Too $hort is a legendary rapper who was one of the first artists from the Bay Area to gain nationwide notoriety and achieve mainstream success. As a prominent figure in the music industry in the 1990s, the lyricist (real name Todd Shaw) was invited to a lot of parties.
However, on Sunday, December 2nd 2007, Shaw became the last industry figure to see UGK rapper and Texas legend Pimp C alive before he tragically died on December 4th two days later.
In a recent interview about the late emcee, Shaw expressed his sorrow about the death of Pimp C (real name Chad Butler), stating, “I can’t believe it’s over ten years, and I still… I have never, ’til this day, been able to accept the circumstances. That’s a lot of these little weird situations with folks getting found in hotel rooms, and they always be by themselves in a fucking hotel somewhere in some strange shit, and I’m just like, what the hell is going on with celebrities and hotel rooms?!”
Opening up about the last time he saw Butler, the Oakland native explained that he and Pimp C had had a backstage party at LA’s legendary House Of Blues venue. Vividly detailing the Sunday night in 2007, Shaw recalled, “He actually jumped on stage at the House of Blues. I was performing at the House of Blues in LA on Sunset [Boulevard]. It was sold out. C came on stage in the middle of the show and just…He was my hype man for the whole show!”
He continued, “He literally just hung out with me on stage. He knew all my songs, and he was doing his shit. The crowd loved it ’cause it was Pimp C. We went backstage, we laughed like a muthafucka. C always liked to tell stories, making everybody laugh and shit. We laughing, kicking it.”
The ‘Blow The Whistle’ musician then unveiled that he had planned to meet Butler for dinner on Sunday, but the Texan postponed until Monday, unveiling, “I said a million times that we were supposed to go have a dinner Sunday night. We got on the phone [he’s] like ‘I’m runnin’, I’m runnin’, I’m runnin’ like I can’t slow down, let’s do it tomorrow.’ So we just put shit out till tomorrow, then we don’t contact each other Monday, then I get a call from his momma Tuesday morning.”
However, on Tuesday, he got a call from Butler’s mother, who couldn’t contact her son, but shortly after, news broke that the lyricist had died as a result of excess Lean consumption, with the toxicologist revealing codeine and promethazine were the leading causes of death.
Although Too $hort’s memories of Pimp C are of them always having a good time and partying, they did once collaborate on a track entitled, all about it. You can listen to their single below.
