If there was a Mount Rushmore for West Coast hip-hop, the faces etched into stone would be that of Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Too $hort, and E-40. The remaining living icons of 1990s West Coast hip-hop have announced that they have come together to form a supergroup, fittingly titled Mt. Westmore. The new collaboration will release an album in April.

“We have recorded somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 songs. Volume 1 will be released in April and the rest of the volumes will follow,” Too $hort said in a recent DJ Vlad interview. “At the age we’re at is a good time to do a thing like this and kind of extend your career a bit in a different way… The minute we join forces, we get a handful of new business opportunities that none of us would’ve had.”

Too $hort, born Todd Anthony Shaw, said that the collaborative project was a natural extension of the artists’ sold-out shows together. Additionally, he said Mt. Westmore will serve as an example for present and future generations in how to cement their legacy.

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HipHop-N-More pointed out that Too $hort had previously revealed the project back in December, though there wasn’t a name at that point:

I get a call during the early part of the quarantine from E-40 and Ice Cube going, ‘Man, we feel like we should do an album. Me, you, it’s E-40, Cube, Too $hort and Snoop Dogg.’ And I’m like… ‘E-40 and Too $hort are from the Bay, Snoop Dogg and Cube are from L.A. and we are like the West Coast foundation.’ We sat there and was like, ‘F*ck it, let’s do it.’ So, we start coming up with beats.

Too $hort stated that the album will have only one feature, provided by fellow West Coast icon Dr. Dre. “Dre is on there, man,” $hort confirmed. “He’s on there. Snoop got him on there. Dre is on there. That’s Snoop’s guy. That’s Ice Cube’s guy. They shot a big movie together. He’s on there. Ain’t no doubt about it. You don’t even got to ask him.”

In a February interview with HipHopDX, Too $hort also went into detail on the collaborative nature of the project.

“We gave each other the authority to criticize, critique, veto, make suggestions, and just everything is like hands-down, I trust what you saying,” the rapper said. “It literally has been said, ‘Bro, that verse you spit yesterday was wack,’ and then bro go back and redo that verse, and like, ‘You came with it this time.’”

Mt. Westmore will make its live debut on April 17th during Triller‘s 2021 Fight Club event. The four-hour pay-per-view program will also see performances from Justin Beiber, The Black Keys, Diplo, Major Lazer, and many more ahead of YouTuber Jake Paul‘s match with MMA fighter Ben Askren. Tickets for Fight Club are available here.

Get the scoop on Mt. Westmore from Too $hort himself in this clip from a recent interview. The group previously released the track “Step Child”, featured on the soundtrack to the film American Skin, before a full album was announced.

Too $hort on His New Supergroup Mt. Westmore with Ice Cube, Snoop & E-40 (Part 20)

[Video: djvlad]

Mt. Westmore, Too $hort, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube & E 40 – “Step Child”

[Video: SnoopDoggTV]

[H/T Consequence of Sound]