Friday Funk: City of Dope (w best sales quote ever)

I don’t live in a mansion but I drive a Benz
Cut to the turf and collect my ends

– Too Short, City of Dope

Today’s Friday Funk is City of Dope off Too Short’s second album Life Is … Too Short from 1989. City of Dope features some of the funkiest guitar playing on any rap song ever.

Rap fans know Too Short put Oakland and funky rap on the map through sheer hustle. He didn’t have celebrity producers, he just figured out production himself with simple drum machine beats on his first album, then brought in live instrumentation on his second album.

Guitar on City of Dope is played by an Oakland/Richmond musician and producer named Al Eaton, who Too Short tracked down after hearing some Eaton tapes that were floating around at the time. Eaton has played with members of Sly and The Family Stone, and is credited with giving Master P his New Orleans sound out of his tiny Richmond studio.

As a salesman, the lyric above from City of Dope has been my mantra for years. To me it’s always communicated exactly how a salesperson thinks. In the trenches, grinding it out. Just like the funk greats we tribute every Friday. May today’s installment help you get your cool back for the weekend.

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