Regulate...G Funk Era (Explicit Version / Digitally Remastered)

As rap stylings infiltrate pop music, genres dissolve and even traditional R&B becomes funked out with a gangsta twist. Dr. Dre's brother Warren G represents a new generation of jacked-up R&B. On REGULATE...G FUNK ERA, hard core street rhymes and scratch DJs vie for centre stage with sing-songy hip hop (right on the borderline of pop balladry), coloured with an airy West Coast mix of keyboards and bass. meer...

Portraying their grim view of street life with aloof bravado, Warren G and Nate Dogg announce a new brand of stylin' with "This Is The Shack", a pleading reggae-scented groove, and "Regulate", in which a sweet R&B style of accompaniment confronts the gangstas on the dance floor.
While raunchy skits such as "Gangsta Sermon" and "'94 Ho Draft" bring the church and ESPN cheek to cheek with the boys' locker room, taut arrangements such as "Do You See" and "Recognize" depict adolescent rites of passage and day-to-day challenges of the street. Then just when you think you've got his G-Funk thang down, "What's Next" opens with a nursery rhyme, then launches into a bass-heavy new mix style, even as "And Ya Don't Stop" brings traditional blues elements to play inside a Latin-flavoured groove.

New York Times (1/5/95, p.C15)
- Included on Neil Strauss' list of the Top 10 Albums Of '94 - "...This crossbreed of hard rap and smooth soul from a converted gangster proved that opposites could reconcile."

Village Voice (2/28/95)
- Ranked #22 in the Village Voice's 1994 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll.

NME (12/24/94, p.23)
- Ranked #25 in NME's list of the `Top 50 Albums Of 1994.'

Rolling Stone (8/11/94, p.69)
- 3 Stars - Good - "...fat-bottomed, mellowed-out sound that conjures up the days of way back. It's lazy, loping shuffle suits the Southern California climate..."

Spin (9/94, p.135)
- Highly Recommended - "...Truth be told, Warren G. wasn't cut out to be a hardass. He's a romantic, in love with soft sound..."

Spin (12/94, p.78)
- Ranked #15 in Spin's list of the `20 Best Albums Of '94' - "...smooth-as-backseat-vinyl '70s popfunk with just a hint of '90s nihilism..."

Q (9/94, p.117)
- 4 Stars - Excellent - "...A series of street-level raps are given welcome injections of ironic, anti-misogynist humour via brief cuts like Gangsta Sermon on an excellent album which, overall, remains heavy on melody and light on machismo..."

NME (8/27/94, p.39)
- "...The rap album of the summer..."

Entertainment Weekly (6/24/94-7/1/94, pp.100-101)
- "...the smooth atmosphere he generates is irresistible..." - Rating: B+