Regulate...G funk era
I have brought this album in an effort to broaden my hip hop horizons. Without really realising it, my C.D.s were nearly all Wu Tang related for awhile. Which isn't difficult since they have their albums as a group and their solo efforts. I have no Westcoast albums in my collection either, so I want to address that.
Regulate...G funk era has a banger (that phrase doesn't seem to suit West coast tunes though) for the opening track, ala "Regulate". This is, I assume, a well known joint since I knew about it long before I bought this album. It has a very nice smooth feel to it. There is a subtle whistling sound in the background which goes very nicely over the main beat. Nate dogg and Warren G's smooth flows suit this beat as well. Tune is about the gentle Warren G getting jacked and then being helped out by Nate Dogg.
The next joint is "Do you see" which is a nice complement to Regulate, depicting Warren G's views on life in the hood. Great chilled out joint which you could just bump in your whip cruising home from work at night. Hook is "You don't see what I see, everyday as Warren G", addictive stuff.
After the rather bizzarre sounding skit of "Gangsta sermon" comes recognise. The same vibe as the first couple of tracks, but not similar enough to sound repetitive. These three initial rhymes are good and make a solid basis for the album. In my opinion, the album takes a downturn at the joint "Super soul sis". This has a female guest rapper who appears a few times on the album. Unfortunately she has a grating voice, which spoils the smoothness of the beats and the overall album. Her lyrics are cringe inducing as well.
After this you get "So many ways" which is a song where the hook is sung in a foreign language and "In so many ways" is whispered at the end. This song sounds weird to be frank. It's the sort of song that I would skip. The way the hook is sung is as though it is walking down stairs if you get what I mean. Also I am not a fan of the foreign stuff.
After this is the joint, "This D.J." which I already had before I bought the album, and it's a nice laid back tune in which Warren describes how it's easy to identify that the D.J. is him. Thankfully, only Warren G is on this joint. As a result it is another nice smooth joint which you could light up to. This, along with the first few tracks is reason enough to buy the album.
After this, another down point of the album is introduced, which is the silly high pitched voice shouting various things about Warren G. Another cringe inducing effect I am afraid. This prefaces the joint "The shack" which is an okay joint, but not on the level of the four standout joints.
After that is the song "What's next". Warren G drops a nice first verse. But unfortunately the lady rapper is on here again! Her voice is truely cringe worthy and horrible. It puts off this whole song.
"And ya don't stop", is a reasonable joint, but the hook has no flow, just the statements "And ya don't stop, it's business man, and ya don't quit, it's business man". Warren drops good verses though, it makes good listening, although it is not a standout track.
The last joint is "runnin wit no breaks". Spoilt again by the female rapper. She just doesn't flow. Her voice is an offensive sound to my ears unfortunately. I just can't warm to it. Also that god damn high pitched voice comes in here as well. Two bad points on one track make it difficult listening.
After this joint there is a remix of Regulate. It is okay, but I prefer the first one. I think they changed the words a bit as well.
Summary
Let's focus on the bad points first, so the good ones are to look forward to. Good joints are spoilt by the high pitched voice and the lady rapper, both of which are not nice to listen to. In addition to the chorus sung in a foreign language on "So many ways", there are a few joints that I like to skip on this album. With this taken into consideration, it is certainly not the sort of album that you can just throw on random and get a joint handed to you which you are gonna like.
In terms of the good points, there are four standout joints to the album, which are "Regulate" "Do you see", "Recognise" and "This D.J.". There are also okay joints which you might warm to after hearing them a few times you might whcih are "The shack" as well as "And ya don't stop".
I give this album 4 out of 5.
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Originally Posted by CharlesJones
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