Regulate

Warren G built the track in his Long Beach apartment with home-studio gear, then Nate Dogg came in and they wrote and recorded it in the same session. The vocals were later re-cut at Track Studio in North Hollywood, with Greg Geitzenauer engineering. Released in April 1994 as the first single from Above the Rim and later placed on Regulate... G Funk Era, it became a crossover hit and an MTV staple. It reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and helped establish Warren G’s smooth West Coast G-funk style to a mainstream audience. The song became Def Jam’s biggest single and remains one of the defining records of 1990s West Coast rap. Its Michael McDonald sample, narrative structure, and Warren G/Nate Dogg duet format continued to echo through later hip-hop and pop culture.