Gettin It (Album Number Ten)

*Getting’ It* was the last of the string of impeccable albums Too $hort made with his posse, the Dangerous Crew, before “retiring.” He eventually returned in 1999, but many fans claimed that his classic sound ended with *Gettin’ It*, the last album that featured Dangerous Crew producer Shorty B., who, along with Ant Banks, gave $hort’s mid-‘90s work its trademark wallop. Shorty B. produced the album’s title cut, which $hort claims as one of his “essential” songs. He kicks things off with a celebration of successful life of West Coast hustling: “You see I got all my game from the streets of California / Young millionaire with no high school diploma.” *Gettin’ It* features some of $hort’s most unusual and atmospheric beats, particularly “Pimp Me” and the Ant Banks-produced “That’s Why.” The appearance of George Clinton and his P-Funk cohorts on the hazy “I’ve Been Watching You (Move Your Sexy Body)” is a mark of how far $hort had come in ten albums. He had always advocated playing his own funk over sampling the work of his predecessors, and with *Gettin’ It* $hort proved that his long-honed technique had won the respect of his heroes.