New Warren G interview [talks about new album,nate dogg,dre,snoop....]

[Elano]

HipHopDX: I don’t wanna start off on such a heavy note, but I just wanted to get an update on how your 213 p-n-c Nate Dogg is doing.
Warren G: He’s in recovery. It’s [a] kinda slow recovery right now, but he getting better. I’ve seen him…and just…praying and hoping that he recover faster so we can do this good music.

DX: Nate is on The G Files…?
Warren G: Yeah he’s on The G Files. It’s a record we did back in the day. Not back, back in the day, but a couple years ago. Me and him had recorded a whole bunch of songs. I got a lot of ‘em. Actually we recorded [some of them shortly] before he had the [first] stroke. We recorded about at least six…maybe eight records, where he just did like hooks and stuff.

DX: You gonna try to get that stuff out to the people?
Warren G: Yeah I will, but I mean, I’m saving a lot of that stuff for when he recovers too.

DX: Well let’s get into the new album. First off, why’d you cut that “Mr. DJ” track from the final tracklist? That shit was too fly!
Warren G: I couldn’t put it on there ‘cause I didn’t wanna end up with a lawsuit. I couldn’t remember where I got the sample from. [Laughs] Believe me, I want it on there so bad right now. That was an incredible record. 

DX: That track had a nice pimpalicious vibe.
Warren G: Oh yeah, it’s just letting people know Warren G, I’m not a slouch. I gets down.

DX: “Let’s Get High” has a cool, grown and sexy vibe to it, the flute-driven “She Got Her Own Ringtone”  has a smooth, breezy top-down sound, and “Crush” is like one of the best R&B-driven Hip Hop tracks in recent memory – the video for that is really clever too. So is the sound of the rest of the album that grown-folk g-funk?
Warren G: Yeah it is. That’s what I do. It’s there. I got a song called “Drinks Ain’t Free.” It sound crazy, but the story is like the drinks ain’t gon’ be free for you unless you wit’ me. You wit’ me then the drinks gon’ be free, then we can pop bottles and do all that other stuff. That one…I got a song called “Suicide” that I did with RBX that’s dope. I got “100 Miles and Runnin’,” the record I did with Raekwon and Nate Dogg. Actually, I take that back, that record was done about a year-and-a-half ago.

DX: And you just added Rae to it recently?
Warren G: Yeah, I added him [to the track] recently. We had linked up. We was actually both heading back to L.A. from the [NBA All-Star Game] and ran into each other at the gas station. And I always wanted to work with him, and he wanted to work with me, so we got in there and busted it down.

DX: Back to the sound of the new music… Can the G-funk sound work in a new west era? I personally love that more straight-ahead “Somethin’ To Bounce To” smooth shit, but I wonder if cats now think that shit sounds too ‘90’s for them to get down with.
Warren G: It can’t be too ‘90s. [Laughs] I mean…pshhh, man…The music I do is gon’ jump off no matter what era, in what time frame, in whatever my music is gon’ work. Actually, the reason why Drake is winning right now is because he is on that type of music that we was on. That’s why he winning. So I mean, it’s just a lot of the stuff right now to me is like a fad. The Auto-Tune and all that, that’s a fad. Now T-Pain , he started that and he’s good at it. So he’s the G of that. But it’s a 100,000 other people trying to do the same thing because that’s what’s in. It’s a fad. 

DX: I asked you that question about this new west era ‘cause I wanted to segue to this question…You got a track on The G Files called “West is Back,” what are you saying specifically on that cut about the coast?
Warren G: The west is back! …Regulatin’ Warren G made it pop, y’all gave us KRS-One , we gave y’all [2Pac]. That’s the “West is Back.” It’s just breaking it down to like…It’s about me. And my guys [Halla and Mr. Lucc] are rappin’ on there. I’m not even rappin’ on it. It’s just an introduction to what I’ve done… By me letting them artists get down, they breaking it down and telling y’all about where we’re from, and this is what it is, the west is back. And this is what’s on the west. This is who started the west, and made the west crack, these names that’s being mentioned [in the song].

DX: You basically gave new west-er Bishop Lamont his first real exposure on your last solo album in ’05, In The Mid-Nite Hour. So how much of a role are you playing in Bishop’s career right now?
Warren G: I just gave him a beat the other day, with a Nate Dogg hook on it. It’s called “Faded.” I like Bishop . I think he’s a good artist, and he gets it and understands. That’s why I delt with him because he one of those artists that understand and know how to listen, and when I tell him, "Okay, this is what I want you to do over this track," he understands.

