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Warren Griffin III (born November 10, 1970), known professionally as Warren G, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and DJ who helped popularize West Coast hip hop during the 1990s.Steve Huey, "Warren G: Biography", AllMusic.com, Netaktion LLC, visited May 8, 2020. A pioneer of G-funk, he attained mainstream success with his 1994 single "Regulate" (featuring Nate Dogg). He is credited with discovering Snoop Dogg, having introduced the then-unknown rapper to record producer Dr. Dre.
His debut studio album, Regulate... G Funk Era (1994), debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling 176,000 in its first week. The album has since received triple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), signifying sales of three million copies. "Regulate" spent 18 weeks within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, with three weeks at number two, while its follow-up, "This D.J.", peaked at number nine. At the 37th Annual Grammy Awards, both songs received nominations for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Solo Performance, respectively.
Three songs from his second album, Take a Look Over Your Shoulder (1997), peaked within the top 40,Warren G's third Top 40 hit, at #32 in October 1996, is his 1997 album's track "What's Love Got to Do With It", featuring singer Adina Howard, but had been released first on the 1996 soundtrack of the American release of Jackie Chan's 1992 Chinese film Supercop. as did his 1998 duet with Nate Dogg, "Nobody Does It Better". Both the album and its follow-up, I Want It All (1999), received gold certifications by the RIAA. His fourth album, The Return of the Regulator (2001), failed to yield his earlier commercial heights. Along with longtime collaborators Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg, he formed the hip-hop trio 213, named for Long Beach's area code; they released the album The Hard Way (2004) to mild success.
His next two albums, 2005's In the Mid-Nite Hour and then 2009's The G Files, were released independently and self-produced. In 2015, he released Regulate... G Funk Era, Part II, an extended play featuring archived recordings of Nate Dogg, who died in 2011. In 2017, "Regulate", certified platinum in 1994, went multi-platinum, propelled by digital downloads.
In 1982, Warren went to live with his father in North Long Beach. His new wife, Verna, had three children from a prior marriage, one of whom was Andre Young, the soon-to-become Dr. Dre who in 1984 joined a leading DJ crew, the World Class Wreckin' Cru, which by 1985 doubled as an electro rap group, which in 1987 put out the Los Angeles area's first rap recording under a major label.David Diallo, ch 10 "From electro-rap to G-funk: A social history of rap music in Los Angeles and Compton, California", in Mickey Hess, ed., Hip Hop in America: A Regional Guide, Volume 1: East Coast and West Coast (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2010).David Diallo, "Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg", in Mickey Hess, ed., Icons of Hip Hop: An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press, 2007), pp 319– 322. By then, a Jordan High School student, Warren was playing football and running with friends.
In 1988, age 17, Warren was jailed for gun possession. While incarcerated, he took the nickname Warren G. By this time, Dr. Dre was already beginning to experience success as the writer and record producer for Ruthless Records, as well as being a member of N.W.A with Ruthless Records founder Eazy-E and Ice Cube. N.W.A's landmark album, Straight Outta Compton (1989), was driving the Los Angeles area's rap scene to swiftly drop electro for gangsta. Once out of jail, Warren worked at the Long Beach shipyards and began focusing on music after Dr. Dre taught him how to use a drum machine.
By 1990, Warren G had formed the trio 213Mosi Reeves, "Warren G and Nate Dogg's 'Regulate': The oral history of a hip-hop classic", Rolling Stone website, Penske Media LLC, December 19, 2014. with two longtime running mates, Nathaniel "Nate Dogg" Hale and Calvin "Snoop Dogg" Broadus. 213 was a contributor to the G-funk sound soon to emerge in rap.Jeff Weiss explains, "As much as 'The Chronic' is a psychedelic and sinister warp of the Parliament and Funkadelic records that constantly rotated on Dre's childhood turntable, it is the sound of Long Beach, too: the Ecumenism hymns of the Baptist church turned into filthy harmonic gospel by Snoop, Nate Dogg, Warren G and Daz" J, Washington Post & Chicago Tribune, December 15, 2017]. For some on this in Warren's own words, see Ebro Darden & Laura Stylez, interviewers, "Warren G talks growing up as Dr. Dre's brother, Snoop's early rap battles and his new album", Hot 97 @ YouTube, August 10, 2015, 22:30 mark. The trio dissolved after Warren G connected them to Dr. Dre. At that point, two solo careers were launched: Dr. Dre's and Snoop Dogg's, upon G-funk.Ben Westhoff, " The making of The Chronic", LA Weekly, November 19, 2012. "Dr. Dre speaks at Snoop Dogg's Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony 11.19.18", The Hollywood Fix @ YouTube, November 19, 2018. Nate, too, signed to Dr. Dre's Death Row Records. Warren G initially helped there; not desiring a career in his mentor and stepbrother's shadow, however, he signed to Def Jam Recordings in New York City.
