstar" peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. He released Lasers on March 8, 2011 after a two-year delay. The album's lead single "The Show Goes On" peaked at number 9 on the chart, thus becoming his most successful single since "Superstar".

In addition to music, Fiasco has pursued other business ventures, including fashion. He runs two clothing lines, Righteous Kung-Fu and Trilly & Truly; he has designed sneakers for Reebok. He has been involved with charitable activities, including the Summit on the Summit expedition, and in 2010 he recorded a benefit single for victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Fiasco is also noted for his anti-establishment views, which he has expressed in both interviews and his music.

Life and career[link]

1982–98: Early life[link]

Fiasco was born Wasalu Muhammad Jaco on February 16, 1982 in Chicago, Illinois.^[2][3] Born of West African descent,^[4] he was one of nine children of Shirley, a gourmet chef, and Gregory, an engineer.^[1][3] His father, a member of the Black Panther Party, was a prolific African drummer, karate teacher, operating plant engineer, and owner of karate schools and army surplus stores.^[5][6][7] Fiasco was raised Muslim on the West Side of Chicago on Madison Terrace housing project.^[6][8] At the age of three, Fiasco began taking martial arts classes.^[1] His parents divorced when he was five, and he went on to live with his mother, but his father still remained an important part of his life. He described his father's influence over the family by saying, "After school, my father would come and get us and take us out into the world—one day, we're listening to N.W.A, the next day we're listening to Ravi Shankar, the next day, he's teaching us how to shoot an AK-47, the next day, we're at karate class, the next day, we're in Chinatown...".^[6]

In sixth grade, he went to live with his father full-time in Harvey, Illinois.^[9] His father lived next door to a crack house and taught Fiasco to use guns to defend himself from drug dealers.^[1] Despite his unstable upbringing, Fiasco states that he was well-educated as a child, asserting that his parents exposed him to a diverse array of subjects and that reading was highly encouraged in his household.^[1] As a teenager, Fiasco participated in Academic Decathlon competitions.^[3] His mother described him by saying, "He was a great spirited child. Smart, a bit complex; he kind of was a loner; he didn't hang with a lot of people...He always had the glasses. Always had a book bag over his shoulder and some type of a writing tablet."^[3] Fiasco initially disliked hip hop music for its use of vulgarity, and preferred to listen to jazz; he idolized clarinet player Benny Goodman.^[1][8] His struggle to learn to play an instrument led him to create poetry instead, which led to his interest in the lyrical aspects of music.^[10]

He began rapping his poems in the eighth grade, and upon hearing Nas' 1996 album, It Was Written, began to pursue hip hop.^[7] While attending Thornton Township High School, Fiasco met gang member Bishop G. The two became friends due to their shared interest in music.^[3] Fiasco's father allowed him and Bishop to make mixtapes in his basement, and the two gained notoriety at the school for their music. However, they were kicked off stage during their first performance because their eclectic musical style was not embraced by the hip hop community.^[3] Early in his career, he went by stage names Little Lu and Lu tha Underdog.^[11] Growing up, Fiasco was given the nickname "Lu", the last part of his first name, by his mother. "Lupe" is an extension of this nickname, which he borrowed from a friend from high school. "Fiasco" is a reference to The Firm song "Firm Fiasco"; the rapper "liked the way it looked on paper."^[12] He also said of his name, "You know how rappers always have names like MC Terrorist—like they're 'terrorizing' other rappers? I knew fiasco meant a great disaster or something like that, but I didn't realize that the person named Fiasco would be the disaster, and that you should be calling other MCs fiascos—not yourself...it kind of humbled me in a sense. It taught me like, 'Yo, stop rushing, or you're going to have some fiascos.'"^[11]

1999–2005: Career beginnings[link]

Lupe Fiasco performing at the Intonation Music Festival, 2006.

When Fiasco was 17, he began creating music as a solo artist in his father's basement, even though his parents were not keen on having their son be a rapper. He scoured flea markets and secondhand stores, where he was able to find an old mixing board and a record player, stacks of vinyl records, and mic stands.^[11] At age 19, Fiasco joined a group called Da Pak, which was influenced by other California gangsta rappers such as Spice 1 and Ice Cube. Da Pak signed to Epic Records and released one single before splitting up.^[2] Fiasco later described the experience, saying "We had a song out about cocaine, guns, and women, and I would go to a record store and look at it and think, 'What are you doing?' I felt like a hypocrite. I was acting like this rapper who would never be judged, and I had to destroy that guy. Because what Lupe Fiasco says on this microphone is going to come back to Wasalu Jaco. When the music cuts off, you have to go home and live with what you say."^[13]

