"Regulate (f/Nate Dogg)" by Warren G

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[00:01:23] Regulators. You regulate any stealing of his property. We're damn good too.

[00:01:33] But you can't be any geek off the street. Gotta be handy with the steal if you know what I mean, or you keep.

[00:01:39] Regulators! Mount up.

[00:01:44] It was a clear black night, a clear white moon, Warren G was on the street.

[00:01:48] In this episode, we dive into the infectious groove of Warren G's 1994 smash hit Regulate,

[00:01:53] featuring the smooth vocals of the King of Hooks, Nate Dogg.

[00:01:57] While we're taking some liberties with what constitutes a one hit wonder,

[00:02:00] we're willing to wager that amidst a few other notable chart appearances, you're most familiar with the iconic Regulate.

[00:02:07] It's a perfect storm of a great sample, Warren G's laid back rap style, and perfect storytelling reminiscent of Slick Rick,

[00:02:14] all converging to create one of the greatest rap songs of all time.

[00:02:19] So, listeners, mount up and join us as we dissect the timelessness of Regulate

[00:02:24] and explore its enduring impact on the rap music landscape.

[00:02:56] One hit thunder! Mount up. Here we go.

[00:03:12] We're doing a Regulate episode, even though, I don't know man, this is pretty iffy calling Warren G a one hit wonder.

[00:03:21] I mean, I know that this DJ also charted, but I feel like that could be similar to a Cisco having that other hit

[00:03:29] because I don't think anyone's putting on this DJ at a party anytime soon,

[00:03:33] but they are playing Regulate at every party that I throw anyway.

[00:03:36] Yeah, Regulate is the one that has stood the test of time.

[00:03:39] Matt, are you, I kind of assumed coming into this episode that you knew all things Warren G before we even decided to do this episode.

[00:03:50] Let me tell you how out of the loop I am with Warren G.

[00:03:54] I love this song, and I've got some stories about this song.

[00:03:58] I was way more into like, as far as like full albums, like I bought The Chronic, I bought Doggy Style, whatever.

[00:04:07] I never bought Warren G's album.

[00:04:10] Doing research for this was the first time I realized Warren G was Dr. Dre's stepbrother.

[00:04:15] I had no clue that there was like, that any of that was all connected.

[00:04:20] So I don't know.

[00:04:23] I have no memory of who this person was, but this song, let's see when this was, so 1994.

[00:04:30] So I was nine years old, right?

[00:04:34] At that point, I think it was just me and my little sister.

[00:04:40] And my parents were both at work.

[00:04:42] So in the summer, they would hire this girl to babysit me and my sister.

[00:04:47] And like most of the time I was just like fucking watching Ace Ventura, Pet Detective and shit.

[00:04:53] But she somehow, she taught me every word to regulate my Warren G.

[00:05:01] And it was like a party trick.

[00:05:03] Like my parents would like put the song on and I would sit there and just rap along with the entire song by memory.

[00:05:11] So that's my big connection with the song regulate by Warren G is that I knew every word of the song as a nine year old.

[00:05:18] But then, yeah, it's weird to me that I never dug deeper into Warren G, but I love this song so much that I want it to finally expose myself to more of his music.

[00:05:29] I didn't either.

[00:05:31] And, you know, in preparation for this episode, I learned a lot.

[00:05:35] I listened to a lot and I came out of here being like, Oh, Warren G is pretty awesome.

[00:05:39] Why didn't I?

[00:05:41] Was it?

[00:05:42] Well, I don't know.

[00:05:43] We've said this before and I'm going to and this is no shade being thrown on anyone else.

[00:05:48] But we've said before that it sometimes doesn't pay to be the first person to do something right.

[00:05:56] And I feel like Warren G is a huge backbone to what blew up with West Coast hip hop.

[00:06:07] But like that Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg took it to such a higher level that it kind of just left Warren G in the, you know, in the dirt a little bit.

[00:06:17] I'm willing to think that Warren G may have been the like start of that G funk sound of like, let's sample these old funk records and get these really cool beats.

[00:06:35] And the reason I say that is because NWA doesn't sound like this.

[00:06:41] You know what I mean?

