The Regulator

For a generation of rap fans, "Regulate," the Long Beach, Calif., rapper-producer born Warren Griffin III's 1994 megahit, is stored in the part of the brain that also contains “Nuthin’ but a G Thang,” “It Was a Good Day,” the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme, and several childhood nursery rhymes. No matter how long it’s been, the moment you hear that whistled melody and Young Guns snippet, every word comes flooding back to memory. 

Over a smooth Michael McDonald sample, Griffin recounts a night of skirt-chasing gone awry, in which a foolish detour into street-corner gambling gets him robbed and nearly killed—until his best friend, the late singer Nate Dogg, appears from the shadows as a gat-toting guardian angel. Not a lot of rappers would play the victim on their own track, and allow the guest star to be the hero, but that's part of the reason why the song endures: It might end with a pile of cold bodies and an impromptu orgy at the Eastside Motel, but at its core, "Regulate" is about brotherhood.

Griffin has had other successes, and he continues to make records, but "Regulate," and the multiplatinum album of the same name, secured his place among the West Coast gangsta elite. And if it looms so large that it eclipses his other accomplishments, he's mostly fine with that.

"I didn't know it'd still be playing 21 years later now," says Griffin, 44. "That's a good thing, man. It just lets me know what I did was timeless. I'm seeing artists these days in for like five, six months, and the next thing you know, they're gone. You don't hear nothing from them. A lot of them, I see them and I'm like, 'Let's work together.' And a lot of them be kind of turning their nose up and shit, like, ‘He’s old.’ I ain’t old! I’ll still eat your ass up! And I still make better music than a lot of you motherfuckers. Good music don’t have an age. Wackness has an age.” 

WW: What are the origins of "Regulate"?

Warren G: I went record shopping and got the record [Michael McDonald's "I Keep Forgettin'"], and I was like, "Dang, this is a record I used to listen to as a kid. My parents used to play this, so this would be dope to put some lyrics over." We had this phrase we were using at the time, whenever we wanted to get something done. If we were doing a new track, we'd be like, "We need to regulate that." And this is before I had even put the Young Guns shit on there. I saw Young Guns, and the one cat said, “Regulators—we regulate any stealing of property, and we damn good, too.” And I said, “Oh my God, we’ve got to sample this and put it on the beginning of our record.” And the whole concept of the song turned out to be on point. 

Was the story in "Regulate" based on a specific incident?

All that shit is real-life shit. All of it. It was just how things went in our neighborhood. It was Compton, Long Beach, Watts, South Central L.A., Carson—all that was the Maad Circle. It was kind of like how Chicago is now, but 10 times worse.

It's interesting that you let Nate Dogg be the hero, while you're the victim.

Because that's my homeboy. It's really about two best friends having each other's backs—no matter if it's music, no matter if it's women or if it's street shit. No matter what it is in life, we were having each other's backs in those times.

Is it hard performing that song without Nate around?

I look at it like, my homeboy will always live through me. Me doing our song is keeping his spirit alive. I'm gonna always do that, until I stop doing music, which I don't plan on doing. 

You recently performed "Regulate" with Kenny G on Jimmy Kimmel Live. How did that come about?

I got a call that Jimmy Kimmel wanted to do a mash-up of "Regulate." At first, they said, "Who can you have come do Nate's parts for you?" I was like, "Shit, Cee Lo? I also like Miguel." But Cee Lo was out of town, and Miguel just didn't do it. So I said, "You know what, I'm gonna make this into something." I told Kenny, "We're gonna try something different here. I want you to play your saxophone up under Nate's parts, as if you're Nate Dogg." And this was last minute. I structured it right when it was time to rehearse, because from what I understand they wanted him to come in after "Regulate" to do a solo. I gave him the track, he took it and listened to it, and we did the show maybe an hour and a half later. When it was time to get busy, he was on point. It turned out to be better than having someone try to sing Nate's parts. Hopefully, Jimmy Kimmel will hire me as their music supervisor. I'll make sure they have some tight shit.

Charting "Regulate" By Mood

SEE IT: Warren G plays Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St., with Young Eastlin, on Wednesday, March 11. 9 pm. $22 advance, $25 day of show. All ages.

WWeek 2015