After turning away from gangsta rap, he developed a greater appreciation of the lyricism of Jay-Z and Nas. His mother also gave him a record of the influential group The Watts Prophets, one of the first bands to use spoken words with music.^[14] Although he was without a group for the first time, Fiasco continued to record music. One of these first self-recorded tracks was "Could Have Been", which described the career options he could have pursued had he not begun rapping.^[15] He viewed the song as a turning point in his career that marked a drastic change in the subject matter of his music.^[15] "Could Have Been" was released as a demo tape and discovered by MTV despite the fact that no video was created for the song.^[15]

Fiasco later signed a solo deal with Arista Records, but was dropped when president and CEO L.A. Reid was fired.^[2] During his short tenure at Arista, he met Jay-Z, who was the president of Def Jam Recordings at the time. Jay-Z referred to him as a "breath of fresh air", saying that he reminded him of a younger version of himself.^[14] Jay-Z later helped him get a record deal at Atlantic Records.^[14] While Fiasco was working on his debut solo album, he released his mixtape series Fahrenheit 1/15 over the internet, which gained notoriety by word-of-mouth. At this time, Fiasco's remix of Kanye West's "Jesus Walks" entitled "Muhammad Walks", became very popular in the Muslim community.^[16]

He remixed another one of West's songs, "Diamonds from Sierra Leone", and renamed it as "Conflict Diamonds". With this remix, Fiasco wished to raise awareness of the conflict diamond business.^[17] This caught West's attention, and he asked Fiasco to perform on his song "Touch the Sky" off his album Late Registration. The song, which sampled Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up", became a hit in the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number forty-two.^[18] After this success his first single "Kick, Push" was released earlier than expected. The song was a love story about two people sharing a passion for skateboarding, a topic generally not discussed in hip hop.^[19] Fiasco explained, "[Skateboarding culture is] just as deep as hip-hop. I'm not the greatest skateboarder, but I'm a damn good rapper, so I made a damn good skateboarding song."^[19] The single, and its accompanying music video, helped Fiasco get attention in the hip-hop community and was later nominated for two 2007 Grammy Awards.^[10][20] During this time, he had guest appearances on singles on Tha' Rayne's "Kiss Me" and "Didn't You Know" and also K Foxx's 2004 "This Life".

[edit] 2006–08: Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor and The Cool

Jay-Z assisted him in the production of what would become his debut album Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor.^[21] The title of the album is a reference to 'Food and Liquor' stores common in Chicago. He explains, "The store is where everything is at...Food to me represents growth and progression. You eat food and you get strength. You need it to live. Liquor is not a necessity; it is a want. It destroys you. It breaks you down. I can see why it's prohibited in Islam...I've always felt like liquor represents the bad, the food represents the good, and everyone is made up of a little of both."^[22] Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor was officially released on September 19, 2006. The album featured production from Jay-Z, Kanye West, Mike Shinoda, The Neptunes, Prolyfic, among others. The record spawned the singles "Kick, Push," "I Gotcha" and "Daydreamin'" featuring Jill Scott. The critically lauded album was later nominated for three Grammy Awards including Best Rap Album.^[3] Fiasco won "Best Urban/Alternative Performance" for "Daydreamin'".^[23] In the same year, he was voted by GQ magazine as the "Breakout Man of the Year."^[15] He also received four BET Hip Hop Award nominations, and it made it to number eight on Billboard 200 and number two on Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.^[24]

In 2007, Fiasco announced his second album, Lupe Fiasco's The Cool, a concept album that expands on the story of the track of the same name on his first album. While recording this album, Fiasco's father died of type II diabetes and his business partner, Charles "Chilly" Patton, was convicted of attempting to supply heroin to a drug ring and was eventually sentenced to 44 years in a correctional facility.^[5][26] These events greatly affected Fiasco and the subsequent themes discussed on the record.^[25] The disc was released in December 2007 in United States while the first single and video from the album, "Superstar" featuring Matthew Santos was released the first week of November 2007. Lupe Fiasco's The Cool, a concept album that expanded upon recurring themes in Food & Liquor, is about "a hustler who dies and comes back to life, only to get robbed by two little kids with the same gun that killed him."^[27] For the record, Fiasco decided not to work with well-known producers as he considered it to be "too expensive", noting the commercial failure of his Pharrell collaboration, "I Gotcha".^[27]

Fiasco performing in Commerce City, Colorado on July 19, 2008.