[00:06:42] Like where Dr. Dre cut his teeth, it doesn't sound like this.

[00:06:45] Warren G's first album sounds a lot like what you would hear on like Doggy Style and The Chronic.

[00:06:51] Yeah, that's true.

[00:06:52] So I think that he kind of was more of a brainchild of a specific sound, but that other people were able to take that sound and do so much more with it.

[00:07:01] And I think that that's why most of us don't know more about Warren G is that it doesn't pay to be the first to do something sometimes.

[00:07:10] Maybe it was because Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, their personalities were just a lot bigger.

[00:07:16] I don't think. Yeah.

[00:07:17] I mean, Warren G's a pretty good rapper and he has a pretty good rapper.

[00:07:21] He has a cool voice.

[00:07:23] I was gonna say it makes sense to me.

[00:07:25] I have no clue about this 213 group.

[00:07:27] The fact that Warren G in 1990 formed this group 213, that was him, Nate Dogg and Snoop Dogg.

[00:07:33] Like that's a that is a powerful trio of like iconic 90s rappers.

[00:07:40] But I think it's not an accident that Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg became like superstars and Nate Dogg and Warren G kind of became like the guys that you would grab for like guest features on tracks because Nate Dogg and Warren G and what makes this album, this song so fucking good is that they have that laid back rapping style.

[00:08:08] Like, like almost like they're just telling a late, like a calm ass story.

[00:08:13] Yeah. And like Snoop Dogg had that on his early records.

[00:08:16] Like, that's why I think that Snoop Dogg has never made an album as good as Doggy Style is that Doggy Style had that like laid back flow, like real like slick Rick inspired storytelling.

[00:08:30] Yeah. Lyrics.

[00:08:32] And then like when you get to like drop it, like it's hot Snoop Dogg.

[00:08:36] It's like I don't like Snoop Dogg the party, the party song rapper nearly as much as I like Snoop Dogg, the guy who got off on murder.

[00:08:46] You want to hear a story and definitely this song tells a story.

[00:08:50] But before we get to that story, how about a little background?

[00:08:53] We've kind of danced around it, but Warren G born in 1970 and Long Beach and 1982 at 12 years old.

[00:09:01] He went to live with his father in North Long Beach and his father's new wife, Verna, had three children from a prior marriage.

[00:09:08] One of whom was Andre Young, a.k.a. Dr. Dre.

[00:09:14] He became Dr. Dre a few years later, 1984, when he joined a leading DJ crew, the World Class Wreckin' Crew, which by 1985 doubled as an electro rap group, which in 1987 put out the L.A.

[00:09:28] area's first rap recording under a major label.

[00:09:32] So, yes, this was Warren G's stepbrother.

[00:09:36] In 1988, when Warren G was 17 years old, he was jailed for gun possession.

[00:09:42] And while he was incarcerated, he took the nickname Warren G.

[00:09:46] By this time, Dr. Dre was already beginning to experience success as the writer and producer for Ruthless Records, as well as being a member of N.W.A., along with, of course, Eazy-E and Ice Cube.

[00:09:59] So once Warren G got out of jail, he worked at the Long Beach shipyards and he began focusing on music after Dr. Dre taught him how to use a drum machine.

[00:10:10] Then he was the one, Warren G was the person who introduced Dr. Dre to Snoop Dogg.

[00:10:21] Yep.

[00:10:22] And then, yeah, it's all intertwined.

[00:10:25] Everyone's related.

[00:10:26] So then Nate Dogg is related to Snoop Dogg, right?

[00:10:29] I think they're cousins.

[00:10:31] Okay, yeah, I think you're right.

[00:10:32] So Nate Dogg began his career in the early 90s as a member of what you said, Matt, 213, which was a trio of Snoop Dogg, Warren G, and Nate Dogg.

[00:10:42] And, you know, Nate Dogg, of course, has worked with everybody.

[00:10:46] He does a lot of guest vocals.

[00:10:48] He's a good singer.

[00:10:49] He is known as...

[00:10:50] He's a good hook guy.

[00:10:51] He's the king of hooks.

[00:10:52] He's like the hook guy.

[00:10:53] Yeah.

