This is all just my opinion, but I'll rank them on a scale of 1 to 10:
BORN TO MACK--10/10--this gets a 10 for "Freaky Tales" alone, but the whole CDs' a groundbreaker! Short can rhyme both old school NYC-style AND nasty!
LIFE IS TOO SHORT--8.5/10--some of the boasting shit towards the beginning seems dated, but "City Of Dope" and "Pimp The Hoe" are classics. Introduces Rappin 4-Tay, too.
SHORT DOG'S IN THE HOUSE--10/10--nice balance of clean and dirty Short Dog. A great mix of live Funk with old samples. VERY cool cameo from Ice Cube.
SHORTY THE PIMP--9/10--overlooked by many, but impressive. Basically like the CD above, with less clean shit and more dirty songs.
GET IN WHERE YOU FIT IN--10/10--Ant Banks' FUNKIEST beats and Short flows like hell. If you don't like this one, you don't like the Bay Area sound. LOL!
COCKTALES--10/10--more outside cameos from folks like MC Breed, 2Pac, etc., but it works impressively. "Givin' Up The Funk", indeed!
GETTIN' IT--7.5/10--Short's "retirement" CD. Basically cool, but a little uneven. Not bad once you have the classics, though--"Never Talk Down" and "Buy You Some" were hits.
CAN'T STAY AWAY--7/10--Short sounds torn between The Bay, N.Y.C. and the South. Individually, the songs aren't bad, but Short sounds like he was trying to reach too many markets here. Get the CDs ranked "8" through "10" first.
YOU NASTY--6/10--a few tight songs, but this one doesn't have enough "juice" to me, and Short sounds like he's trying a little TOO hard to cater to the ATL sound.
CHASE THE CAT--6/10--WAY too many goddamn features, not enough of Short. Confused (and confusing).
WHAT'S MY FAVORITE WORD?--8.5/10--Short's best "post-retirement" CD, IMHO. The funkiest production he's had since COCKTALES, and the lyrics are his most interesting in ages. A few more features than I'd like, but this one comes closest to his older shit in terms of quality.
MARRIED TO THE GAME--8/10--a couple of these really are too short--no pun intended--but there's enough variety to make this fun. "Burn Rubber" sounds like it could have been on BORN TO MACK. Even if Short never approaches the CDs ranked "10" again, at least he sounds like he's interested again (here and on WHAT'S MY FAVORITE WORD?).
PEACE!