Bay Area legend Too $hort has worked with quite a few producers in his nearly four-decade career as recording artist. When he sat down with VladTV recently, he was asked about recording “Real Niggas” with Jay-Z. $hort explained that he turned 30 right around the time of his tenth album, and he was planning to retire.

“Thirty was an old ass age for a rapper in 1996. It was a thing,” $hort Dog explained. “I was thirty and it was my tenth album, and I was always into numbers, it just felt like a moment."

“Everything was going platinum, and it’s like you win the Super Bowl and retire. I figured I'd go platinum and retire," $hort Dog proclaimed. After announcing his retirement, he explained that demand for his music rose, everywhere except New York. “Everywhere in the United States, Soundscan said that I did 1.2 million, but the whole state of New York would be like 1,200 sales.”

"Biggie told me: 'You got love in Brooklyn.' I'm not sure how much of Brooklyn loved me, but I'd like to think that those 1,200 were all sold in Brooklyn."

Too $hort says that he was told that the reason that Jay-Z would do a song with a Too $hort or Pimp C is because Brooklyn rappers weren't as regional as other New Yorkers. "I would do shows with New York artists and we'd walk by each other backstage and not say anything, no eye contact, nothing. It was like if you weren't from one of the five boroughs, you were watered-down and not a real rapper, and that gave birth to a lotta shit—East/West whatever," $hort recalled.

"Jigga, B.I.G.—you could listen to the music and tell that they were in tune with Scarface, Too $hort and N.W.A.," he added. "Not liking that better than New York rap, but they were just in tune. You could tell they were in tune to a slower beat with a funky bassline and a certain drum pattern."

Short reveals that Jay-Z called on him a few times, mentioning the "Blow The Whistle" remix, "A Week Ago, and "Real Niggas Do Real Things."

When the conversation turns to Kanye West's critically acclaimed Jeen-Yus documentary, $hort points out: "Kanye was around as a producer before a rapper, but nobody gave a fuck about his raps."

"Scarface called me once and said 'I got the coldest producer,'" $hort added. "And he was talking about Kanye West. I was in Atlanta, and I told him that we had all the producers we needed—we don't need no new producers. Face said that he was from Chicago and he was selling beats for $2,000 a piece. Face did 'My Block' and something else with Kanye. I didn't even listen. I've done some dumb shit in my life, but that's on top of the list."