[00:10:55] Yeah, he provided guest vocals on a ton of rap songs between 1992 and 2007.

[00:11:01] But I would say Regulate is the most notable.

[00:11:04] He also worked with Eminem, 50 Cent, Fabulous, Most Def, Ludacris.

[00:11:09] Actually, we know him most from Regulate, but he actually had a number one song with 50 Cent.

[00:11:17] He's on 21 Questions as well, Nate Dogg is.

[00:11:20] I mean, the thing that I also connect Nate Dogg with is I cannot remember what the song is called on The Chronic 2, but he does the,

[00:11:31] Hey, smoke weed every day.

[00:11:33] The next episode.

[00:11:34] Yeah, next episode.

[00:11:36] Yeah.

[00:11:37] Right.

[00:11:38] Like, I think that's the second most famous thing that he's done besides Regulate.

[00:11:43] Isn't that a game where people...

[00:11:44] The smoke weed every day part.

[00:11:45] Where people try to...

[00:11:46] Try to hit it.

[00:11:47] Yeah.

[00:11:48] Because it's a long pause before he says it.

[00:11:50] Yeah, and it's not to any beat or anything.

[00:11:52] You just have to perfectly time it.

[00:11:54] Oh, I wasn't thinking about the fact that was him.

[00:11:56] He's also on an Eminem song, which I'm not sure that I know.

[00:12:00] It's not that good of a song.

[00:12:01] I think it's Bitch Please 2 or something like that.

[00:12:03] Well, it says Till I Collapse.

[00:12:05] Oh, he's on...

[00:12:06] Okay, I know Till I Collapse as well.

[00:12:08] He was on something on the Marshall Mathers LP as well.

[00:12:12] Nate Dogg, what's wild about Nate Dogg is he charted 16 times on the Hot 100.

[00:12:18] But never as a solo artist, right?

[00:12:20] Always as a featured guest.

[00:12:21] Right, that's true.

[00:12:23] Yeah, so of course, Regulate features both Warren G...

[00:12:26] Well, it's a Warren G song featuring Nate Dogg.

[00:12:31] Nate Dogg, RIP as of 2011.

[00:12:34] He died at the age of 41.

[00:12:37] He had a lot of legal issues throughout his life, some of which charges were dropped.

[00:12:42] He first suffered a stroke in 2007 and then a second one in 2008 before passing away in 2011 at the age of 41

[00:12:49] from complications of his multiple strokes or congestive heart failure is what I saw.

[00:12:56] But back to the song, Regulate, I think a big part of the success of Regulate is that sample.

[00:13:05] Before we get there, we do have to start with how Warren G kind of got his foot in the door in the first place

[00:13:12] beyond the famous brother and everything.

[00:13:14] But a little credit has to also go to John Singleton, who when he was making the movie Boys in the Hood,

[00:13:22] which was being produced by Dr. Dre, Singleton asked Warren G if he'd be willing to produce a song for the soundtrack

[00:13:28] for his next movie, Poetic Justice.

[00:13:31] And Warren G produced Master Grimm's song, Endo Smoke, which featured him and Nate Dogg as well.

[00:13:38] And the success of that single is what led to Def Jam knocking on his door and giving him a record contract,

[00:13:45] which is why he ended up not on death row with Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, but went over to Def Jam.

[00:13:51] And then yes, off the power of Poetic Justice, he got hit up to do a song for the Above the Rim soundtrack as well.

[00:14:00] And Regulate was born.

[00:14:02] And I mean, this song, let's talk about some of these credits real quick.

[00:14:07] 20 weeks on the Hot 100, 18 of them in the top 40 and three of those weeks as the number two song in America.

[00:14:17] Oh, so close.

[00:14:19] A million copies sold in January of 2017 via digital downloading.

[00:14:26] It's two times multi platinum.

[00:14:29] And Warren G said back in the day he would travel and tour in Japan and notice that even though the fans couldn't speak English,

[00:14:38] they knew every single word to this song when he played it live.

[00:14:43] And then it remains still the biggest single of Def Jam's record label career.

[00:14:51] Like this song was massive.

[00:14:53] Russell Simmons, the founder of Def Jam said Warren's music was worldwide because the melody plays no matter what the language is.