DX: Speaking of Bishop, on his “Gorilla Pimpin’ 5008” track from last year you spit, “A livin’ legend every rapper on the west should thank/East coast too, ask Russell he’ll tell the truth.”
Warren G: [Laughs] And he will tell the truth! It’s basically saying I put it down and I put all of these people in the game. I put Snoop Dogg [click to read] in the game. I put Nate Dogg in the game. I put Daz , Kurupt , RBX, Bishop Lamont…I put these people in the game. They all got put in the game by me. And then I’ve helped out people from…I’ve worked with Dr. Dre and brought him Snoop Dogg. That changed the whole west coast. When I dropped my [first] album, that changed the west coast musically. And then, in New York when Def Jam was in a hole [in ‘94] guess who saved ‘em? Warren G. Warren G saved ‘em. They made 100 million dollars [because of me]. That’s what it is. That’s all I’m talking about [in that verse]. I ain’t dissin’ nobody. But I would like to get a thanks from some of the artists out there, at least a call like, "Hi Warren, are you okay? You should be straight for life."

DX: You sold something like five million albums for Russell during your tenure with his label, but you coulda sold them albums with Death Row instead, why didn’t you? Why did the west coast Warren G go to the east coast Def Jam to drop them first two albums?
Warren G: Because it wasn’t no room for me over there. I wasn’t being treated like I was up-and-coming next. I mean, even though…actually, they really didn’t understand what I was doing. I felt kinda like I was taken as a joke. So, I chose to move on. And I don’t mean that as far as just…’cause we used to clown a lot, so I guess people didn’t really take me that serious. So I guess that’s just you give what you get. And so I guess they wasn’t taking me serious, so I just went out there [and] started doing my thing, because a lot was going on and I wasn’t being involved in it, and I was hurt that I wasn’t involved. I wasn’t there with you guys at a lot of the parties or this, that and this. I was hurt when I didn’t get a ticket to get on the airplane to go to New Orleans. I didn’t get a ticket. I was hurt, so I went and did my thing. And Russell [Simmons] gave me an opportunity. Chris Lighty gave me an opportunity. And Lyor Cohen [gave me an opportunity]. All three of those guys called me personally and talked to me on the phone. They helped me with the problems that I was going through and stuff like that. And they made a way for me to let people hear my music. 

DX: I understand there was some dispute too over production credits with Tha Row. Can you clarify just one last time if you actually produced any part of “Lil Ghetto Boy,” “Ain’t No Fun,” etc?
Warren G: I didn’t have no dispute with [Death Row Records] about no [production credits]. I haven’t had no dispute as far as working on The Chronic. The Chronic record was a family thang. We all was one and doing this together. Now, I went and got a lot of ideas. I brought a lot of the ideas… A lot of those records that’s on there is my idea, but I’m not trying to take the credit for it because Dre is a great producer. I’m glad I was involved in it and had a idea that’s history now. But it was a family thang. As family we all worked as one. I would do the record and I would take it to Dre and say, "Man, what’chu think about this?" And he would be like, "That’s tight." And then he would re-do it and make it sound incredible. I mean, he’s a great producer. He’s a great producer, and still is.   

DX: Since we’re talking about the Death Row days, can we just address one piece of longstanding folklore from that era involving you…Is there any truth to the story that you said something to the effect of you “made” Death Row to a writer from The Source and not too long after that woke up in the middle of the night to Suge Knight’s goons standing over your bed with guns?
Warren G: You believe that? I said it. And I’ma say I said [that to The Source]. But it’s the other part as far as goons being…first of all, how you gon’ get past my dogs and my homeboys? It don’t even roll like that. You gotta be a hell of a muthafucka, maybe a Navy Seal – they gon’ even have problems trying to come get at me. [So] that’s all false. And as far as any allegations of me ever getting slapped, that can go right out the window [too]. ‘Cause I wasn’t allowing that and I won’t allow it. That ain’t me.

DX: That’s interesting you bring that up… I was going through your Twitter and you just posted a couple days ago, on August 9th, you wrote @Slick_Al “and by the way Suge Knight ain’t never put his hands on the g child and that’s a fact.”
Warren G: And it’s a fact. And I’m not saying that as far as trying to start some shit saying like I’m this hell of a muthafucka, but it just wasn’t going down like that. And real respect the real. And that’s what it was. I ain’t gon’ say, "Well nigga, you…," nah, I ain’t into all that. And I don’t have a problem with the dude. I ain’t got no problem with [Suge]. He ain’t never came and whatever…He never came trippin’ on me. I mean, you know…pshhh, man, look, Warren G ain’t never got slapped by Suge Knight. That ain’t gon’ happen. And I’m not trying to act like I’m this tough-ass muthafucka like the rest of these muthafuckas with the fighting and all that shit. I ain’t into that. I ain’t trying to just diss this nigga ‘cause he…Everybody get they day where they get into it and lose [a fight]. You gon’ lose one. So I ain’t one of them muthafuckas who speaking up on him ‘cause he lost one. Suckas gon’ do that. Everybody talking about…I ain’t got nothing against him, but I ain’t gon’ fuck with him. I fuck with Snoop. I fuck with Dre. Them my folks. And if it’s something happening with them, and I’m there, I’m with them. But all that stuff is old. We’re past that. He’s a grown man. Everybody was young back in the day. Dre’s a grown man. I’m a grown man. Snoop a grown man. Everybody else is grown. It’s time to look past this stuff. He got kids. Everybody got kids. It’s time to be fathers and be role models to these kids. And I’m not gon’ spend my whole lifetime hating this man. I don’t hate him. I’ma move on. I’ma keep pushing. I ain’t got time for that.

