2022 Super Bowl halftime show was the fire. The king Dr. Dre’s rap skill was still sharp as a knife. Dr. Dre’s associated acts excitingly and respectfully exhibited his achievement in 37 years career. Snoop Dogg fired up the whole stadium and beyond with his skill and unique persona. Eminem proved he could still rock hard as same as when he was slim shady. Kendrick Lamar touched down continuously with his mad skill. The entire field, including the type of stage we had never seen and hundreds of amazing dancers full of pride, was thoroughly organized. The dance choreography was perfect 10. Nothing G rated on both sides. No F or N words though there was one S word lol. The hip-hop extravaganza gave millions of viewers excitement and dreams. That was the evening genuine hip hop ruled the world. One of the best halftime shows that will be talked about in history. Who did expect this 25 years ago? And those veteran stunnas made one thing clear what was missing today’s hip hop scene; skill, edges, and sharpness.

Though Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg adjusted themselves to family-friendly entertainment for Super Bowl with one of the world’s largest viewership as adult and professional artists, both had a smell (and actually were) full of dangers as LA gangsta rappers 30 years ago. Notorious and untouchable. The different type of notoriousness with a LA band I wrote last time (read MÖTLEY CRÜE, “GENERATION SWINE” (1997)). More danger than Dobermans they displayed on their videos.

Around the time LA gangsta rap was focused after Dr. Dre released The Chronic in December 1992 and then-Snoop Doggy Dogg released Doggystyle a year after, I lived at a college dormitory in upstate New York. My roommate was a black guy from New York City who loved hip hop, and he was the guy who taught me hip hop music (I will write about this guy again on the feature retrospective). Of course, he had both Dr. Dre and Snoop and blasted their CDs every day. I wasn’t really hyped about both albums that time although I noticed Dr. Dre’s producer skill. For me who was a newbie and didn’t know anything about hip hop, their albums were “pop”. Like sunny California. I loved New York style on anything, bold, thick, dark, aggressive, and edgy.

My roommate had one more LA hip hop album, and I liked that one instantly. That was Regulate…G Funk Era by Warren G, released in 1994.

Warren G was Dr. Dre’s stepbrother who became his family member in their childhood when Warren G’s father and Dr. Dre’s mother married. Warren G was sitting on the front row at this year’s Super Bowl as seen on his Instagram.

I liked Warren G’s jazzy hip hop, such as “Regulate”, the first single from the album as well as Warren’s biggest hit. Hip hop+jazz was fresh to me. I wasn’t interested in jazz itself, but that fusion hooked me up quickly. Regulate…G Funk Era was the reason why I loved Mos Def’s first album, Black On Both Sides in 1999. I was influenced. Both albums are among the most favorite hip hop albums of mine.

Warren G clearly stated what his music was on the lyric of “Regulate”, which sampled Michale McDonald’s 1982 hit “I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near).

G-funk, step to this, I dare ya
Funk on a whole new level
The rhythm is the bass and the bass is the treble
Chords, strings, we brings melody
G-funk, where rhytm is life and life is rhythm

“Regulate”, Warren G

Melodies and rhythm were important elements in his music rather than cool beats. That was a big factor why I liked Regulate…G Funk Era because good melodies mattered a lot in music for me. “Regulate” was a good example. The original “I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near)” was more smooth R&B, but Warren G brought it to a new level with a full of jazz melodies. Indeed, a part of Warren’s influence was jazz from his father when he was a kid. It was G-funk so the base was supposed to be funk, and the majority of samples came from old-school R&B and funk, but many of the songs from the album still sounded jazzy rather than funk for me. Warren G brought intelligence to the gangsta rap also could be heard with “Recognize”, “This D.J.”, “This Is The Shack”, “And Ya Don’t Stop”, and “Runnin’ Wit No Breaks”. For jazz-infused hip hop lovers, the second half was the addictive side although the first half also had the influence from jazz and was enjoyable (the first half had more comical elements with a few hood skits). Warren G’s smooth rhyming skill created harmonies with those jazz rhythms as well as giving rhythms vivid life with his expression skill, just like he stated on “Regulate”. His own low-key flow style, in the opposition to typical straight-forward among other LA hardcore rappers like Dr. Dre or Ice Cube, succeeded to create his originality. I think East Coast didn’t have rappers like him, either. But caution. Even Warren’s voice was smooth and soft, and even he was considered moderate, the inside was nothing gentle. It was still gangsta funk. The lyrics expressed the street life in the hood of Eastside Long Beach where Warren grew up. Gangsta, hustling, pimps, and street gambling were normal. “Regulate” explained what was happening on the street at night, stealing and girls like the promo video, over the romantic and smooth melodies. The last song, “Runnin’ Wit No Breaks” reintroduced himself over the deep jazz sound as the conclusion; ”Ya fuckin around and set it off. Long Beach is where I’m from”.

While “Regulate”, featured on the “Above The Rim” movie soundtrack, was the most known song, this Warren G’s debut album evenly had the equivalent quality of songs. The album received fair results as well, sold 3 million copies in the U.S. alone, and reached #2 on Billboard Top 200. Not only “Regulate” marked #2 on Billboard Hot 100, but “This D.J.” also ranked at #9.

Warren G was the musician going on his way even though he was occasionally compared with his stepbrother Dr. Dre and the former 213 groupmate and old homie Snoop Dogg though they were deeply connected with each other on their career, such as Warren’s contribution to Dr. Dre’s The Chronic album. Warren signed with East Coast’s Def Jam, not LA’s Death Row along with Dre and Snoop. He maintained creative control with being self-produced and taking majority songwriting throughout his career though jazz elements faded away from his G-funk after the second album, Take A Look Over Your Shoulder. Warren’s creativity hasn’t faded. He just released a new single “Life Is Beautiful” earlier this month.

OVERALL POINTS: 99/100

• Eternal dopeness: ★★★★★
• Overall integrity: ★★★★★
• Songs: ★★★★+1/2
• Originality: ★★★★★
• Song orders: ★★★★★
• Vocal: ★★★★★
• Background: ★★★★★
• Sound: ★★★★★
• Production: ★★★★★
• Strong songs: “Regulate”, “Recognize”, “So Many Ways”, “This D.J.”, “This Is The Shack”, “Runnin’ Wit No Breaks”

EXTRA (NOT COUNTED TOWARD THE OVERALL POINTS)

• Title: A
• Album cover: B

RELEASED DATE (U.S.): 06/07/1994