[00:15:01] Yeah, it's catchy as hell for sure.

[00:15:05] And like you said, a lot of credit has got to go to Michael McDonald because goddamn that I Keep Forgetting sample is so good.

[00:15:15] So who was it that put two and two together here on this song?

[00:15:21] Who was the mastermind that said these voices, this story, this sample?

[00:15:26] All it says is Regulate was co-written and performed by Warren G and Nate Dogg.

[00:15:31] So I'm wondering if it was all that was it?

[00:15:34] They had everything to do with it and it was produced by Warren G.

[00:15:37] I think so.

[00:15:38] We'll look into it.

[00:15:39] It says it also samples Signal of the Times by Bob James and Let Me Ride by Dr.

[00:15:44] Dre, which I think it doesn't sample it as much as they sing.

[00:15:47] Let me ride.

[00:15:48] Yeah.

[00:15:49] Producer Warren G.

[00:15:50] So it was Warren G who did this.

[00:15:52] Warren G did the whole damn thing.

[00:15:54] OK, I have heard this before and now I've got to track it down.

[00:15:59] There's a mix of the song called The Jamming Mix, which still features vocal samples of the original I Keep Forgetting in it.

[00:16:07] OK.

[00:16:08] It's awesome.

[00:16:22] It's awesome.

[00:16:23] Mixing the actual Michael McDonald vocals with the rest of the beat is top tier.

[00:16:27] Find that version of it.

[00:16:28] It's great.

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[00:18:10] And I didn't know this.

[00:18:11] It starts with a reed introduction referencing dialogue from the film Young Guns.

[00:18:17] I've never seen Young Guns.

[00:18:19] I guess I've never seen Young Guns either.

[00:18:21] I guess that must be the handy with the steel line.

[00:18:24] Yeah, or at least at the very least, because Young Guns, I think is just a bunch of hot 80s guys playing cowboys.

[00:18:32] Yeah.

[00:18:33] So maybe it's like Young Guns mount up is like, is like there.

[00:18:37] I don't know.

[00:18:38] I've never seen I've never seen either Young Guns movie, but apparently that opening monologue has references to the dialogue in Young Guns.

[00:18:48] Do we want to I know we don't do this very often, but do we want to just break down verse by verse the story that regulates trying to tell us?

[00:18:57] Yeah, of course.

[00:18:58] Yeah. The story of the song, which is I guess it's pretty easy.

[00:19:02] There's not a lot of deciphering that needs done in the song.

[00:19:06] It's just an interesting story about hanging out and playing some dice and getting into trouble with your homie.

[00:19:12] Yeah. So so Warren G starts out, he's driving alone through East Side, Long Beach, California at night looking for women.

[00:19:21] And he finds a group of men playing dice and tries to join them.

[00:19:25] But they pull out their guns and rob him instead.

[00:19:28] Why did they do that?

[00:19:29] Why?

[00:19:30] They could have won some money fair and square.

[00:19:33] But no, he probably had a nice car.

[00:19:35] They said this guy's loaded, but also doing the research for this is the first time that I got the line.

[00:19:40] What's up with the two one three?

[00:19:42] I was like, oh, he's giving a shout out to his old group.

[00:19:45] OK, so thinking these girls go ahead.

[00:19:50] Let me see this.

[00:19:51] Yeah. So some brother shooting dice and I said, let's do this.

[00:19:54] Jumped out the ride.

[00:19:55] I said, what's up?

[00:19:56] Some brother pulled some gats.

[00:19:58] So I said, I'm stuck.

[00:20:00] Oh, I don't think I ever fully piece this together.

[00:20:05] So we're hearing two stories simultaneously.

[00:20:08] We're hearing what's happening to Warren G on Warren G's versus.

[00:20:12] Meanwhile, Nate Dogg is trying to find Warren G to hang out.

[00:20:15] Right.

[00:20:16] As we're jumping back and forth.

[00:20:18] So like Warren G's, like it was a clear black night, clear white moon.

[00:20:21] I was on the streets trying to consume some skirts for the eve so I can get some funk rolling in my ride, chilling all alone.