Lupe Fiasco's The Cool was very well received by critics and was referred to as "one of the year’s best hip-hop albums" by The New York Times.^[28] "Superstar", a semi-autobiographical account of his rise to fame, was released as the first single from the album, and peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[15][29] Baseball's Hanley Ramirez, Troy Tulowitzki, Ryan Zimmerman, Gerald Laird and Ryan Braun have used "Superstar" as their at-bat song.^[30] The album's second single (released in the UK in April 2008) was "Paris, Tokyo" – a song based around Fiasco's experiences of touring the world between his first and second albums.^[15] Moreover, in 2007 it was revealed that Fiasco, Kanye West and Pharrell Williams had formed a group called Child Rebel Soldier.^[31][32] CRS initially released one single, entitled "US Placers" and featuring a Thom Yorke sample. In an interview with The Village Voice, Fiasco revealed that he was writing a novel about a window washer, aptly titled Reflections of a Window Washer.^[33] In 2008, Fiasco and his band 1500 or Nothin joined Kanye West's Glow in the Dark Tour which also featured Rihanna and N.E.R.D. The tour stopped in several cities, including his hometown of Chicago. In 2008, MTV named Fiasco the 7th Hottest MC in the Game^[34] and announced that he was remixing The Cool with French electro house act Justice.^[35]

[edit] 2009–present: Lasers and Food & Liquor 2

Lupe Fiasco performing at the Ottawa Bluesfest on July 17, 2011.

At a performance in New Zealand in February 2010, Fiasco performed new material from the then-titled We Are Lasers for the first time.^[36] He claimed that the album was complete and waiting for a release date from his label, Atlantic Records.^[36] However, Atlantic feared that the record lacked commercial singles, and presented Fiasco with songs the label wanted him to record.^[37] Fiasco declined, as he was told he would not have any ownership of the songs.^[37] He explained, "I don't think the label cares about an album...People just want their number-one record."^[37] For six months, the cause of the album's delay remained unclear to the public. In response, Fiasco's fans created an online petition demanding that Atlantic Records release Lasers. The petition garnered considerable attention on hip hop blog sites as well as over 16,000 signatures.^[37] Fiasco stated that the petition "brought [him] to tears", and in response to the petition, Fiasco released a song titled "B.M.F-Building Minds Faster" to thank his fans.^[37]

While waiting for Lasers to be released, Fiasco completed another album, titled Food and Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album.^[38] He is unsure if the Food and Liquor II will ever be released, though he released the song "Go To Sleep" from the record "out of desperation" to put out new music.^[38] He also pursued numerous side projects in the midst of the delay. In April 2010, Fiasco formed the hip hop collective All City Chess Club along with Pharrell, Asher Roth, B.o.B., The Cool Kids, Charles Hamilton, Blu, Diggy Simmons, Wale, J. Cole, & Dosage.^[39] The group has so far made one song, a remix of Fiasco's "I'm Beamin".^[40] Additionally, On July 16, 2010, Fiasco released his rock side-project Japanese Cartoon's debut EP In The Jaws Of The Lords Of Death. Japanese Cartoon was influenced by a variety of musical genres, with Fiasco saying, "I’ve always been a fan of all music...Hip hop is just something I actually know how to do but I always had aspirations to participate in other forms of music. Once I got to create some hip hop, it was like, 'Okay, what am I going to do now?' So my artistic side was like, 'Yo, let's do some rock music.'"^[38]

More than two and a half years after the album's completion, Lasers was released on March 8, 2011. The first single off of the record was "The Show Goes On", which samples "Float On" by Modest Mouse. "The Show Goes On" debuted at number 57 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[41] The lead single peaked at number 9 since then. The producers involved on the album include Alex Da Kidd, King David "The Future" and Jerry "Wonda" Duplessis, while featured artists include Skylar Grey, Trey Songz, and John Legend.^[15] Upon the album's release, Lasers debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 204,000 copies.^[42][43] Despite the album's commercial success, Lasers received mixed reviews from most music critics.^[44] Writing for Allmusic, editor Andy Kellman gave the record three out of five stars and criticized its "lumbering, overwrought choruses", writing that "If there is one MC whose rhymes should not be dulled for the sake of chasing pop trends, it’s Lupe Fiasco".^[45] Lasers, however, was nominated Best Rap Album, with "The Show Goes On" nominated for Best Rap Performance, and Best Rap Song at the 54th Grammy Awards. Lupe Fiasco later involved himself at the Occupy Wall Street movement where he donated tents and released a poem in support of the protesters. He also released his "Friend of the People" mixtape on Thanksgiving Day. Fiasco has since announced the completion of his Food & Liquor 2 album, as well as work being put into a joint album with fellow Child Rebel Soldier & All City Chess Club member Pharrell.^[46]