Before long, homemade copies of 213's songs spread in Los Angeles county, particularly the cities Compton and Pomona, and Los Angeles city's sections Watts and South Central, but no label picked them up. One day, Warren phoned Dre to catch up, and found him at a bachelor party—thrown for Dre's friend Andre "LA Dre" Bolton, another record producer—whereupon Warren found himself invited to join it. There, once the songs began to repeat, Warren offered LA Dre the 213 tape. Liking it, he summoned Dr. Dre, who, hearing the Snoop rap "Super Duper Snooper", immediately welcomed the trio. Days later, 213 moved into Dre's lavish troubadour-style house in Calabasas, home to both his wife and his recording studio.In Calabasas, on the hills west of the San Fernando Valley, Dre had bought, in perhaps 1989, "a lavish Troubadour style home", and put a recording studio in an upstairs bedroom Gerrick.
In April 1992, Dr. Dre's debut solo single "Deep Cover" introduced America to Snoop Doggy Dogg, the track's guest but instantly star rapper.David Diallo, "Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg", in Mickey Hess, ed., Icons of Hip Hop: An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture, Volume 1 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2007), pp 326–327. Warren helped Dre find sounds for Dre's debut solo album The Chronic, further debuting Snoop, whereby superstardom chased Snoop into 1993 and, via Snoop's own debut solo album, Doggystyle, captured him by 1994.Stereo Williams, "When Snoop became the most wanted man in America", Daily Beast, November 18, 2018. By then, also solo, Nate, too, had joined Dre's label, Death Row Records.By the July 1998 release of Nate Dogg's repeatedly delayed solo album, the curtain was already closing on G-funk's popular run Thomas, AllMusic.com, Netaktion LLC, visited April 24, 2020]. Warren, returning to Long Beach, aimed to find his own way.Gill, Karam, director, " G Funk | Official Documentary", SnoopDoggTV @ YouTube Premium, 11 Jull 2018, which webpage offers a written synopsis. For instead some news on the 2017 documentary, see Matt Warren, "LA Film Festival update: 'G-Funk' doc and Warren G live performance at Ace Hotel, June 16", Film Independent website, May 24, 2017. In 2004, a 213 album finally arrived: The Hard Way.Jon Dolan, Joe Gross, Chuck Klosterman & Chris Ryan, "Oct: Breakdown", Spin, 2004 Oct; 20(10):120; Rondell Conway, "213: The Hard Way", Vibe, 2004 Sep; 12(9):236.
