Oakland rap artist Todd Anthony Shaw, aka Too $hort, was given a hero’s welcome on Saturday afternoon at the Fremont High School gymnasium in East Oakland, where Mayor Libby Schaaf proclaimed Dec. 10, 2022, to be “Too $hort Day” and dedicated a street sign in the artist’s honor, which was placed at the 4400 block of Foothill Boulevard.

Among those joining the mayor at the event were District 5 Councilmember Noel Gallo, District 7 Councilmember Treva Reid, and rap celebrities including Mistah F.A.B, Ice Cube, and Sway Calloway. A marching band from Pittsburg High School performed, an homage to Shaw’s stint as a drummer in the Fremont High School band.

A Bay Area hip-hop pioneer, Too $hort famously made a name for himself selling homemade cassette tapes out of his car in East Oakland in the early 1980s. His stripped-down funk, bouncy rhymes, and lyrical content—filled with equal parts social commentary and explicit sex—catapulted Too $hort to national fame and a four-decade recording career.