Warren G

Warren G
Warren G in 2015
Background information
Birth name	Warren Griffin III
Also known as	G-Child
Born	(1971-11-10) November 10, 1971 (age 52)[1]
Origin	Long Beach, California, U.S.
Genres	West Coast hip hop gangsta rap G-funk
Occupation(s)	Rapper record producer disc jockey
Years active	1992–present
Labels	G-Funk Doggy Style MNRK Violator Restless Def Jam Universal
Formerly of	213
Website	warreng.com

Warren Griffin III (born November 10, 1971^[1]) is an American rapper, record producer, and DJ who helped popularize West Coast hip hop during the 1990s.^[2] A pioneer of G-funk, he attained mainstream success with the 1994 single "Regulate", a duet with Nate Dogg. He is credited with discovering Snoop Dogg, having introduced the then-unknown rapper to record producer Dr. Dre.

His debut studio album, Regulate... G Funk Era (1994), debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, selling 176,000 in its opening week. The album has since received platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), signifying sales of three million copies. "Regulate" spent 18 weeks within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, with three weeks at number two, while its follow-up "This D.J." peaked at number nine. At the 37th Annual Grammy Awards, the song's received nominations for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Solo Performance, respectively.

Three songs from his second album, Take a Look Over Your Shoulder (1997), reached the top 40,^[3] as did his 1998 duet with Nate Dogg, "Nobody Does It Better". Both Take a Look Over Your Shoulder and his next album, I Want It All (1999), received gold certification by the RIAA. His fourth album, The Return of the Regulator (2001), failed to reach his earlier commercial heights. Along with longtime collaborators Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg, he formed the hip-hop trio 213, named for Long Beach's area code; they released the album The Hard Way (2004) to mild success.

His next two albums, 2005's In the Mid-Nite Hour and then 2009's The G Files, were released independently and self-produced. In 2015, he released Regulate... G Funk Era, Part II, an EP featuring archived recordings of Nate Dogg, who died in 2011. In 2017, "Regulate", certified platinum in 1994, went multi-platinum, propelled by digital downloads.