WARREN G - Return Of The Regulator | Review By: Jake







 

1. Intro
This is more of a modern psychedelic g-funk song than just an intro. A hypnotizing traditional g-funk beat plays in the background for a while as a female voice moans, and Warren talks to you for a second. Then new Warren G protege Damone, kicks a quick verse for you to enjoy. This is an EXCELLENT intro, the beat is top notch and Damone smacks you with a GREAT little rap ditty......4/5.


2. Lookin' At You - (featuring Toi)
This is produced by Dr. Dre and featuring a female vocalist Toi. Originally, Dr. Dre and Warren were supposed to be rapping on here together, but due to Interscope being dip shits they made Dre take his voice of this track. So warren basically handles the majority of the raps. This is basically a "love song"...and I emphasize the ""'s , if you know what I mean. Anyway, this is basically your basic run of the mill radio friendly rap song ... substance wise. Beat wise Warren 's big brother Dre laces him up nicely. Warren comes off nice with his flow here and other than the substance of the lyrics there isn't many flaws to this song, definitely one of the highlights of the album ......4/5.


3. Here Comes Another Hit - (Featuring Nate Dogg & Mista Grimm)
This song is basically a nice little party song. Warren mixes the upbeat techniques of today's producers with his smooth g-funk bass lines and California-esque feel to this song. Warren's rapping, which is usually not that great - is excellent here. Mista Grimm makes his first appearance on the album with a comedic and dope verse. Usually Nate Dogg and Warren G are a Super Duo...but Nate's chorus here sounds a little forced and run of the mill like his numerous guest appearances in 2001, but other than that the overall feel of the song is solid and serves it's purpose....4/5.


4. Something' To Bounce To - (featuring Soopafly)
Produced by Soopafly and also features Soopafly. He provides Warren with a perfect beat that perfectly soundtracks California living. Basically this song is about how people say Warren G fell off but Warren G is answering his critics. There's not much else to says here except that it's solid, a nice dance song, and Warren gives you positive reassurance about the 213 album.......4/5.

5. This Gangsta Shit Is Too Much - (featuring Butch Cassidy)
I'm not really feeling this track here, because Warren doesn't really keep my interest here and Butch Cassidy just put gasoline on the fire with his laid back vocals (which isn't a bad thing on his part, it's just not helping the song). The beat (which is most important on a Warren G record) is dope (as usual). But over all the track is a little bit TOO laid back in a way....if you're a fan of laid back material, this is you're song, but overall I'm not really feeling this song that much except for the beat which is exceptional.....3.5/5.

6. Pump Up (skit)


7. Young Locs Slow Down - (featuring WC & Butch Cassidy)
This is a track that you like to hear from warren. Modified G-funk, a positive message, soulful chorus, and a dope guest appearance. WC, Warren, and Butch warn all the young people on the street, that there is more to the gang life than what is glamorized on TV and on Records. All three elements of this song are working full throttle here. Warren (the producer) layers an EXCELLENTLY produced beat which in a way (which has almost always been the case in warren's career) sounds like a mellower sounding Dr. Dre beat (which is what you want from warren). WC once again molests a song with his outstanding mic skills. Butch soulfully supplies this song with an infectious chorus like Nate Dogg use to do. Which ultimately leaves you with a feeling of "Damn why aren't these guys blowing up?" Instead of whack producers like the Neptunes and Trackmasters getting attention, why isn't Warren being asked for his services? He's CLEARLY better. Why isn't WC blowing....he's hell've a lot more entertaining and lyrically better than Fabulous? It frustrates you that people are ignorant to great shit like this but the Lord has his reasons I guess.....4.5/5.


8. Speed Dreamin' - (featuring George Clinton & Mista Grimm)
Now I like to think of this track as Warren's homidge to one of his inspirations. This track takes a DRASTIC detour from the album's overall feel with an out of this world Parliament-like track. After all it does feature the man behind Parliament's success..."Uncle George." Overall, this song is something you have to listen to a lot to love it. The beat like I said, is something straight out of a Parliament record and is FUNKY AS HELL. Mista Grimm blesses us again with a couple of dope, dope, dope, dope, dope verses. The song doesn't really talk about anything inparticular, but serves it's purpose well....a funky Westcoast experience.....4/5.

9. Yo Sassy Ways (213 reunion)
Another highlight of the album....but why am I surprised after all it IS the 213 reunion track. This song is basically talking about the women they like, nothing more nothing less. If you're one of those people who are "deep" at all times **cough** cough** nerds**cough**....don't sleep on this track. Again the 3 functions of a great Warren G song are at full throttle. If you thought Nate Dogg had sold out and/or fell off he actually smacks you across the face with a 5-star-the-nate-we-all-love-and-knew performance, soulful and infectious. Snoop, glides through the track like a hot knife through pig fat. Warren, provides a soulful cushion of funk and 70's r&b...which again is top notch and excellently executed....4.5/5.


10. Deez Nuts Part II (skit)


11. It Ain't Nothin' Wrong With You - (featuring Mista Grimm, Boss Hogg, & Damone)
Now here's one of the few skippable tracks on the album. Warren Provides a beat that's "aight," but is a tad too choppy and repetitive. Boss Hogg and Warren's raps are just a notch above whack and the subject matter here is tiresome and leaves you with the feeling of "wow ANOTHER sex song." But there are highlights to this song. All being Mista Grimm and Damone. Mista Grimm again delivers and you catch yourself saying "where in the hell has this man been all of these years?" Then Damone brings mad energy with his short but impressive verses. Not the best song ever, but not the worst......3/5.

