On Tuesday, March 15, it was announced that Nathaniel “Nate Dogg” Hale had suddenly passed away at the age of 41. But at press time, the cause of his death was unknown. Now, Nate Dogg’s attorney, Mark Geragos, has opened up about Nate Dogg’s death and revealed how he died.
As Geragos explained to the Associated Press on Wednesday, Nate Dogg succumbed to complications from the multiple strokes he suffered in 2007 and 2008.
Rod McGrew, Nate Dogg’s friend and manager, told tmz.com that the singer was “Ninety-five percent recovered from the first stroke in 2007” when he suffered the second stroke in 2008, leaving him partially paralyzed and suffering from memory loss.
Due to paralysis, Nate Dogg was left unable to speak in his final years and could only communicate through blinking and spelling out messages using his eyes and an alphabet board.
As his sister, Pamela Hale-Burns explained to presstelegram.com, Nate Dogg’s friends like Warren G. and Snoop Dogg would still call to check in on him.
“He would cry or laugh. But he enjoyed hearing from them,” said Hale-Burns.
Despite having lost his ability to speak, McGrew said that Nate Dogg was recovering well and had regained his memory and mental awareness up until his untimely death, which was a shock to family and friends.
Following the announcement of Nate Dogg’s death, many of his fans and friends in the hip-hop community, including 50 Cent, The Game, Daz Dillinger and Snoop Dogg, took to Twitter to pay their respects to the G-funk pioneer.
“We lost a true legend n hip hop n rnb. One of my best friends n a brother to me since 1986 when I was a sophomore at poly high when we met,” tweeted Snoop Dogg.
McGrew released a statement on behalf of Nate Dogg’s family, thanking fans for the outpouring of well wishes.
“We appreciate the enormous outpouring of response from all over the world,” said McGrew. We greatly appreciate that and thank everyone for their prayers and support. We know that Nate will be hanging out with his good friends 2Pac and Biggie.”
For Hale-Burns, seeing fans respond so strongly to her brother’s death has helped her understand just how influential he was as an artist and friend.
“I knew my brother was a celebrity,” said Hale-Burns, “but I am learning how much my brother was loved. He would have loved to see that.” –nicholas robinson
