Warren G (real name Warren Griffin) was a crucial player in West Coast rap music during the 1990s G-funk era, and as a member of the Long Beach trio 213, alongside Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg, released some fantastic music. However, some of his best material was made as a solo artist.
As both a producer and emcee, Griffin worked with many West Coast artists, such as the Long Beach native Daz Dillinger, Tha Dogg Pound, Nate Dogg and Snoop Dogg. Warren G’s production features on a multitude of G-funk projects, and he made some of Death Row’s most iconic tracks.
However, he has a few legendary songs of his own, one of them being his 1994 single ‘Regulate.’ However, few know about how this track was made. In a 2011 interview with DJ Skee for Dash Radio, Griffin gave fans some intriguing insight into the single’s recording.
Recalling how it all began in his house, Griffin explained, “I had an apartment on Long Beach Boulevard in San Antonio, and I didn’t have no furniture. [Laughing] I had dog shit all over the floor, and I had two bedrooms. In one of my bedrooms, all I had was studio equipment.”
He continued, “I did the sample, plugged my VCR into the MPC60, sampled [the intro], and after I finished it, I called Nate and said, ‘Nate, I got a record I think we should do, and go back-and-forth on it. I think it’d be dope.'”
However, when it came to recording the track’s vocals, the dynamic duo didn’t go to Death Row’s Can-Am Studios in Tarzana but instead took a different approach. Explaining what occurred when Nate Dogg arrived, Griffin detailed, “Nate came over, heard it, and was like, ‘Damn!’ So from there, we hooked up a mic in the closet, and I called my engineer, Greg. He came over and recorded it, and there it is. As long as you got someone who can mix, you’ll be alright.”
Griffin insisted that nothing was re-recorded and confirmed that the G-Funk classic that appeared on his album has been and was always a song vocalled in his closet and mixed by an audio engineer in his living room. You can watch the full interview in the video below.