On the Above The Rim soundtrack, from Death Row Records in April 1994, the single "Regulate" was a duet cowritten and performed by Warren G and Nate Dogg. Spending 20 weeks on the popular songs chart, the Billboard Hot 100, with 18 of them in the Top 40, including three weeks at No. 2 in May,For all of Warren G's Billboard Hot 100 appearances, see "Chart history: Warren G—Hot 100", Billboard.com, Prometheus Global Media, LLC, visited May 10, 2020. Yet at May 2020, the only song this adds to the Hot 100's Top 40 is "Do You See", #42 in January 1995. Incidentally, the Billboard.com webpage apparently dates by latest peak position, with "Regulate", for instance, at #2 in July 1994. Apparently dating instead by earliest peak position, with "Regulate" at #2 in May 1994, is Joel Whitburn, "Warren G", The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (New York: Billboard Books, 2010), p 696: in chronological order, "Regulate", with Nate Dogg (#2 in May 1994 and three weeks); "This D.J." (#9 in July 1994); "What's Love Got to Do with It," featuring Adina Howard (#32 in September 1996); "I Shot the Sheriff" (#20 in March 1997); "Smokin' Me Out", featuring Ronald Isley (#35 in June 1997); Nate Dogg's single "Nobody Does It Better", featuring Warren G (#18 in July 1998); "I Want It All", featuring Mack 10 (#23 in October 1999). it was the summer's top rap hit. Certified gold, half a million copies sold, since June, it attained platinum, a million copies, in August.Database search, "Gold & Platinum: Warren G", Recording Industry Association of America website, visited May 8, 2020. In January 2017, via digital downloading, it was certified 2x multi-platinum. Back in the American summer of 1994, it stood at No. 1 on the MTV charts. Performing in Japan, he would discover fans who apparently understood no English, but knew all the lyrics. Into the 21st century, it remained Def Jam's biggest hit single.Russell Simmons with Nelson George, Life and Def: Sex, Drugs, Money, and God (New York: Crown Publishers, 2001). Russell Simmons, a Def Jam founder, explains, "Warren's music was worldwide because the melody plays no matter what the language."Gill, Karam, director, " G Funk | official documentary", SnoopDoggTV @ YouTube Premium, July 11, 2018, which webpage offers a written synopsis, whereas the Russell Simmons quote about "Regulate" may appear at about the 57:35 mark. For instead some news on the 2017 documentary, see Matt Warren, "LA Film Festival update: 'G-Funk' doc and Warren G live performance at Ace Hotel, June 16", Film Independent website, May 24, 2017.
Yet further, unlike other G-funk (short for gangsta funk) artists, Warren G, even called "a romantic" at heart,Eric Weisbard, "Platter du Jour: Warren G", in Craig Marks, ed., Spins column, Spin, 1994 Sep; 10(6):135. voiced simpler concerns.Soren Baker, The History of Gangster Rap: From Scholly D to Kendrick Lamar, the Rise of a Great American Art Form (New York: Abrams Image, 2018). And his modest rap styling maximized, by heeding, his modest lyricism.P.R., "Warren G", in Nathan Brackett with Christian Hoard, eds., The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004), p 859. "Regulate" doubled as the lead single Warren G's debut album, Regulate... G Funk Era, arriving in June 1994. Selling a million copies in three days, it debuted at No. 2 on the popular albums chart, the Billboard 200. In August, it was certified 2x multi-platinum, two million copies sold. Its second single, "This D.J.", went gold, half a million copies, in September, while peaking in July at No. 9. At the 1995 Grammy Awards, in March, both singles were nominated."Regulate" was nominated in Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, and "This D.J." in Best Rap Solo Performance. And in January, the album's other single, "Do You See", had peaked at No. 42. "Chart history: Warren G", Billboard.com, visited May 10, 2020. In August, the album was certified 3x multi-platinum. That month also brought some Warren G collaborations on two albums from his Long Beach associates, Twinz only album Conversation (album) and The Dove Shack trio's This Is the Shack. And 1996 saw Warren G on the "Groupie" track of Snoop's second album, Tha Doggfather.
In July 1998, Warren G's sixth appearance in the Billboard Hot 100's upper tier Top 40 became Nate Dogg's single "Nobody Does it Better"—on Nate's repeatedly delayed debut album—featuring Warren G, in another duet, which peaked at No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100. Here, incidentally, Warren raps a bar indicating his transition to family life.In the "Nobody Does It Better" single, in his third and final verse, Warren G raps, in two bars, "Hot rap singles, on the charts now / Got a baby, so I'm breaking hearts now" "Nobody Does It Better lyrics—Nate Dogg", MetroLyrics.com, CBS Interactive Inc., 2020]. Warren's third album, I Want It All, released in October 1999, has Warren mainly producing—where, perhaps, his greater comparative strength among musical peers abides—while vocals go largely to guest artists, including Nate Dogg, Snoop Dogg, RBX, Kurupt, Eve, Slick Rick, and Jermaine Dupri. Certified gold in November 1999, it bears the single "I Want It All", featuring Mack 10, which, becoming Warren's most recent Top 40 appearance, peaked on the Hot 100 at No. 23.