Lyrical style[link]

Fiasco, along with rappers Common, Rhymefest, and Talib Kweli, has been credited as a pioneer of the conscious hip hop movement, which focuses on social issues.^[47] Subjects touched upon on Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor include absent parents, terrorism, Islam and religion, war, and prostitution.^[47] Fiasco attributes his interest in social issues to his highly cultured upbringing, as he describes his mother as "very intellectual" and his father as a "Renaissance man".^[47] He rejects the misogyny common in hip hop, which he discusses in the song "Hurt Me Soul".^[48] Despite this, Fiasco is strongly opposed to censorship in music: "If we're going to [censor things] that are offensive, then we are going to have to blind and deafen everyone. Come on, man. Let's focus on education and literacy and poverty."^[49]

Fiasco employs various lyrical techniques in his songwriting. The rapper views hip-hop as a medium conducive to storytelling, a primary element of his lyrics due to his background in theater.^[47] He wrote plays as a child, which had a strong effect on his songwriting approaches.^[47] Fiasco utilizes both metaphors and literal statements in his work, which he describes as "getting from point A to point B in as few words as possible".^[47] His use of metaphors is exemplified by the song "Gotta Eat" from Lupe Fiasco's The Cool, which is told from the perspective of a cheeseburger and addresses the poor nutrition in black communities in the United States.^[26]

Philanthropy and business ventures[link]

In 2001, Fiasco co-founded 1st & 15th Entertainment with Charles "Chilly" Patton. 1st & 15th is a vanity record label under Atlantic named after the traditional twice-monthly paycheck dates.^[14] Although Fiasco was initially to serve as vice-president, he became CEO after Patton was convicted on drug charges.^[50][51] Fiasco and singer Matthew Santos were two of the most recognizable signed artists. In November 2009, Fiasco announced he would discontinue the 1st & 15th label: "It was just such a 'this isn't right for you right now. This isn't gonna work for you right now. You need to be focused on you. Do you really want that, do you really have the capacity to do it?'"^[52]

In 2005, he founded Righteous Kung-Fu, a company that designs fashions, sneakers, toys, video games, comic books, and graphics for album covers and skateboard decks. Fiasco also runs a fashion line out of Righteous Kung-Fu called Trilly & Truly.^[53] He has sponsored a skateboard team and has endorsements from DGK Skateboards.^[54] In January 2006, Fiasco signed with major footwear and apparel corporation Reebok, becoming part of the "O.G" marketing campaign where rap artists such as Lil Wayne and Mike Jones designed their own personal colorway of the Reebok "O.G" model.^[53]

In 2009, Fiasco performed in The People Speak, a documentary feature film that employs musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States.^[55] On January 7, 2010, Fiasco joined musician Kenna, actress Jessica Biel, and other celebrities and activists for an expedition to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro called Summit on the Summit to raise awareness of the billions of people worldwide who lack access to sanitary drinking water.^[56] On January 20, 2010, Fiasco released a track called "Resurrection" with Kenna in response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The song, part of a compilation released through the charity Music for Relief, aimed to encourage donations for immediate relief and long-term recovery following the disaster.^[57]

Political views[link]

Fiasco is noted for his anti-establishment views. In an interview with Stephen Colbert on the satirical news show The Colbert Report, Fiasco stated his credo on political philosophy: "You should criticize power even if you agree with it."^[58] In another interview in June 2011 on the CBS program What's Trending, Fiasco discussed the political content of his music, stating, "My fight against terrorism, to me, the biggest terrorist is Obama and the United States of America. I'm trying to fight the terrorism that's actually causing the other forms of terrorism. You know, the root cause of terrorism is the stuff the U.S. government allows to happen. The foreign policies that we have in place in different countries that inspire people to become terrorists."^[59] He additionally criticized Obama for his stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.^[60] Despite his strong political opinions, Fiasco does not vote in U.S. elections nor does he involve himself in U.S. politics as he believes they are "meaningless."^[58]

Discography[link]

• Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor (2006)
• Lupe Fiasco's The Cool (2007)
• Lasers (2011)
• Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album, Part 1 (2012)^[38][61]
• Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album, Part 2 (TBA)^[61]
• TBA (with Pharrell Williams) (2012)