[00:20:28] And then Nate Dogg says, I just hit the side on the LBC on a mission trying to find Mr. Warren G.

[00:20:34] I saw a car full of girls.

[00:20:35] Ain't no need to tweak all you skirts.

[00:20:37] No, it's up with two one three.

[00:20:38] Then we jump back to what's happening with Warren G.

[00:20:41] And he says like I hooks the left ones to one in Lewis brother shooting dice said let's do this.

[00:20:46] And then Nate Dogg is still like hitting on these girls from the car.

[00:20:50] So he said, since these girls be peeping me, I'm a glide and swerve these hookers looking so hard.

[00:20:55] I straight hit the curve on the bigger, better things and some horny tricks.

[00:20:58] I see my homie and some suckers all in his mix.

[00:21:01] So he pulls over to pick up these gals and he sees these guys about to mug Warren G.

[00:21:06] But these girls are hookers or is he just calling the girls hookers?

[00:21:09] I think it's 1993.

[00:21:11] Okay.

[00:21:12] We're just calling all women hookers.

[00:21:14] Basically.

[00:21:15] Yes.

[00:21:16] So yeah, he's getting jacked.

[00:21:18] He's breaking himself.

[00:21:19] He can't believe that they're taking his wealth.

[00:21:21] They took his rings and they took his Rolex.

[00:21:23] He looked at him and said, damn, what's next?

[00:21:27] So Nate says they got my homie hamming up and all around.

[00:21:32] Can't none of them see we're going straight pound for pound.

[00:21:36] They come up real quick and they start to clown.

[00:21:39] I best pull out my strap and lay the bust is down.

[00:21:41] So Nate Dogg sees them roughing up Warren and then he pulls out his gun.

[00:21:45] And he's kind of going to go up there and save his friend.

[00:21:48] Right.

[00:21:50] And then Warren says they got guns to my head.

[00:21:53] I think I'm going down.

[00:21:54] I can't believe it's happening in my own town.

[00:21:56] If I had wings, I would fly.

[00:21:57] Let me contemplate glanced and I see my homie Nate.

[00:22:01] So he looks across the street and he sees Nate coming with the gun ready

[00:22:05] to save the day.

[00:22:06] Yeah, this sounds dangerous.

[00:22:08] It does 16 in the clip and one in the whole Nate Dogg is about to make

[00:22:12] some bodies turn cold, which by dropping and yelling before you go any further.

[00:22:16] You know that they censored the word cold when the video got played on MTV.

[00:22:22] That God, the things that they would censor and rap songs is so fucking

[00:22:26] funny to me.

[00:22:27] Now they're dropping in yelling.

[00:22:29] It's a tad bit late because Nate Dogg and Warren G had to regulate.

[00:22:34] And then he laid the busters down and let his gat explode,

[00:22:37] switching his mind back into freak mode.

[00:22:39] If you want skirt, sit back and observe.

[00:22:42] I just left a gang of hoes over there.

[00:22:47] So he's just like, all right, I'm done killing these guys.

[00:22:50] Hey, Warren, I saw some girls down the street.

[00:22:53] Let's go catch up with them.

[00:22:54] Is the idea that he killed all the guys?

[00:22:57] I don't know if he killed all of them, but he definitely let his gat explode.

[00:23:00] But these guys had guns too.

[00:23:02] There were three of them.

[00:23:03] I know he said I laid all the busters down and let my gat explode.

[00:23:07] Well, if he laid them down, he shot and killed them all.

[00:23:10] So Nate Dogg rolls up and he kills three guys and then there are guys

[00:23:15] that are going to go hang out with these girls.

[00:23:17] And then he switches his mind back to freak mode.

[00:23:20] He's like, yo, let's get our dicks sucked.

[00:23:23] All this murdering got me horny. Let's go.

[00:23:29] Now Nate's got the freaks and that's a known fact.

[00:23:32] Before I got jacked, I was on the same track.

[00:23:34] Back up, back up because it's on.

[00:23:36] N-A-T-E-N-E, the Warren to the G.

[00:23:39] So yeah, he's saying like, look, I was also looking for some girls

[00:23:42] until these dudes tried to rob me.

[00:23:44] So let's go hook up with them.

