Too $hort's background and relationship with his mother

Shaw comes from a background that bears little resemb- lance to the film heroes he imitates. Born in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s, he grew up in a solidly middle-class ho- Both of his parents were accountants, and his mother spent 30 years working for the IRS before retiring in the 1990s when her son built her a home in Atlanta. Contra- dicting the attitude about women deployed in his music, $hort has maintained a strong and respectful relationship with his mother. He told Vibe contributor Laura Jamison, "We're good friends, always have been. We never had a strain in our relationship at all." Nonetheless, his mother is offended by his "mouth." "I get really uncomfortable when I know my mother's in the crowd," he confessed to Jamison. "She'll come to me after and say, 'You got a foul mouth.'"