See also[link]

• List of awards and nominations received by Lupe Fiasco

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Biography Today - Lupe Fiasco (2009). Omnigraphics. Detroit, Michigan. ISBN-978-0-7808-1052-5.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lupe Fiasco

• Official website
• Lupe Fiasco on Twitter
• Lupe Fiasco at the Internet Movie Database
• The People Speak at the Internet Movie Database

Too $hort
Too $hort at Martin Luther's Rebel Soul Fest at DNA Lounge in San Francisco, July 2008
Background information
Birth name	Todd Anthony Shaw
Born	(1966-04-28) April 28, 1966 (age 46) Los Angeles, California, U.S.}[1][2]
Origin	East Oakland, Oakland, California, U.S.[1][2]
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Rapper, songwriter, actor, producer
Years active	1980-present
Labels	Jive, Up All Nite
Associated acts	Biz Markie,Slick Rick,Kool Moe Dee,De La Soul,Snoop Dogg,Busta Rhymes,Bushwick Bill,Geto Boys,Ant Banks, MC Breed, Rappin' 4-Tay, Lil' Jon, E-40, Travis Porter, Git Fresh, Snow, George Clinton, Wiz Khalifa, Jay-Z, Cee Lo Green, 2Pac, The Notorious B.I.G., 50 Cent, Layzie Bone,Scarface (rapper),Wu-Tang Clan

Todd Anthony Shaw (born April 28, 1966),^[1][2] better known by the stage name Too Short (stylized as Too $hort), is an American rapper, producer, and actor who started his career at the age of fourteen in Oakland, California.^[1][2]

Career[link]

In the early 1980s, Shaw produced custom songs (called "special requests") for people with his high school friend, Freddy B. In 1985, Too Short had his first release, Don't Stop Rappin' which, along with the following three releases, featured raw, simple drum beats from a LinnDrum drum machine. In the early 1990s his beats came from mostly a TR-808 and from mid-to-late 2000s, a TR-909 was used. In 2005, Too Short and Freddie B. formed the label Dangerous Music to regionally distribute his music.^[3] Dangerous Music became Short Records, and then Up All Nite Records. With his 1989 release, Life Is...Too Short, he began used replayed established funk riffs (rather than samples) with his beats.

Subsequent work was primarily collaborative, including work with Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., and Scarface. One of his noticeable collaborations during this period was on the track "The World Is Filled..." on the classic Notorious B.I.G. album Life After Death; he comes in on the third verse after Diddy and Biggie. Being featured on the album introduced him to a wider audience as well, due to his typical style contrasting greatly with the Mafioso theme of the album. He also appeared on TWDY's hit single "Player's Holiday" from their 1999 debut album Derty Werk^[4] as well as the Priority Records compilation Nuthin but a Gangsta Party.^[5] After these appearances, he began working on his eleventh album, Can't Stay Away. The album included guest appearances by 8Ball & MJG, Jay-Z, Jermaine Dupri, Sean Combs, E-40, Daz Dillinger, Lil' Jon, Soopafly, Scarface and B-Legit.^[6] Too Short relocated to Atlanta in 1994, but he did not begin working with a more diverse variety of Southern artists until 2000, when he collaborated with Lil Jon. With the 1999 release of Can't Stay Away, Too Short fully came out of retirement and released a number of new albums within the next few years, most of them taking on a crunk or Dirty South type sound, as he had become involved in the Southern rap scene. However, he didn't totally give up on his trademark funk grooves or sexually explicit style. New albums released 2000-2003 were You Nasty (2000), Chase the Cat (2001), What's My Favorite Word? (2002), and Married to the Game (2003). These albums all charted fairly well, as they all were in the top 71 of the Billboard 200, but they didn't do quite as well as Too Short's earlier 1990s releases as none of them reached the top 10.^[7]

In 2004, his earlier 1990 single "The Ghetto" appeared on popular video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on West Coast hip hop radio station Radio Los Santos. Given that this was an incredibly popular game at the time, the featuring was acclaimed as a success for Too $hort, both in publicity and in the fame generated by the song.

