Part 1: History of Nate Dogg
Part 2: my talent show experiences singing Nate Dogg's song
Part 3: links to songs featuring Nate Dogg
1) The History of Nate Dogg
While Nate Dogg was a singer and not a rapper, he was an important part of gangsta rap history. He was the background singer for many gangsta rap classics of the1990s and 2000s.
He started out making songs with Snoop Dogg, Warren G back when they were in high school in Long Beach. Warren G hooked them up with his step-brother Dr Dre, who was in the process of leaving the already legendary NWA for a new record label Death Row, which was just about to revolutionize the hip-hop industry.
Nate Dogg was introduced to the world on Dr Dre's "Chronic" and Snoop Dogg's "Doggystyle" both albums released in 1993. Those albums were among the most influential albums in hip-hop history. This was when radio and MTV started playing gangsta rap in regular rotation, whereas before, gangsta rap was only played late nights when the kids were sleeping. Before those albums came out, radio mostly played pop-rappers like Hammer and Salt-N-Pepa.
Those albums were also important in that they signified that the West Coast was taking over rap music. Previously, most of the popular rappers came from New York. But between 1993-1997, West Coast rappers ruled the hip-hop world. The most popular videos had guys wearing khaki clothing & colored bandannas, driving lowriders, and having picnics in the park with palm trees and brown mountains in the background.
Nate Dogg's 1st mainstream hit was with Warren G, "Regulate". While I do think both Nate Dogg and Warren G made better songs than that one, I still have to say, that song is a major classic!
Nate Dogg also appeared on other West Coast rap classics like Dogg Pound's "Let's Play House" and 2pac's "All About U".
From 1996-1997, Death Row Records fell apart. 2pac was killed, Dr Dre left to start Aftermath Records and Suge Knight went to jail. Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg also felt they were being ripped off by Death Row Records, so they left.
This was the beginning of the end of the West Coast's reign as the capital of hip-hop. The South started it's reign of the center of hip-hop, to the point where I wouldn't even be surprised that today's kids mistakenly believe rap started in Atlanta.
But that didn't stop Nate Dogg. He spent the following decade making classic hits with rappers from various parts of the USA. He made classic songs with E-40, Eminem, Fabolous, Jermaine Dupri, Ludacris, Westside Connection, 50 Cent, Shyne.
My Talent Shows
I sang Nate Dogg's "Never Leave Me Alone" at 2 different school talent shows.
The 1st time was at McKinley High School during my senior year. I never did any talent shows before my senior year, but dammit, I was going to make my senior year an exciting year! That's how you're supposed to handle your senior year, regardless of what dramas might come!
My 1st talent show that year was the Senior Luau in Nov 1998. I did Usher's "Nice & Slow" acapella style! It got everyone giggling, all in a good way.
But the big show was what was then called Brown Bags to Stardom (which has changed its format since then) in March 1999. Whereas the Senior Luau was just attended by the seniors, Brown Bags was for the whole school. Would it make you nervous? I didn't let it stop me!
I decided to sing Nate Dogg's "Never Leave Me Alone". It was safe enough to satisfy the censors, but still had the street credibility which was important in my urban school. That song did feature Snoop Dogg rapping the 3rd verse. But the talent show organizers limited our performances to only 3 minutes, so I didn't have time to rap the Snoop Dogg verse.
My performance was a classic. I became famous to the whole school. The students who were in the younger grade levels all knew me from the performance. All the public housing students said they loved it. (if they didn't like it, they'll tell it to your face) Many of the athletes would sing "Never Leave Me Alone" the moment they seen me on campus. Even at the Project Grad (the post-graduation party hosted by the school), people encouraged me to sing karaoke and rap along with the songs played by the DJ. That wouldn't have happened earlier in my high school days. I credit Nate Dogg for that
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My 2nd talent performance involving Nate Dogg's "Never Leave Me Alone" was at UH. It was part of Manoa Moonlight Madness, which was a late night talent show in December 2002. It was 3 years since I did a talent show, but I was ready to go back to the stage.
My original plan for the talent show was to sing Nelly's "E.I.". However, as I tried to practice "E.I." I found that I couldn't sing fast enough to do well on that song. I decided to switch songs and do Nate Dogg's "Never Leave Me Alone".
While the college audience is obviously different from the high school audience, I did get a lot of cheers for my performance at UH! Even people I never seen on campus before would see me and say "Hey, I loved that song you was singing".
3) Links
Here are some links to some of my favorite Nate Dogg classics.
I tried to avoid the more "dirtier songs" on the following list, though I wouldn't recommend playing some of them at a church.
First off, my favorite, the one I sang ................
"Never Leave Me Alone" with Snoop Dogg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzveEPBVQtA
Explosive (clean version) with Hitman, featured on Dr Dre's "Chronic 2001"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRj3MrotSww
Nate Dogg's "One More Day"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lpfIDl6Q54&feature=related
2pac's "All About U" (nate's singing "everywhere we go ...")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2WGekQoHT4&feature=fvst
E-40 "Nah Nah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLlQmrGYHLE&feature=related
Dogg Pound's "Let's Play House" (Nate just sang the title in this song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx9yypsIW_Q
"Ring the Alarm" (with Jermaine Dupri)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd4ME-LvpMg
Nobody Does it Better (with Warren G)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY8UD-eLIfw
I'm sure there's more, but time is limited. You can easily find more on YouTube.
and of course "Regulate" (with Warren G)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1plPyJdXKIY