[00:23:46] And then this is where they're together.

[00:23:49] They're not doing the back and forth versus as much.

[00:23:51] And they say, just like I thought, they were in the same spot

[00:23:54] in need of some desperate help.

[00:23:55] But Nate Dogg and the G-child were in need of something else.

[00:23:58] One of them dames was sexy as hell and said, ooh, I like your size.

[00:24:02] She said my car's broke down and you seem real nice.

[00:24:05] Will you let me ride?

[00:24:06] I got a car full of girls and it's going real swell.

[00:24:09] The next stop is the East Side Motel.

[00:24:13] And then they just talk about how they're going to change the world.

[00:24:17] I'm tweaking on the whole new era.

[00:24:19] G-funk step to this.

[00:24:20] I dare you, funk on a whole new level.

[00:24:22] The rhythm is the bass and the bass is the treble.

[00:24:25] Chords, strings, we bring melody.

[00:24:27] G-funk where rhythm is life and life is rhythm.

[00:24:30] If you know like I know, you don't want to step to this.

[00:24:33] It's the G-funk era, funked out with a gangster twist.

[00:24:36] If you smoke like I smoke, then you're high like every day.

[00:24:39] But if your ass is a buster, 213 will regulate.

[00:24:42] Okay, so then they're just flexing at the end there.

[00:24:45] They're flexing at the end.

[00:24:46] But yeah, the story of this song is that Nate and Warren are both looking for girls.

[00:24:52] Nate sees a dice game, pulls over, can't resist a dame of dice, pulls over, gets mugged.

[00:25:01] And as he's getting mugged, Nate Dogg sees the mugging, shows up, kills some guys,

[00:25:06] points to where the girls are, and they take him to a hotel.

[00:25:09] And then they talk about how they're going to change the sound of rap with G-funk.

[00:25:13] Also, one thing that I saw here, so Nate Dogg passes a car full of women

[00:25:20] who are so fixated on him that they crash their car.

[00:25:24] Is that what happens?

[00:25:25] Yeah, these hookers looking so hard, they straight hit the curb.

[00:25:28] So yeah, they were so infatuated by Nate Dogg that they crashed their car.

[00:25:34] And he was like, I want to fix your car problems, but first I have to kill these three guys

[00:25:37] that are trying to rob my buddy.

[00:25:39] Yep.

[00:25:41] My buddy's about to die.

[00:25:42] I got to kill three guys.

[00:25:44] Truly a love story that stretches generations actually.

[00:25:48] But I mean, we're having a lot of fun with this, but this song rules.

[00:25:51] Like this song is fucking awesome.

[00:25:55] I mean, we talked about this when we were doing the draft.

[00:25:58] I would strongly argue that Warren G-Regulate is in the conversation of like top 10 best rap songs

[00:26:06] of the 90s, possibly top 10 rap songs of all time.

[00:26:10] But I think this song is like all of the elements work.

[00:26:15] The back and forth between Nate Dogg and Warren G, the sample, like you said,

[00:26:20] and even that part where they're talking about the G-funk.

[00:26:23] There's so many, we talk about this a lot on DMAX and we talk about it here.

[00:26:28] Is a hook isn't just a chorus.

[00:26:30] You know what I mean?

[00:26:31] A hook can be anything.

[00:26:33] And to me a hook is like a thing that gets stuck in your brain.

[00:26:37] And like that part where they're flexing is like there's so many little hooks in there.

[00:26:43] Like the rhythm is the bass and the bass is the treble.

[00:26:47] Those like little parts are so catchy and so good throughout the whole song.

[00:26:53] And that's why it got all the way to number two, Chris.

[00:26:56] It got to number two on July 2nd, 1994.

[00:26:59] Do you know what the song was that Warren G just could not overcome?

[00:27:02] 1994. Was it a Boyz II Men song or something?

[00:27:06] Very close. You are so close.

[00:27:09] It was All For One.

[00:27:12] Oh, wow.

[00:27:18] Also on the top five at that time, number five, Aaliyah, Back and Forth.

[00:27:24] Okay.

[00:27:25] Number four was Asa Bass, Don't Turn Around.