Over 20 years later, his 1997 and 1999 albums remain at gold certification, which none of his subsequent albums have achieved. Released in December 2001, Warren's fourth album, The Return of the Regulator, with a litany of collaborators, including the P-Funk father and G-funk godfather George Clinton and, elsewhere, Dr. Dre producing a track, is allegedly overdone, a comeback undone by Warren's reaching beyond his strengths and being outdone by his guests.Jason Birchmeier, "Warren G: The Return of the Regulator", AllMusic.com, Netaktion LLC, He "wastes a hot, Dre-produced beat", in the single "Lookin' at You", alleges a Vibe writer, who finds G-funk on its deathbed and Warren G "administering the fatal shot".Shawn Edwards, "Warren G: The Return of the Regulator", Vibe, 2002 Jan; 10(1):124. The album peaked at number 83 the Billboard 200, and became his final album under a major record label, here Universal Music Group, before returned on an independent label.Jason Birchmeier, "Warren G: In the Mid-Nite Hour", AllMusic.com, Netaktion LLC, visited May 8, 2020.
His sixth album, in September 2009, The G Files, "still the same basic G-funk sound", adds to "that classic soul vibe", Warren explains, "a taste of that modern electro sound".Jeff Weiss, "The G-funk continuum: Warren G talks 'The G-Files,' 'The X-Files' and West Coast hip hop", Pop & Hiss, the L.A. Times Music Blog, December 18, 2009. Disliking what he put as the rap standard of "some drums and one synth sound", he titled "The West is Back" for return to "that great soulful sound". "100 Miles and Running" features Nate Dogg—recorded before Nate's strokes in 2007 and 2008—and the Wu-Tang Clan's Raekwon.
From June to September 2013, Warren toured in the West Coast Fest, "an OG affair" with DJ Quik, Mack 10, the Dogg Pound, Bone Thugs N Harmony, and others.Rose Lilah, "West Coast Fest tour line-up features E-40, Dogg Pound, Warren G & more", HotNewHipHop website, June 6, 2013. Meanwhile, in a guest role, Warren played OG Hemingway in the sitcom Newsreaders on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming.For some examples, see Warren G's profile on IMDb. And in August 2014, on the Mnet channel's reality series American Hustle Life, he directed an alternate music video for "Boy In Luv", by South Korean boy band BTS.
Nostalgic fans would ask Warren for more of classic G-funk, and even ask for more from Nate Dogg, who had died in 2011.Ebro Darden & Laura Stylez, interviewers, "Warren G talks growing up as Dr. Dre's brother, Snoop's early rap battles and his new album", Hot 97 @ YouTube, August 10, 2015Erika Ramirez, "Warren G to release 'Regulate…G Funk Era Part II' EP this summer", Billboard.com, July 8, 2015. The single "My House", leading Warren G's first Extended play, arrived on July 13, 2015. With four songs, the EP, premised as a sequel to the 1994 original, is titled Regulate... G Funk Era, Part II. Released on August 6, it features E-40, Too Short, Jeezy, Bun B, and, in all four songs, Nate Dogg. With his unique knack for intuiting Warren's production cues, Nate leaves behind some of his 213 partner's favorite recordings.
His oldest son, Olaijah Griffin, played college football for the USC Trojans at the cornerback position from 2018 to 2020; he was also recognized with all-conference honors in 2019 and 2020.Ben Kercheval, "USC football recruiting: Warren G's son, five-star CB Olaijah Griffin, commits", CBS Sports website, February 7, 2018.Within USC's conference, the Pac-12, Griffin drew honorable mention for the official all-conference team, and made the Phil Steele All-Pac-12 third team "
USCTrojans.com, USC Athletics, visited August 11, 2020]. In April 2021, Olaijah was signed by the NFL's Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent.
In 2019, Warren G launched a line of barbecue sauces and rubs, Sniffin Griffin's BBQ, for retail and restaurant supply. This was inspired by his father, a cook in the U.S. Navy and avid barbecue chef. "Behind the scenes of Warren G the owner of Sniffin Griffins BBQ first sauce run", Warren G @ YouTube, December 7, 2019.
Collaborative albums
| 1995 | "Regulate" | Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group | |
| "This D.J." | Best Rap Solo Performance |
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