DX: Speaking of moving on, I don’t know how much you can, or will reveal, but you know I gotta ask you about Detox. Have you worked with Dre on anything for the album?
Warren G: I haven’t worked with him on it yet. Actually, you know what, I did work with him as far as we had a bunch of records and we were going through the records and marking off potential ideas. That’s about it. I haven’t been back in there since, but hopefully I’ll be able to get down with him. And it’d be an honor. I wanna be a part of this last record.

DX: Just out of curiosity… All these years later does Dre see you as a peer, or does he still give you the little brother treatment?
Warren G: Both. [Laughs] It’s both, but I mean he show me mines. He gives me my respect like he did in The Show. He was like, "If I [had] known the nigga was gon’ sell two million records, three million records, I’da been fuckin’ wit’ the nigga. I didn’t even know." [Laughs] But we did the damn…all the ideas, shit! [Laughs] But it’s all good. That’s my guy.

DX: We talked about Dre, let’s talk about Snoop. He’s on your new album, on “Swagger Rich.” And when I saw that in the credits it just made me think to ask how come you’ve never officially produced anything on a Snoop Dogg solo album?
Warren G: Hey [blows smoke out], you got to ask him that one. I mean, ‘cause it’s…I’ve always extended my helping hand.

DX: So you did submit tracks to Snoop and they just didn’t get used or…?
Warren G: I mean, I always offered. I mean, if he don’t wanna use a track I can’t force it on him. But, I make hits. That’s what I do. But, hey, it is what it is. 

DX: I don’t really wanna end as we began on a heavier note, but I gotta ask you about MC Breed. You produced his classic collabo with Tupac, “Gotta Get Mine,” and so I wanted to get your thoughts on the loss of Breed from the Hip Hop community.
Warren G: One of the greatest people in the world. I loved him deeply. If I kinda sit there and I think about it a lot I’ma drive myself crazy, because that was one of the first cats to give me a shot, at producing for him for one of his records. So, I kinda like…I’m hurt like a muthafucka, but it’s like I gotta kinda control my hurt, ‘cause it’s not only that, it’s like him – MC Breed, Tupac, my mama, like a lot of close friends, you know it’s a lot, my mother-in-law, it’s a lot, a lot! So you gotta try to stay sane I’d say, especially when you got four kids. So, it’s much love to him, and I’m ridin’ wit’ him. It’s a documentary that they doing on him. I’m definitely gonna be involved. That was my guy. I had major love for him.     

[2euce 7even]

thanks.will read it later.

[blkb]

Warren G, the realest motherfucking superstar in rap!

[ironmike]

interesting interview

[Conan]

Pretty cool interview. The best question asked of Warren is whether or not Dre sees him as a peer. I think that is something that a lot of people have wondered, but few have actually thought to discuss with him.

[F-cisco]

An actual Warren & Dre collaboration is bound to happen. No more excuses.

[funkkid]

good read

[Elano]

He's saving some beats for nate 

[ironmike]

he said that he recorded a bunch of songs with nate doin the hooks before the first stroke. there's a very realistic chance nate will never fully recover enough to sing hooks again and that he gave one of the nate dogg hooks to bishop lamont. why the fuck did he have to waste a nate hook on bishop lamont. he shouldve kept them for his own future albums. those nate hooks are worth gold now.

[Dre-Day]

he said that he recorded a bunch of songs with nate doin the hooks before the first stroke. there's a very realistic chance nate will never fully recover enough to sing hooks again and that he gave one of the nate dogg hooks to bishop lamont. why the fuck did he have to waste a nate hook on bishop lamont. he shouldve kept them for his own future albums. those nate hooks are worth gold now.

you haven't even heard the song, yet you already made up your mind.
what else is new

[ironmike]

^^
so what. they would eventually be heard on future warren albums, and i'd rather wait a little longer to hear them, instead of them being wasted on other crappy artists like bishop lamont.

[Fraxxx]

good read 

[2euce 7even]

very good interview.
respekt whoever did it.