Rapper Too Short performs during the 2008 VH1 Hip Hop Honors show in New York, in this October 2, 2008 file photo. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/Files

LOS ANGELES - Veteran U.S. rapper Too Short was arrested on Wednesday in Los Angeles on suspicion of drunken driving and narcotics possession, local police said.

The “Blow the Whistle” rapper, who was born Todd Anthony Shaw, was booked shortly after 3 a.m. after a traffic stop in Hollywood, Los Angeles Police officer Cleon Joseph said.

Joseph said the 46-year-old rapper, who is best known as a pioneer of West Coast hip hop in the late 1980s and 1990s, was still in custody but offered no other details.

Too Short was being held on $10,000 bail and charged with at least one felony, according to Los Angeles County jail records. A bail hearing had yet to be scheduled, the records indicated.

Local media reported that the Oakland, California, native tried to run away but was immediately apprehended.