For his next album, 2006's Blow the Whistle, Too Short now took advantage of the new hyphy rap music that was emerging out of his original home base in Oakland. This saw somewhat of a resurgence for Too Short as it peaked at #14 on the Billboard 200, much better than each of his previous three releases.^[7] However, his subsequent releases, such as 2007's Get Off the Stage, have not been as successful. On October 7, 2008 Too Short was honored by VH1 at the fifth annual "Hip-Hop Honors" along with Cypress Hill, De La Soul, Slick Rick and Naughty By Nature.^[7][7]

In 2009, Too Short recorded for Daz Dillinger, Lil' Jon, Soopafly, Scarface and B-Legit.^[6] In 2011, the rapper was featured on Wiz Khalifa's song "On My Level". He also collaborated in Snoop Dogg's 2011 album, Doggumentary in the song "Take U Home".

Up All Nite Records[link]

Too Short runs his own record label—Up All Nite Records. Artists on the label include The Pack,^[8] Dolla Will, Boo Ski, Eyob Fantay and Li'l J & Boi Payton, FX. In addition to creating Up All Nite Records, Too Short has been a mentor at Youth UpRising, a group serving at-risk youths for several years.

Too Short in film[link]

Too Short played the role of Lew-Loc in the film Menace II Society.

Too Short has also worked in the adult film industry, with the 2003 film Get In Where You Fit In.^[9]

Too Short was an interviewee in American Pimp.

Too Short starred in and performed the music for America's Sexiest Girls 2003.

Too Short has also appeared in an episode of The Game.^[10]

Too Short made a cameo appearance in Jay-z's video for the hit single Big Pimpin'.

Too Short was in VH1's Rock Doc, "Planet Rock"

2012 Controversy[link]

On February 10, 2012, a video by Too Short was posted on XXLMag.com, a hip-hop website published by Dennis Page. In the video, Too Short gives "Fatherly Advice" to late middle-school and high-school boys. Specifically, he offers "a couple of tricks" for "when you start feeling a certain way about the girls." The video caused immediate outcry ^[11] and was soon taken down by XXL, which issued an apology^[12]. Too Short also Tweeted statements in response to the criticism.

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• 1983: Don't Stop Rappin'
• 1985: Players
• 1986: Raw, Uncut, and X-Rated
• 1987: Born to Mack
• 1989: Life Is... Too Short
• 1990: Short Dog's in the House
• 1992: Shorty The Pimp
• 1993: Get in Where You Fit In
• 1995: Cocktails
• 1996: Gettin' It
• 1999: Can't Stay Away
• 2000: You Nasty
• 2001: Chase the Cat
• 2002: What's My Favorite Word?
• 2003: Married to the Game
• 2006: Blow the Whistle
• 2007: Get off the Stage
• 2010: Still Blowin'
• 2012: No Trespassing

EPs

• 2010: Respect the Pimpin'

Collaboration albums

• 2012: The History Channel (with E-40)^[13]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Too Short on Myspace
• Too Short interview
• Too Short interview with GSlaps.com
• Two XXL Staffers Suspended Over Explicit Too $hort Video

Tech N9ne
Tech N9ne at release signing for Everready (The Religion) on November 6, 2006
Background information
Birth name	Aaron Dontez Yates
Born	(1971-11-08) November 8, 1971 (age 40)
Origin	Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Rapper, Vice President at Strange Music
Years active	1985–present
Labels	Strange Music
Associated acts	The Regime, Krizz Kaliko, Kutt Calhoun, Yukmouth, Big Scoob, 816 Boyz
Website	TheRealTechN9ne.com

Aaron Dontez Yates (born November 8, 1971),^[1] better known by his stage name Tech N9ne (pronounced "Tech Nine"), is an American rapper from Kansas City, Missouri. In 1999, Yates and Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music. Throughout his career, Yates has sold over one million albums and has had his music featured in film, television, and video games.^[2] In 2009, he won the Left Field Woodie award at the mtvU Woodie Awards.^[3]

His stage name originated from the TEC-9 semi-automatic handgun, given to him by rapper Black Walt due to his fast rhyming style.^[4] Yates later applied a deeper meaning to the name, claiming that it stands for the complete technique of rhyme, with 'tech' meaning technique and 'nine' representing the number of completion.^[4][5]

Early life[link]

Aaron Dontez Yates was born on November 8, 1971 in Kansas City, Missouri.^[1] He began rapping at a very early age, and would rap the letters of his name in order to remember how to spell it.^[6] He never met his father, and his mother suffered from epilepsy and lupus when he was a child, which emotionally affected him and inspired him to "search for God."^[6] He would wander around abandoned buildings with his best friend, Brian Dennis, hoping to catch a ghost on film.^[6] In 2003, Dennis was shot and killed by his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend, which further inspired Yates' search for a higher power, as well as giving him the drive to vent his frustrations in his music.