[00:27:29] And number three, Janet Jackson, Any Place, Anytime and on and on and on.

[00:27:34] Anytime, Anyplace. Yeah, that's my favorite Janet Jackson song.

[00:27:39] Yeah. Look at that.

[00:27:40] Wow. Another smooth song.

[00:27:43] I have to ask you, when you were looking into the history of Warren G,

[00:27:47] was there anything that happened in, I don't know, let's say the last 10 years

[00:27:53] that was a real shock for you in Warren G's career?

[00:27:57] Because there was one thing that blew my mind.

[00:28:00] Well, I mean, first of all, you have to note he did have another song,

[00:28:05] this DJ that reached number nine.

[00:28:07] And that song and Regulate both got Grammy nominations.

[00:28:11] So calling him a one-hit wonder might not be right on our side.

[00:28:16] People might be upset with us. That's fine.

[00:28:18] Yeah, this DJ also has 18 million YouTube plays.

[00:28:21] So people seem to know that song.

[00:28:25] So I'm looking back at what else has gone on.

[00:28:28] Three songs from his second album, Take a Look Over Your Shoulder,

[00:28:31] reached the top 40, as did his 1998 duet with Nate Dogg,

[00:28:36] Nobody Does It Better.

[00:28:37] Both Take a Look Over Your Shoulder and his next album,

[00:28:40] I Want It All, were certified gold.

[00:28:42] So once again, calling him a one-hit wonder,

[00:28:45] we might be really pushing that definition.

[00:28:48] It's just that one of his songs really overshadows all the rest.

[00:28:51] Then his 2001 comeback attempt, The Return of the Regulator,

[00:28:56] failed to reach his earlier commercial heights.

[00:29:00] But then he released a 213 album with Snoop and Nate Dogg in 2004

[00:29:06] called The Hard Way.

[00:29:07] And then as independent releases in 2005 and 2009,

[00:29:12] he released The Midnight Hour and The G-Files,

[00:29:15] both of which, like I said, released them independently, self-produced.

[00:29:19] Then in 2015, he released Regulate G-Funk Era Part II,

[00:29:25] which was an EP featuring archived recordings of Nate Dogg.

[00:29:31] I don't know.

[00:29:32] Are there something that I missed that he did or what?

[00:29:37] In August of 2014, for MNET, I don't know what that is,

[00:29:43] but for the MNET Channel reality series American Hustle Life,

[00:29:48] Warren G directed the music video for Boy in Love

[00:29:53] by the South Korean boy band BTS.

[00:29:56] Wow, that's the song with Halsey.

[00:29:58] I like that.

[00:29:59] I actually have that.

[00:30:01] Go ahead.

[00:30:02] I'm thinking that because this was 10 years ago,

[00:30:04] I think they redid it as they were blowing up with Halsey later.

[00:30:08] I think this was when they were still an early boy band in South Korea.

[00:30:14] But how crazy is that Warren G directed a BTS music video 10 years ago?

[00:30:20] Yeah, I don't understand how that happened.

[00:30:24] I didn't know he even directed music videos.

[00:30:26] I didn't see that anywhere in his thing.

[00:30:29] So I was scrolling through his Wikipedia and it made me laugh

[00:30:33] because it had no context.

[00:30:35] It was that he has a filmography page on his Wikipedia

[00:30:42] and I said, oh, I wonder what Warren G's filmography is.

[00:30:45] And it's like a bunch of random stuff,

[00:30:48] like something called Little Richard and Old School.

[00:30:50] And then it just says BTS American Hustle Life

[00:30:53] and there's no hyperlink for it.

[00:30:55] So I had to do so much Googling to find what the hell that is

[00:30:59] because I was like, that has to stand for behind the scenes.

[00:31:02] There's no way it's that BTS.

[00:31:04] And then sure enough, it was that BTS.

[00:31:08] His most recent filmography credit, 2016

[00:31:11] in one episode of The Eric Andre Show.

[00:31:14] Yeah, yeah.

[00:31:16] I guess the only other thing that I saw about him in recent,

[00:31:21] I mean, dude, I saw a video from like two weeks ago

[00:31:24] where he was saying shit about Suge Knight.

