Too $hort heads up all-star Las Vegas show

When Too $hort says he misses “the connectivity” of his youth, he speaks from experience.

Short, as he is referred to in conversation, sold his fourth album, 1987’s “Born to Mack” from the trunk of his car. He was dropping boxes of cassettes, returning to the same place a few weeks later to pick up his cash.

This was an example of direct marketing at its finest.

“It literally was the only option, and basically, if you didn’t do it yourself, it didn’t get done,” Short, born Todd Anthony Shaw, says. “We didn’t have the luxuries of like independent labels, like a New York artist would have had at the time. So do it yourself became the way to do it.”

Short today is among the trailblazing artists ever in hip-hop, appearing Saturday night in “Urban Legends Live,” an all-star lineup of hip-hop and R&B icons at Orleans Arena. Short is to perform with The Function, alongside E-40 and Scarface. Booyah Tribe and Dru Hill are in the mix, with doors and DJ show time at 7 p.m. (tickets start at $64.50, not including fees, go to ticketmaster.com for intel).

Short moved 50,000 copies while on the move. In March of 1988, Jive Records re-released “Born to Mack,” with it’s career-vaulting track, “Freaky Tales.”

Short’s career has evolved with the means of reaching the masses. Streaming services has supplanted a steering wheel in his outreach campaign. But he is nostalgic about the simplicity with which he he grew up.

“Just being a being a 70s kid, a Generation X kid, we were like the crash-test dummies for all of the upcoming technology,” says the 59-year-old recording artist. “Everything was tested on us, and it was great not having to worry about who’s going to win the next PlayStation game. You woke up, go out the house, and you didn’t have to worry about who was going to return a text in 30 seconds to meet you somewhere. If you write me a letter, I might write you back in two weeks.”

Shorts unvarnished rap style was molded from his days growing up in Oakland. His lyrics are inspired by what he saw and experienced through street life.

“I knew that hip-hop had a lot of individualism, meaning that it was frowned upon to try to be like too much like someone else,” Short says. “You had to find your own lane or you would not get accepted into the community. So my inspiration was the city of Oakland. It was a lot of blaxploitation movies from the ’70s that I grew up on, people like Richard Pryor, and a mixture of coming into my adulthood with those things as my fuel.”

The track “Blow The Whistle” has been dissected by rap fans for nearly two decades. The title has become Short’s signature phrase. He explains, “I’m the ref, and I’m blowing the whistle on people who are doing things they shouldn’t be doing.”

Short has performed three times at halftime of Raiders games, twice with Ice Cube. Both are members of Raider Nation.

Short says he has mixed feelings about his hometown teams, the Raiders and A’s, moving to Las Vegas.

“It’s bad for the city of Oakland to lose those income streams and lose all those jobs,” Short says. “If you look at the Raiders, since they have been in Vegas, most of the home games are attended by fans of the other team because Vegas is such a destination city. They’re like, ‘I’m going to f——— Vegas!’ They just show up in droves. That never would have happened in Oakland or L.A.”

A’s games will present similar issues, the rap star predicts.

“The same thing is about to happen to the A’s,” says Short, an A’s fan since he was a kid. “I can’t say if they’re going to come in and have a growing period of becoming a winning team or not. But I do know that it’s going to be that same great destination for the other team, and they’re going to come when their team plays the Las Vegas A’s. This isn’t like Oakland.”

The $40K night

Music superstars Travis Scott and Saweetie converged (separately) on Crazy Horse 3 gentlemen’s club last weekend. Saweetie, the “Icy Queen” of hip-hop, was in full glam and cashed in $10,000 in singles. She danced, twerked, and sent the money cascading over the club. Scott soon turned up, ordering $30,000, all singles, along with a magnum bottle of Don Julio 1942.

Scott tossed stacks of that cash into the crowd. This is formerly, and currently, known as “making it rain.”

Scott took over the DJ booth for a time, and stayed for several hours. The two hung in the VIP area for an “epic late-night, friendly celebration,” before heading their separate ways.

Cool Hang Alert

The sun never sets on karaoke. And in VegasVille, we celebrate “Kellyoke.” Caspian’s Cocktails & Caviar at Caesars Palace, Clique Hospitality’s hopping caviar bar and live-music hideaway, is celebrating Kelly Clarkson’s “Studio Sessions” residency at the Colosseum with themed karaoke nights starting at 10:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Aug. 13. Each night starts with a live acoustic set at 8 p.m. followed by onstage karaoke with a live band starting at 10:30 p.m.

Guests pluck from an expanded karaoke set list featuring country favorites and Clarkson’s greatest hits. No cover. Reservations (and voice lessons) encouraged. Go to caspianslv.com/live-music for intel.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.