It’s been a little while since our last “Remembering Nate Dogg” episode, but the fans let us know on Facebook that they wanted some more, so we’re back today with the tenth installment of “Remembering Nate Dogg“.
This time we spoke to Nate Dogg‘s first cousin, Lil Half Dead, who many of you know as one of the earliest Dogg Pound affiliates who’s been around Snoop & the rest of the gang since day one. He tells us about the passing of their grandmother shortly before Nate’s passing, growing up together and his legacy in Hip-Hop.
Lil Half Dead: “Nate was my first cousin, we have the same grandma, my father is his sister’s brother and we grew up together after he came out here from Mississippi in ’86. Ever since then, we’ve been hanging around, they used to come out here in the summertime and stuff when we was way younger, we’d be playing in our grandparents’ backyard, we had a swing set and all that type of shit. We used to just be chillin’, hitting girls up at the park and having fun, you know?
We grew up in a musical family, so we knew that we had it. That’s something people don’t be knowing about me, I sing too, I’m not just a rapper. That comes in our family, and Nate took it to another level. My family sings Gospel music so they had to get used to us making this rap music and stuff like that, but they never doubted us, never came at us wrong, disrespected us or said we were making “devil music” or none of that.
They understood that this was the way we made our living. That’s better than us out here robbing people and doing the wrong things. Me, Snoop, Warren G, Nate Dogg, we got together and said we’re gonna make this happen, we gotta get off these streets!
What people don’t understand is, my cousin Nate Dogg changed the game! He was one of the first that was singing on hooks and putting it out there like that. Only one other person ever did that before Nate Dogg, and it was a MC Shan record from back in the days, “Left Me Lonely”. That was the first one, but Nate Dogg took it to a different level man. People don’t realize how much music that man had. My cousin has an archive of music, regardless wether it was with other people or not.
I’m finna really miss him and the game is really gonna miss him. All the T-Pains and the Akons and all that, they need to thank Nate Dogg! They really do. Ever since he had his first stroke, things haven’t been the same, and that’s when dudes jumped in taking advantage of the situation. His first stroke shocked everybody out of the blue man. People never look sick, it wasn’t like he was losing weight or moving slower or nothing. It just happened and it really fucked everybody up like “Damn!”.
He had been sick for three years but the whole public don’t know that. He had been sick for a while, but it’s new to a lot of people so to them it was a shock. But my grandma just passed about a month before he did, and I sort of felt that Nate ain’t gonna hold on much longer, because our grandma was our life. That was the main person that had us straight, made sure we were some good boys and we owe everything to her.
So when our grandmother passed, I just knew it manﾅ I knew he wasn’t gonna be able to hold on, because he needed that energy from everybody and our grandmother was very strong about church and all thatﾅ And when she died, I don’t think they told him right away, but when they did tell him, I guessﾅ But all I can say is that I miss my cousin, I missed him when he was sick and still here. Me and him weren’t seeing each other too much, but this shit is just crazy to meﾅ
Nate loved everybody in Long Beach and everybody loved Nate Dogg. But Nate Dogg didn’t mess with everybody like that. If you wasn’t doing what he was doing, making music, trying to get some money in your pocket or trying to be right, he wasn’t messing with you! He wasn’t with the riffraff in the streets and all that type of the stuff – even though he’s from the streets. But Nate Dogg was a different kind of dude, he was a special man.
He was always very private, reserved, didn’t show too many emotions. And that right there came from the military. Nate Dogg, you couldn’t tell whether he was happy or sad man. But I know two happy people though. I know Tupac and Biggie are like “Man, we got them hooks up here now!” I know they’re happy. Rest in Peace Nate Dogg.“
