Warren G played a prominent role in crafting the West Coast sound of the ‘90s. His debut album, Regulate…G Funk Era, sold over three million copies and featured one of the greatest singles in rap history, “Regulate.”
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of his debut, Warren G recently released Regulate…G Funk Era, Pt. II.
The Long Beach, California-based artist recently sat down with rolling out to discuss his latest project, N.W.A., and the resurgence of gang violence in South L.A.
What inspired the creation of the EP, Regulate…G-Funk Era Part II?
Well, a lot of the fans had been hitting me up on social media like, “Warren, we need you to bring that G-Funk sound because we miss it.” I decided to release an EP and give them some of that good music to roll to. The album features E-40, Too Short, Young Jeezy, Bun B and Nate Dogg.
How does the G-Funk sound impact hip-hop of today?
When we created G-Funk, we were free to do the music that we wanted to do without being stuck in one zone. Today, [there are[ a lot of artists who follow one fad and when they see one guy do it and it blow up, then everybody follows. Back in the day, it was more free and we could really go in and talk about the things that we wanted to talk about. We used a lot more cinematic elements when we were creating stuff. We used electric sounds, electric drums, live drums, bass lines, and guitars. Now, we still keep that feel in there, but we add 808 drums, which have been around since the beginning.
Why was it important for you to have Nate Dogg on the EP?
Just to keep his spirit alive man and just to let people hear that combination of us again on one track. It’s the same combination that created, “Regulate.” That’s my homeboy and I wanted to keep his spirit and legacy alive. I don’t want people to say forget about him. I want people to still talk about him just like they talk about Biggie and Tupac.
How do you feel about the movie Straight Outta Compton and the formation of N.W.A.?
It was incredible, man. I’m just blessed to have been able to be one of the youngest guys around them because I was there from the beginning. Just being around [them] and seeing how good they were in getting the message across and not caring about what everybody thought was amazing. They were ghetto reporters giving a report on those days and times in Compton, [California]. That was the way that it was back then and I was just blessed to be able to be around and experience it. I learned from the best which is Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, MC Ren, Yella, Ice Cube, and the D.O.C.
What are your thoughts on the gang violence that is going on in Compton and all of Los Angeles right now?
It’s kind of ugly right now. I don’t know what it is, but all of a sudden, it has been this 360-degree turn where it’s been a lot of violence everywhere. It’s tripping me out seeing that we have all the police brutality going on and a lot of innocent people are being shot and killed by police. But then you got guys out here gangbanging and killing each other also. So it doesn’t make sense. Hopefully, people will wake up and realize what’s going on so everything can get better.
