If asked to name the most well-known and respected rappers in West Coast hip-hop, one name often overlooked behind the more popular NWA and Dr. Dre is rapper and producer, Warren G.
Having grown up in Long Beach, G entered the scene with the 3-piece project 213 (Long Beach’s sole area code at the time of the group’s inception in the early 1990s). He was joined by Nate Dogg and Snoop Dogg, but the group eventually folded as two of the three members went on to successful solo careers under the marketing of LA’s notorious Death Row Records.
Warren G would soon put out the album “Regulate…G Funk Era,” a record whose singles receive frequent radio play to this day and would go on to sell more than 3 million copies. Despite never reaching the stature of Dr. Dre or Snoop Dogg, it is Warren G’s music that would become known as the archetypal sound of G Funk West Coast hip-hop.
Along with releasing six albums of his own – the most recent being 2009’s The G Files – Warren G would collaborate with other artists over the years, including Snoop Dogg (most notably on his track “Ain’t No Fun If The Homies Can’t Have None”), Tupac, Eve and Adina Howard. He also produced several tracks of Dr. Dre’s seminal album “The Chronic.”
G’s own recordings have pushed into funk, soul, blues and jazz inspired territory, though all contain the swampy-synth, groove-heavy bass and Cali kush-laced lyrics that characterize the G Funk party sound.
Warren G hits South Lake Tahoe’s Hard Rock Hotel and Casino at 10 p.m. on Friday, June 30, with openers Soulmedic’s dancehall reggae, and Northern California’s Galactik Vibes and South Lake Tahoe’s Rhythmatix adding their rap sets to the mix.
-Shaun Astor
