Nathaniel Dwayne Hale was born on 19 August 1969 in Long Beach, California, and is the cousin of Calvin Broadus, a.k.a. Snoop Dogg. He met Warren G at Long Beach Polytechnic High School, but by the age of 17 he'd dropped out of high school, left home, and 30 days later enlisted in the Marines. He was stationed at Camp Schwab in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, and after three years as an ammunition specialist, he was discharged in 1989. In 1990, the newly christened Nate Dogg formed a rap trio called 213 with Snoop Dogg and Warren G, and they recorded their first demo tape in the back of record store V.I.P. in Long Beach, bringing them to the attention of Dr. Dre when he heard it at a bachelor party. Dre invited Dogg to guest on his debut album 'The Chronic' in 1992, with Dogg's trademark singing complementing the new gangsta rap sound G-funk, and it was well received by critics. He signed to Dre's label, Death Row Records, in 1993, and then featured on Snoop Dogg's debut solo album 'Doggystyle', most notably on 'Ain't No Fun (If the Homies Can't Have None)'. In 1994 he co-wrote the duet 'Regulate' with Warren G, and also featured on albums by 2Pac, including his group's 'Thug Life: Volume 1' in 1994. In July 1998, amid his departure from Death Row Records, the label finally released his double album 'G-Funk Classics Vol. 1 & 2', after delaying it for two years. In 2001, his Elektra Records follow-up, 'Music & Me', peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and in 2003 he recorded a third album, which never saw the light of day. Dogg was often brought in to sing on other artists' tracks, and as a featured artist he collaborated with 2Pac on 'All Bout U', as well as appearing on Dr. Dre's 'The Next Episode', Westside Connection's 'Gangsta Nation', Mos Def's 'Oh No', Fabolous' 'Can't Deny It', Ludacris's 'Area Codes', Kurupt's 'Behind the Walls', Mark Ronson's 'Ooh Wee', Houston's 'I Like That', and Eminem's ''Till I Collapse', 'Never Enough' and 'Shake That'. He's considered to be the inventor of "gangsta singing", a style that consisted of a blend of R&B/soul vocals with gangsta rap lyrics, and which was heavily influential to urban culture, with major R&B artists like R. Kelly and Chris Brown later using it. Dogg was no stranger to entanglements with the law, and between 2000 and 2008 he was charged with kidnapping, domestic violence, terrorist threats, arson, (for which Dr. Dre posted a $1 million bond), misdemeanor aggravated trespassing, telephone harassment, battery assault, dissuading a witness from reporting a crime, breaking a restraining order, criminal threats, and one count of stalking. Some charges were dismissed, and others resulted in probation, community service, drugs counselling, and various fines. On 19 December 2007 he suffered a stroke, but after a week in Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center, he entered a rehabilitation facility, and although his body's left side was weakened, neither his cognition nor voice were affected, and he was expected to make a full recovery. However, on 12 September 2008 he sustained another stroke, and three years later, on 15 March 2011, he died of complications of multiple strokes, at the age of just 41. The unreleased 2003 album has since surfaced on the internet, and it's worth hearing, as it shows that despite the troubled times towards the end of his life, the go-to singer for collaborations with a multitude of rappers was also capable of producing an excellent album of his own.
Track listing
01 I Need A Bitch (feat. Armed Robbery)
02 Bad Girls (feat. Redman)
03 Get Up (feat. Eve)
04 Keep It Real (feat. Fabolous, Lil' Mo & Icarus)
05 Leave Her Alone (feat. Memphis Bleek, Freeway & Young Chris)
06 Hide It (feat. Armed Robbery)
07 Round and Round
08 Gott Damn Shame (feat. Timbaland & Ms. Jade)
09 There She Goes (feat. Warren G & DJ Quik)
10 Somebody Like Me
11 Interlude #1
12 I Got Game (feat. Snoop Dogg & Armed Robbery)
11 All Night Long
14 Next Boyfriend (feat. Knoc-Turn'al)
15 The Hard Way (feat. Xzibit & Armed Robbery)
16 Interlude #2
17 Right Back Where You Are
18 What Would U Do (feat. Mariah Carey, Butch Cassidy & Shade Sheist)
19 Walk A Mile (feat. Shade Sheist)
20 Dead Wrong (feat. Ms. Jade)
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