Review Summary: This is the what happens when you try to sell out after over 20 years of staying loyal and consistent to your fans.
When you think of the West Coast, who do you think of? Probably Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eazy E, The D.O.C. and maybe E-40. Well a few years ago, you probably would have thought Too Short as the first member of that group. Too Short formulated the weed-centric, bitch smacking style of hip hop that the West Coast is well known for, and he was the one that started all the clichés for the particular genre. His lyrics weren’t the best, but rather simplistic worship of weed and misogyny , but he conveyed in such an entertaining and fun way that the style could be forgiven. He stayed consistent throughout his entire career, never changing his sound even a little until
Blow The Whistle, and even then the changes were only some minor influences from southern rap. However, with
Get Off The Stage, Too Short changes his style for the worst, and manages to make some of the dullest hip hop known to music.
Get Off The Stage actually starts out pretty well with “Get off The Stage” and “Broke Bitch”. “Get Off The Stage” is a four minute long “*** you” to all the groupies that try to get on his stage while he is performing, and acting like they are a part of his job. The sampled horns in the chorus of “Get off the Stage” fit the song perfectly, and bring the song an element of prominence and stature, while the synthy beat makes the song a fun to listen to. At this point, “Get off the Stage” leads into the best song on the album “Broke Bitch”, in which Too Short does what he always does, criticizes the broke gold diggers for “thinking a dick is a slot machine”. The beat is too simplistic, but what makes up for that is Too Short’s flow fits the beat perfectly while he is rapping hilarious lines.
As good as the album starts,
Get off the Stage gets so remarkably bland almost right after that song ends. “This is My One” contains what may be one of the worst beats ever, containing some poorly done and simplistic conga drums and some loud bass kicks that don’t fit the song at all, while “***tin On Em” contains overly silly military beat while Too Short brags too much about himself while his rusted flow destroys whatever was left of what was good about the song. Throughout the rest of the album, Too Short attempts to continue brag about his stature, but sounds like the mainstream rappers that he now seems to be attempting mimicking at this point. The worst case of this is “F.U.C.K.Y.O.U” where he seems to just repeat vulgar lines over and over with other bay rappers like Mistah Fab, Lil Skeeter, Ms Hollywood, Ginger. Too Short’s lyrics have never exactly been Rakim level, but with
Get Off The Stage, his attempt at continuing a steady cash flow has made him rhyme in an uninspired fashion in the way that many of the rappers that were inspired by him.
"Man f**k yo' mama that punk ass bitch
(Nigga what you say?) She ain't nothin' but a bitch
Nigga f**k yo' mama that punk ass bitch
(Nigga what you say?) Yo' mama ain't shit "
Even the beats on
Get off the Stage are really poor, and Too Short album’s are usually renowned for their excellent funk-influenced beats, well Too bad,
Get off the Stage is full of uninspired and simplistic junk-yard beats. Just about every beat on the record is just a pathetic piece of music, especially the Soulja Boy-inspired “Dum Ditty Dum”. In fact, the only beat that is worth anyone’s time is “Pull Them Panties Down”, and even then, the beat sounds like the usual mainstream club song, containing synths, pianos, and audible bass kicks, and it definitely doesn’t fit a Too Short song at all. Too Short in the past has been known and even renowned for his beat choices, but on this album he tries too hard to go mainstream, and just about every beat sounds like it was "cashed in" and "for the money".
Get off the Stage is the what happens when you try to sell out after over 20 years of staying loyal and consistent to your fanbase. The beats are incredibly stale, and all of Too Short’s lyrics sound like all those rappers that were inspired by him. After over 20 years in the business, Too Short has finally become a shadow of himself, which is a long time, especially for the genre of hip hop, and the results, as usual, aren’t pretty. Only get
Get off the Stage if you like mainstream hip hop, because even the biggest Too Short fanboy would be incredibly disappointed with the album at hand.
