In a carefully worded interview with’s Tim Sanchez, Oakland rap veteran Todd “Too $hort” Shaw, 45, responds to the ongoing controversy he sparked with a disastrous video in which he instructs middle school boys to skip “trying to get kisses from girls” in favor of “turning them” by pushing them against walls and inserting a saliva-covered finger into their vaginas to “watch what happens.”

In the Q+A headlined “Too $hort on Righting Wrongs and Rapping Relentlessly,” Shaw describes a breakthrough discussion he had with journalist and activist dream hampton:

Dream Hampton [sic] explained to me about how this is a time when women are fighting for their rights, and here’s a video that describes an assault. I’m actually a very knowledgeable brother, but Dream [sic] schooled me in the conversation. It really opened up my eyes to something I had not known about. She told me that if we were kids at a pool and I ran by and yanked her top down, it wouldn’t be a joke or a prank to her–that would be a traumatic incident, and it is along the lines of sexual assault. As little boys, we’re running around tapping girl’s a**es like it’s funny, but they’re really victimized by it. I learned that it’s not a joking matter. I feel like I needed that education because had I not, I could’ve continued thinking that it is a joke. Even with my music filled with misogyny, I still have morals.