Where did the terminology "shorty" come from?

In many of the lyrics to the popular rap/r&b/spoken poetry of today's society, manner lyricists refer to their female companions as their "shorty", or "shawty". What the origin of this term? Is it because female companions are usually smaller in stature that the lyricists themselves? What if this companion was taller than her lyricist companion? Would that make her a "tallee"? Thank you.