Warren G sampled a VCR for the beginning of the 1994 hit “Regulate” using an Akai MPC60 and his cousin Nate Dogg recorded his vocals in a closet due to lack of furniture in Warren’s two bedroom Long Beach apartment. The vocals you hear on the album version of “Regulate” were the original closet recording. The song appeared on the soundtrack to the film Above the Rim and the music video also featured scenes from the movie.
During an interview with DJ Skee, Warren G revealed details about the recording process “Regulate.”
“I had an apartment on Long Beach Boulevard and San Antonio, and I didn’t have no furniture. I had dog shit all over the floor, and I had two bedrooms. In one of my bedrooms, all I had was studio equipment. I did the sample, plugged my VCR into the MPC60, sampled [the intro], and after I finished it, I called Nate, and said ‘Nate, I got a record I think we should do, and go back-and-forth on it. I think it’d be dope.’
“Nate came over, heard it, and was like, ‘Damn!’ So from there, we hooked up a mic in the closet, and I called my engineer, Greg. He came over and recorded it, and there it is.”
“As long as you got somebody who can mix, it’s gonna be alright.” – Warren G
Purchase our 100 Hip-Hop Facts (1973-2000) Book
Read: Nate Dogg, Snoop Dogg and Warren G were once in a local rap group called 213