Career[link]

Early in his career, Yates was a member of a group formed in 1991 called Black Mafia.^[7] He saw glimpses of success in the group 57th Street Rogue Dog Villians with their single "Let's Get Fucked Up." As a member of the group Nnutthowze, Aaron Yates signed with Perspective Records in 1993.^[8] However, the group disbanded soon after being released from the label. Yates signed with Qwest Records briefly before moving to JCOR Records.^[8]

In 1997, Yates joined the group The Regime formed by rapper Yukmouth.^[9] The following year, he was featured on the soundtrack for the film Gang Related.^[10] Yates appeared on the song "The Anthem" by Sway & King Tech in 1999, which also featured artists RZA, Eminem, Xzibit, Pharoahe Monch, Jayo Felony, Chino XL, KRS-One, and Kool G. Rap. Later that year, he and Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music.^[11]

In 2001, Yates released the studio album Anghellic on JCOR Records.^[8] After disputes arose about the promotion of the album, Yates and his label severed ties with the JCOR with a deal that allowed them to retain the rights to the album. The next year, he released Absolute Power, under a 50–50 joint venture between Strange Music and M.S.C. Music & Entertainment (which was founded by former Priority Records head Mark Cerami). The album debuted number 79 on the Billboard 200. The albums sales are said to have tripled following a campaign, going by the name of "F.T.I." was started by the rapper and his label. The campaign, which asked music listeners to legally download the album for free through the artist's own website was in response to the anti-downloading campaign by the RIAA.^[8] In 2006, Yates released the album Everready (The Religion).^[12] The following year, he released Misery Loves Kompany.^[13] Yates announced that the album was the first in a series of "Tech N9ne Collabos" albums that feature a wide range of guest appearances.^[13]

The following year, Yates released the album Killer.^[14] That September, he exceeded one million album sales over his entire catalog.^[2] Yates remarked of the accomplishment that, "It just reminded me of all the work we'd done in the past, up until now [...] I don't think it's sunken in yet. I've been celebrating for the last two days because that's a hell of an accomplishment. I've been planning success all my life. I'm not even a bit surprised, I'm happy about it. That just means I was right."^[2] Yates released his second Collabos album, Sickology 101, in April 2009.^[15]

Yates later performed at the Rock The Bells 2009 Festival and the tenth annual Gathering of the Juggalos.^[16][17] That October, he released K.O.D., an acronym for King of Darkness. The album featured a dark overtone, as Yates was dealing with the illness of his mother.^[18] An EP of new songs over unused beats from the K.O.D. album was released in 2010 as The Lost Scripts of K.O.D.. Later that year, Yates released his third Collabos album, The Gates Mixed Plate.^[18] In October, he released his second EP Seepage. On December 23, he released his first mixtape Bad Season.which was later released in retail CD form with a modified track list and without DJ Scream. On June 7, 2011 Yates released All 6's And 7's. The album features several hip-hop artists as well as rock artists including B.o.B, E-40, Snoop Dogg, T-Pain, Mint Condition, Busta Rhymes, Twista, Lil Wayne, Yelawolf and Deftones.

In 2011, Yates told 411mania.com that after All 6's And 7's he planned on releasing his fourth album in the Collabos series titled Welcome to Strangeland, featuring guest appearances from everyone on Strange Music, followed by the long awaited K.A.B.O.S.H. and 816 Boyz albums.^[19] Then, in July 2011, Yates said in a blog post that Rick Ross has agreed to do a song with him for the K.A.B.O.S.H. album and that he is also hoping to have a collaboration with Jay-Z on that album. In the same blog post, he said that the K.A.B.O.S.H. album will be a rock album.^[20] In another blog post several weeks later, he confirmed that he will begin work on the album after completing Welcome to Strangeland.^[21] Following his tour, he announced that he was about to begin work on Welcome to Strangeland and KLUSTERFUK, confirming producers for both projects. He said he will then begin work on the K.A.B.O.S.H. album.^[22]

Tech N9ne is featured on Lil Wayne's ninth studio album Tha Carter IV on the song Interlude. The track features a verse from Tech and Andre 3000. During a radio interview with Funkmaster Flex in August 2010, Wayne stated that he and Tech N9ne formed a "brotherhood" when Yates visited him in jail. In a later interview, Tech N9ne claimed that he thinks the song will "awaken a lot of other people that wouldn't usually look [his] way" and "teach all the new fans how to become technicians."