[00:31:27] And there was from less than a year ago, August of 2023,

[00:31:35] he went on Drink Champs, the podcast,

[00:31:38] and talked about the moment that he almost shot Suge Knight.

[00:31:44] Yeah, he said he opened up about the Rocky relationship

[00:31:47] with Suge Knight.

[00:31:48] The incarcerated music mogul got into a scuffle with him

[00:31:51] after Warren G told Snoop not to sign a record contract

[00:31:55] he was offered.

[00:31:56] I guess Suge Knight allegedly envied Warren G

[00:32:02] for finding success despite not signing with the label.

[00:32:05] And then later in that interview, Warren G said

[00:32:07] that he almost shot Suge Knight

[00:32:10] after the two got in a violent altercation.

[00:32:13] So yeah, I don't know.

[00:32:15] Also, but I thought a really cool thing in here

[00:32:18] was that when he was talking about Snoop Dogg,

[00:32:20] how he introduced Snoop Dogg to Dr. Dre,

[00:32:23] he said, that was my plan, just unselfish

[00:32:25] and a plan for him to blow because that was my best friend.

[00:32:28] Just pushing for my best friend

[00:32:30] and wanting him to be successful.

[00:32:32] His name was bigger than me and 8-Dog, Warren stated.

[00:32:35] Yeah, no, so he sounds like a good buddy.

[00:32:38] He sounds like a good friend.

[00:32:39] A good buddy, yeah.

[00:32:40] Let's just dive into it.

[00:32:42] I mean, I think like you said,

[00:32:43] we're really stretching the definition

[00:32:46] of a one-hit wonder this week.

[00:32:47] And I think by that alone, the fact that,

[00:32:50] I mean, the dude has had a couple other successful moments

[00:32:53] in his music career and like has literally written

[00:32:56] one of the greatest rap songs of the 90s,

[00:32:58] arguably started the G-funk sound that blew up

[00:33:03] when Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre exploded the next year.

[00:33:08] I mean, or the previous year,

[00:33:09] like all of it points to Warren G being thunder.

[00:33:12] I can't see a world where Warren G isn't given thunder

[00:33:15] by our podcast.

[00:33:16] Yeah, I mean, he's still, I believe making music.

[00:33:20] I mean, he's directing K-pop music videos.

[00:33:25] He's kind of doing it all and this song lives on.

[00:33:28] I listened to a lot of his other music

[00:33:30] because I wasn't as familiar

[00:33:32] and thought it was all pretty good.

[00:33:34] Yeah, it's not bad at all.

[00:33:37] Yeah, good flow, good delivery.

[00:33:39] And obviously a pioneer of that G-funk sound.

[00:33:42] I mean, he might be a big part,

[00:33:45] a big part of being responsible for that sound

[00:33:49] that we love from the 90s.

[00:33:51] Yeah, that's what I mean.

[00:33:52] I think he may have, I really think he may have.

[00:33:54] I bet that that was like two, one, three in his production.

[00:33:57] And then when they were signing Snoop,

[00:34:00] they needed to match the sound that he was doing already.

[00:34:05] You know what I mean?

[00:34:06] So who knows?

[00:34:07] I mean, that's all speculation,

[00:34:08] but I think it's very possible.

[00:34:09] And also just from that quote about him

[00:34:11] wanting Snoop Dogg to be bigger than himself,

[00:34:13] that's just a good friend right there.

[00:34:15] So I mean, I'm giving him thunder

[00:34:17] both as a musician and as a human being.

[00:34:20] I'm giving him thunder as a friend.

[00:34:23] He's a thunderous friend.

[00:34:26] Yeah, I mean, I can't give him anything

[00:34:28] other than thunder on his career.

[00:34:31] ♪♪♪

[00:34:37] ♪ I'm a chimpanzee, I was a monkey... ♪♪

[00:34:49] This has been One Hit Thunder.

[00:34:51] One Hit Thunder is hosted by Chris Afalios

[00:34:53] of the band Punchline

[00:34:54] and produced by Matt Kelley of Geekscape.net.

[00:34:56] Underneath me you're hearing

[00:34:57] Loser off the Punchline EP Songs from 94.

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