‘Blow the Whistle’ is 20 Years Old — and Keeps Going On and On

On March 3, 2006, Too Short dropped “Blow The Whistle,” an addictive comeback single from the Oakland legend that to this day is played at nearly every block party and club night in the Bay Area. Despite never cracking the Billboard Hot 100 chart, it’s had enough staying power to become a nationwide classic.

Here, in an excerpt from her upcoming book Bay Area Rap Mixtape, music writer Tamara Palmer recalls the song’s video shoot in Oakland, and the new world it heralded.

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our days after a riotous visit to San Quentin with KMEL and Messy Marv, I was on the phone with Too Short, conducting an interview about the Black Panthers for MTV News. At the end of the call, he invited me to the “Blow the Whistle” video shoot, taking place the next day in Oakland.

I’d like to say that I responded with cool nonchalance. But according to the blog post I wrote when I got home, I said, “REALLY? CAN I?!?!?”

Now, 20 years since its release in March 2006, “Blow The Whistle” is a beloved and iconic Bay Area party and sports anthem. Short’s catalog is deep, but “Blow The Whistle” is the song of his that most people know.

Produced by Lil Jon, who once told me about bumping Too Short tracks while driving around in high school, “Blow The Whistle” was recorded in Atlanta and Miami and landed as part of a multi-year crunk hitmaking streak.

The first day of the video shoot took place at Mingles Martini & Champagne Lounge, a nightclub near Jack London Square. As I stood in line and stared at the train tracks across the street, two kids behind me recalled witnessing a graphic killing outside the club.

The environment outside Mingles on that early afternoon included a van of youngsters who pulled up, filmed a video to a short but rowdy song — something about “Dead! Beat! Dead! Beat!” — and then peeled off as fast as they came. The Team’s Clyde Carson passed out cans of his new Grapple (grape-apple) flavored Hyphy energy drink.

When I finally got inside, I quickly met two women who I felt immediate care from, and for: legendary Bay Area rap photographer D-Ray and rapper OOO (Omolara Odofin). The energy in the room was very masculine, to put it mildly, yet they both clocked my awkwardness and took me under their wings.

Director Bernard Gourley was fresh off of directing his childhood friend E-40’s brilliant “Tell Me When to Go” video, which was shot in black and white. The Turf Feinz were there, ready to dance.

I spent nine and a half hours inside Mingles, allowed to take photos without a flash. It was one of the most enjoyable observational experiences ever. At one point, I sat directly behind the camera, on the floor, as the main dance scenes were filmed.

Here are three secrets from the “Blow The Whistle” music video: Short wore a “Love Is for Suckers” shirt, the nightclub scene was filmed during the afternoon, and the “DJ” didn’t actually have any equipment in front of him — he was air DJing.

So much has changed since that night in 2006. Following an accidental fatal shooting of a pregnant woman outside the club, and two additional incidents of gun violence in 2006, Mingles would permanently close six months later. Sadly, Gourley, the video’s director, died in a car accident in 2022.

And yet “Blow the Whistle” has endured, as well as some of its video’s stars. Last year, Kendrick Lamar incorporated the Turf Feinz into his 2025 Super Bowl performance in New Orleans — a true moment of Bay Area pride.

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y May of 2006, Short was sensitive to criticism that he’d co-opted hyphy culture, but he insisted that he had a more important goal.

“I’m trying to be a guiding light to these youngsters,” he told me, during an interview about the crunk and hyphy movements for Atlanta’s weekly paper Creative Loafing.

“I’m like, ‘Man, don’t make the wrong decisions,’” he said. “‘Don’t sign stupid contracts, don’t let nobody else get your money and jack it off.’ I’m thinking like that. Don’t turn the hyphy into a dance that comes and goes. Turn this into a business that supports families and kids and generations. It’s somebody’s kids going to go to college because of crunk music. Somebody’s kids are gonna get a trust fund because of crunk, you know what I’m saying? Let’s do that with the hyphy.”

For the next five years — until Messy Marv leaked his number and it changed — I annoyed Short by texting him every time I reviewed a concert where the DJ played “Blow the Whistle” — Janet Jackson, say, or Bell Biv DeVoe. It’s still an out-of-town DJ’s way of checking in with the Bay and paying respect.

In May 2013, I was visiting NYC when Youth Uprising’s Jacky Johnson invited me to Short’s guest appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Short had a five-minute rehearsal of the song with The Roots before the show. Tuba Gooding Jr. took care of the bassline, and Black Thought freestyled over the top. Though the rehearsal was brief, Short and The Roots performed with the ease of longtime collaborators. “I never practice before the show,” Short said.

“You’re really not that short!” Fallon said to Short, as the show began.

The song brought the TV audience to its feet, a full seven years after “Blow the Whistle” dropped. And now, 20 years later, its relevance keeps going on and on.

A book release party for Tamara Palmer’s ‘Bay Area Rap Mixtape’ takes place Sunday, March 1 at Studio Aurora (302 Valencia St., San Francisco). Admission is free; more event details here.