While it still seems unreal, the truth of the matter is that one of Hip-Hop’s most gifted musicians, Nathaniel Hale, better known as Nate Dogg, passed away two days ago. Dubcnn, as the home of West Coast Hip-Hop, has been supporting Nate throughout the difficult time he had been enduring since his first stroke in late 2007 and it is only right that we continue to celebrate his life and his timeless legacy now that he is physically no longer with us.
Throughout the next weeks, dubcnn will be posting a series called “Remembering Nate Dogg”, where we will be speaking to artists that were close to Nate, getting their thoughts and sharing some memories about their time with him.
We’re starting off the series today with E-40, who collaborated with Nate several times throughout his career. Their most notable collaboration was the Battlecat-produced smash “Nah Nah” off 40’s “Loyalty & Betrayal” album. 40 Water talks to us about his collaborations with Nate, what he thought of him as a person and what his legacy means to Hip-Hop:
E-40: “A Nate Dogg hook could change a whole song. Nate Dogg turned songs into smash hits. Not only that, but he was a friend of mine and a good dude overall. We lost a true talent and I honestly feel like he had a lot of time to repent and have conversations with God, so Nate Dogg is now another angel looking over his loved ones. That’s my philosophy on the whole thang.
Me and Nate Dogg did a song together called “Nah Nah Nah” and it was a big, big record on the West Coast produced by Battlecat. Nate Dogg came out here and we went to this one studio, and my homie at the studio usually lets people smoke nothing but medical marijuana in there, but that particular day, just for the fact that Nate Dogg and myself were there, I needed him to vibe with me! So we got nice and made a hit song!
Another memory is Nate coming to my studio the Orange Room and we did a song called “Sinister Mob”, it was an old school Mobb Music beat and it was on my album “Loyalty & Betrayal”. And the man just busted out rapping! Nate Dogg could rap better than rappers! (Listen here) *laughs* That boy was rapping on that thang, gassing! In his own little way, you know? It was funny, I was like “You rap too?” *laughs* That was one of the only songs he ever rapped on too.
Another song that we did together was “We Came To Rock Your Body” with The Click and the Dogg Pound. We did that over at Studio Tone’s studio back in the late 90’s. I only have good memories, him coming down here in his own limo, like a SUV limousine that he came down here with to Vallejo in the Bay Area, he fucked with my homie D-Shot and my boy Potbelly Will and all of us real tough. So he’s truly missed, we love him, we’ve lost a true talent. He brought us so much good music and you can just go back and remember those times through his songs.“
Related media:
E-40 – Nah Nah (ft. Nate Dogg) (Video)
E-40 – Sinister Mob (ft. Nate Dogg) (Audio)
We hope you enjoy this series, check back with us tomorrow to read what producer Battlecat had to say about his homie Nate Dogg. Rest In Peace.
