Too Short Married To The Game CD

.Guests:Nore, Mystikal,Devin The Dude,Liljon

Personal: Too Short, Jazze Pha, Oobie, Petey Pablo, N.O.R.E., Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz, Devin The Dude, Cutty Cartel (rap vocals); Jagged Edge (vocals); Craig Love (guitar); Lroc (keyboards); Lamarquis Jefferson (bass); Val Young, Shanell Fearing (background vocals).
Producers: Jazze Pha, Ant Banks, Lil Jon, Dez.
Personnel: Craig Love, Charles Fearing (guitar); Rob Mac, LROC (keyboards); Nvs Styles (scratches); Dez, Jerry Perkins, Shanell Woodgett, Dionne Denham, Val Young, Keri Hilson (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: Ant Banks; Ray Seay.
Recording information: Circle House Studios, Miami, FL; Sound On Sound Recording, New York, NY; Stankonia Recording, Atlanta, GA; The Enterprise, Burbank, CA; The Hit Factory, Miami, FL; Westlake Audio, Los Angeles, CA.
For his umpteenth album, Married to the Game, the original player, Too Short, keeps on keeping on, spitting pimp game over well-produced tracks, never breaking a sweat. As with his past few albums -- What's My Favorite Word? (2002), Chase the Cat (2001), and You Nasty (2000) -- Married to the Game doesn't offer anything longtime (or relatively new) Too Short fans haven't heard before. Yet the well-produced tracks (by the usual roll call of impressive collaborators: Jazze Pha, Ant Banks, Lil Jon, and Dez) may be reason enough for many listeners to add yet another Too Short album to their collection. There are a few really good songs that get the album off to a promising start ("Choosin'," "What She Gonna Do?," and "That's How It Goes Down" especially), but by the time the hourlong album reaches its midway point, it's pretty clear Too Short is lounging yet again, content to stride along with his routine, never going out of his way to go above and beyond the call of duty. As a result, most listeners should stick with Too Short's golden age (1988-1993), when he did go above and beyond the call of duty, making some of the most creative (albeit sex-minded) rap the industry had yet produced. Regardless, no other rapper does it quite like Too Short does, and even if he is taking it easy on Married to the Game, he still sounds phenomenal, especially if you're keen to well-produced Atlanta-style tracks with an old-school pimp's touch to them. ~ Jason Birchmeier
"Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to someone you already know," goes the intro of "Choosin'," the opening track of Too Short's MARRIED TO THE GAME. Remarkably, the Oakland rapper's name still has clout decades after he released his first album out of his car at the dawn of hip-hop in 1983. In fact, it would be pretty safe to call Too Short the first West Coast hip-hop superstar, influencing every West Coast rap act, from the hardcore bounce of NWA to the intellectual musings of the Hieroglyphics.
MARRIED TO THE GAME opens with Too Short hanging out at the corner of the club with Jagged Edge and Jazze Pha, waiting for the girls to come to him on the funky "Choosin'." Short shows he can still deliver on the cautionary tale with the hauntingly eerie and reflective "That's How It Goes Down." Throughout the album, Short Dog ably fuses newer Dirty South-esque beats with old-school player style, nowhere more appealingly than on "Shake That Monkey" as 2003's experts on the subject, Lil Jon & the Eastside Boyz, drop by. On his 15th record, Too Short proves he can still bring something new to the game.