12. Ghetto Village
After skipping number 11 on your CD player you come across a highlight at number 12. This song samples a classic song by the one and only Stevie Wonder, and Warren almost pulls off a classic himself. Warren offers a positive message and hits you with some story telling. The most important thing about this thing, the beat, is again excellent. Not the most layered song but the layers are perfectly mixed and arranged and all the melodies and counter melodies mesh together well. If you're a big fan of Warren G, you're probably a fan because of tracks likes this, laid back, funky, and perfectly executed. I can't bring myself to giving it a 5 because it's not really a classic but 4.5 would be too low so I'm going to have to hit it with a ......4.75/5 (excellent song).

13. They Lovin' Me Now - (Featuring Butch Cassidy and Boss Hogg)
This song is pretty dope, nothing really special to talk about here. Warren's production and rapping here is pretty great, Butch hook's up a dope Chorus, but Boss hogg kinda screws up the vibe with another whack appearance. Luckily it was short. Not really a great song but not really a bad song.....3/5.

14. Streets Of LBC - (Featuring Lady MO)
This is a great song. When I first saw the credits to this song I thought Lil' Mo was featured....(wipes sweat off forehead), luckily I was wrong. An actually good vocalist by the name of Lady Mo is singing the hook here. I want to say this is a Gangster track....but it isn't. It's more of a narration of coming from a gang and poverty ridden neighborhood and coming out of all that with success. The beat is modified G-funk at it's very best. I want to say that the overall feel of the beat is mournful or scary....but those are deceiving adjectives to describe this beat. Oh well I won't try to explain it....it's just a dope beat/song.....4.25/5.

15. G-funk Is Here 2 Stay - (featuring Mista Grimm & Kokane)
I use to skip this track because it at first listen it seems a tad corny but when you get into the meat of this song it's actually a pretty great song. Warren hoooks it up with a marvelous beat (damn yet again), everything you could want in a nice g-funk beat Warren gives you, but more up-to-date. Mista Grimm is just great, there's not many words to describe my excitement about his album. and yes Kokane hits you with another "colorful" chorus and ad-libs throughout the duration of the song, which isn't bad and actually works here. Like the intro to this album it's almost like a modern day Psychedelic funk song which I guess gives the listener a pretty good excuse to magnify his or her experience with certain "substances." Anyway you flip it's a solid G-funk song.....4.25/5.


16. Keepin' It Strong - (featuring El Debarge)
This song is pretty touching. If you bought Warren's last album "I Want It All," you pretty much know that Warren had recently lost his mother. Like any loving son he dedicated a song to her in her memory. From an average rap artist you wouldn't really expect another touching tribute like this. You'd either receive a whole album filled with meaningless cliches and materialistic fantasies (which this album does have in spots), or just a bunch of overly lyrical babble that is meaningless and or boring. But not here, yes Warren G might rap about the quote unquote "bad" stuff in hip hop, but what separates Warren from all the other rap acts who rap about these things, is that he actually can and does put out meaningful songs that come from the heart...like this, that are genuine and don't sound like attempts to copy 2pac like other rappers these days try to do. Warren genuinely puts it down here and delivers a solid tribute to a person you can tell he really cares deeply about. The icing on the cake though really is El Debarge. I've never really been a fan of El Debarge, but his vocals here were much needed and actually enhance the feel of this song. I know I kinda made fun of people who are "deep" earlier....but I'm gonna say if you can't feel the emotion of this song, you're a shallow SOB and need to be slapped. Props to warren......4.5/5.


When I first heard the title of this album I thought, "Oh great, Warren's not selling big units anymore so he's just going to backtrack and become desperate trying to remake 'Regulate...The G-Funk Era' again." Oh how I was wrong. Again, like on his previous 3 albums, Warren takes g-funk basic elements and updates them for a refreshing and evolved sound that is almost like an hour of musical heaven. The album is graced by some excellent guest appearances like Dr. Dre, Nate Dogg, Snoop, Butch Cassidy, and co-star of the album Mista Grimm, who all help give this record it's main highlights. Warren's production here is top notch and is only over shadowed by his first record, but the overall effort here is just great. Warren's production isn't as good as Dr. Dre's or DJ Quik's, and probably never will be. But Warren is right up there with them and proves here that he is above the repetitiveness of Battlecat the inconsistency of Daz, and basically establishes without a shadow of a doubt that he is one of the very best when it comes to West coast production. I don't mean to make this record out to be this perfectly put together album, because it DOES have it's flaws. Some of which come from a couple of shotty guest appearances. But Most of the flaws come from Warren's rapping and/or lyrical substance. Some topics like the ones on, "It Ain't Nothin Wrong With You" and "Lookin' At You" are overly cliched with topics about sex and what not and some song seem to not have any or vague points. But there is some substance to a couple of songs on here. This seems like a really bad thing but it's nothing new, the flaws here are the same exact flaws that were on "Regulate" So basically if you loved Regulate....you'll like this, and if you liked I. Want It All...you'll love this. The production and vibe of this album is what you're basically looking for when you listen to this album....the lyrics are....just there and at points something you should overlook. But when Mista Grimm gets on the mic you better listen. Mista Grimm is dope as hell on this album and is defiantly a lyrical relief on this album. Like I said before I really can't wait to hear Mista Grimm's solo. Overall this album is great, not on par with "Regulate" but a solid effort nonetheless, some really great moments and a couple of not-so-great moments....but as a whole a Solid album

Oh yeah, I wanna give a big FUCK YOU to Vibe magazine who gave this album a 1.5/5, but love to bob their heads on every other whack ass act like Nelly's cock. A Great big FUCK YOU to the Source magazine who will probably give this album a bad rating because Benzino or Jay-Z weren't on it, and they wouldn't know a great record if it hit them in the scrotum sack. And an XXXTRA BIG FUCK YOU to anyone who sleeps on this shit.
 

4/5 Dubs!







 

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