On January 27th 2012, in an interview with "Underground TV" posted on Tech N9ne's blog, Tech N9ne talked about his 2012 plans, confirming the release of Klusterfuk, the K.A.B.O.S.H. album and an untitled solo album to be released in 2012. As of March 19, 2012, Tech announced that he would be featured on New York rapper, DMX's upcoming album.^[23]

Style and influences[link]

Yates is known for his dynamic rhyme schemes and speed rap abilities. Soren Baker of VH1 states that Yates' techniques "showcase his wide-ranging, mind-blowing flows."^[8] Baker characterizes Yates' earlier work as "apocalyptic music, which discussed abortion and infidelity as much as his rapping prowess."^[8] Allmusic reviewer Jason Birchmeier calls his style "bizarre hardcore rap."^[1]

Yates says that he is influenced by Old school hip hop, and specifically cites Slick Rick, N.W.A, Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, Eric B. & Rakim, Schoolly D, and Just-Ice.^[18] He is also interested in other genres of music, and lists The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, AC/DC, Metallica, Floetry, Outkast, and Gnarls Barkley as influences. He's remarked generally that "I love beautiful music, beautiful music no matter what type".^[18]

In popular culture[link]

Films[link]

Yates' songs have appeared in the films Gang Related, Alpha Dog, Our Heroes: The 25 Best Black Sports Movies (Ever), and The Life of Lucky Cucumber.^[24][25][26] Yates was originally set to score the entire film Alpha Dog, but the studio decided to replace some of his music with more commercially known songs.^[27] In 2009, his song "Let's Go" was used in an online promotional short film for AXE body spray.^[28] Yates also appears as an actor in the films Vengeance and Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D.^{[29][30][31][32]}

Video games[link]

Several of Yates' songs are featured in the video games Madden NFL 2006, Midnight Club: Los Angeles,EA Sports MMA, and 25 To Life, the latter of which Yates is also an unlockable character.^[33] In 2009, Yates and label mate Krizz Kaliko appeared in a promotional video for the Fight Night Round 4 video game.^[34]

Television[link]

Yates' music has appeared on the television shows Dark Angel, I'm From Rolling Stone, My Super Sweet 16, The Hills, Spike Guys' Choice Awards, and Warren The Ape.^[35][36] In 2008, his song "Earthquake" was featured on an episode of MTV's America's Best Dance Crew in which the crew had to visually convey the title of the song in their performance.^[37] On the August 15, 2009 Strikeforce event, Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg, MMA fighter Gilbert Melendez entered the arena to Tech N9ne's 2006 song "The Beast" for his bout with Mitsuhiro Ishida.^[38] His song "Riot Maker" was used as the official theme song for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's 2010 Hardcore Justice pay-per-view. Yates also appeared on the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards in the BET Cypher with B.o.B, Machine Gun Kelly, Kendrick Lamar, and Big K.R.I.T..

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• The Calm Before the Storm (1999)
• The Worst (2000)
• Anghellic (2001)
• Absolute Power (2002)
• Everready (The Religion) (2006)
• Misery Loves Kompany (2007)
• Killer (2008)
• Sickology 101 (2009)
• K.O.D. (2009)
• The Gates Mixed Plate (2010)
• All 6's And 7's (2011)
• Welcome to Strangeland (2011)
• TBA (2012)^[39]

with K.A.B.O.S.H.

• Amafrican Psycho^[40] (TBA)

Extended plays[link]

• The Lost Scripts of K.O.D. (2010)
• Seepage (2010)
• Klusterfuk (2012)

Mixtapes[link]

• Bad Season (2010) (with DJ Whoo Kid and DJ Scream)

Selected filmography[link]

• Beef (2003)
• Das Bus (2003)
• T9X: The Tech N9ne Experience (2004)
• United Ghettos of America Vol. 2 (2004)
• Hip Hop Nation Vol. 1 (2005)
• Letter to the President (2005)
• Alpha Dog^[A1] (2006)
• The Psychumentary (2008)
• The Life of Lucky Cucumber (2009)
• Strictly Strange (2009)
• K.O.D. Tour (Live in Kansas City) (2010)
• EuroTech Tour (2011)
• Hip Hop Squares (2012)
• Vengeance (TBA)
• Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D^[41] (TBA)

Selected filmography notes

1. ^{^} Tech N9ne does not physically appear, but he did have a helping hand in scoring the movie, this includes the placement of several of his songs in the films score as well as the appearance of a song from fellow label mates Skatterman & Snug Brim.

Awards and nominations[link]

mtvU Woodie Awards[link]

References[link]