Club Shay Shay - Warren G Part 2

Summary

Club Shay Shay - Warren G Part 2

Podcast: Club Shay Shay (iHeartPodcasts and Shay Shay Media)
Host: Shannon Sharpe
Guest: Warren G
Date: October 22, 2025

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Episode Theme & Overview

In this engaging continuation, Shannon Sharpe and hip-hop legend Warren G dive deep into topics from barbecue mastery and personal life to intimate stories from hip-hop’s golden era. More than anecdotes, the conversation weaves together Warren G’s growth as a musician, entrepreneur, family man, and friend to some of music’s most iconic figures—including Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Tupac, and Michael Jackson. The episode balances wide-ranging cultural discussion with personal reflection and industry wisdom.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Barbecue Journey and Culinary Ambitions

• Barbecue “Mount Rushmore”: Warren’s favorites include Austin, Memphis, and South Carolina, sharing love for various pit masters. (01:16)
• Warren discusses learning BBQ from watching family and winning his first national BBQ contest (5th in brisket, 6th in chicken) on his first try.

  “I went up against, like, popular guys...and I beat some of them. I was like, oh my God, I can’t believe I beat this person. They showed me a lot of love too.” (02:58)

• Plans for expansion: Online sales are underway, with a goal of opening brick-and-mortar restaurants in California and Vegas. (04:08)
• Family kitchen memories: Recounts restrictive kitchen access growing up—watching, not helping—but the family togetherness left an impact. (05:00)
• Warren’s kitchen skills extend beyond barbecue: “I do crab boils, salmon, black-eyed peas...anything.” (05:27)
• “There’s a twist that I have to [my black-eyed peas] that nobody is doing.” (06:06)
• Talks favorite breakfast foods, Southern cooking, and his all-purpose ‘Sniffin Griffins’ barbecue rub. (07:16)
• Barbecuing 3-4 times a week, year-round, keeping his house lively and open to friends. (08:22)

Life, Family & Upbringing

• Parents’ divorce did not negatively impact him due to continued access to both parents. His mother never spoke ill of his father. (13:48)
• Third child out of four—one brother, three sisters, who were notably protective. (14:34)

  “It was gangsters, I ain’t gonna lie. They was hardcore. Like, my sister Felicia, my older sister, she had hands...” (14:59)

• Candid about adolescent mischief: “Ding Dong Ditch, fighting a little bit... I didn’t like anybody she [his mom] was with...She would tell me, ‘You the man of the house.’” (15:53)

Early Hip-Hop Memories & Industry Beginnings

• First encounter with Dr. Dre (then Andre) at age 11 or 12; instant acceptance into Andre’s circle and the local “battle of the blocks” boxing scene. (18:04)
• Origin of “Sir Cool”: Childhood nickname from his sisters and Dre’s group is now the title of his upcoming project. (19:56)
• Reminisces about sharing bedrooms and Dre’s early years with World Class Wreckin’ Cru and NWA:

  “I looked up to him so much. I asked him could I wear his jacket ... He let me wear that shit. I was the man in school.” (20:53)

• Saw NWA’s rise from local mixtape buzz to global infamy. (22:30)
• Participation in NWA’s “Niggas For Life” album skit “1900 to Compton” at 16 or 17 years old. (23:40)

Behind the Scenes: Dre, The Chronic, and West Coast Legacy

• On creative contributions to seminal projects:
  • Brought ‘feel-good’ ideas and samples for tracks on Dre’s The Chronic, including the famous “Deez Nuts” skit.

    “I wish I would have got...more credit. Because he did put in a lot of work. None of that was done. But, you know, our goal was to put all we got into helping Dre become a monster.” (29:35)

• The transition from NWA to Death Row, and Suge Knight’s infamous business methods. (30:39)
• On Dre’s decision to leave Death Row and build Aftermath:

  “He knew. He was that talented. And he had the machine behind him ... So he can do this all over again.” (32:01)

Experiences with Fame (and Famous Friends)

• Vacationing with Dr. Dre as a billionaire: private jets, mansions, luxury experiences.

  “That shit was like Coming to America...I was like, this is ballin’.” (33:16)

• Insights into Tupac’s character—genuine, straightforward, the first to give Warren a shot at production post-Death Row.
• On Tupac’s paying him for beats:

  “I felt kind of bad...But right after that, him and Treach had got into a fight with some cats right at the Comedy Store.” (39:45)

• Warren tried to bail Tupac out of jail; Suge Knight beat him to it. (41:32)
• Complicated, dangerous moments with Suge and Death Row—Warren describes a near-violent incident and explains why he stays away from drama.

  “I was in a position like, where I can’t do shit...If I pull out a gun...I’mma get killed. It was a no-win situation.” (45:26)

• On moving past beef and not holding grudges:

  “I don’t listen to it. I ain’t got no hate towards him, none of that stuff, any of those situations. I charged all that to the game.” (46:58)

Untold Hip-Hop Stories & Reflections

• Stories range from being invited to barbecues with Snoop (and trying to keep him away from the Vegas fight the night Tupac was shot) (49:15), to emotionally processing Tupac’s shooting and death. (51:06)
• Producing “How Long Will They Mourn Me?” and “Definition of a Thug” for 2Pac; describes the rapid, organic studio process. (54:12)
• Producing for Michael Jackson: Called in by Jackson’s producers; blown away meeting Michael and hearing his “real” voice.

  “Shit, I almost fainted. Shit...Just for him to say [he liked my music], that blew me away.” (58:03)

• Candid regret over turning down an early meeting with Prince, which might’ve led to deeper collaboration. (63:07)
• Being starstruck by Anita Baker, Chaka Khan, and others, flipping the script on fame when legends are fans of him. (65:53)
• Highlights working with different artists—Young Jeezy (“Leave You Alone”), MC Breed & Tupac (“You Gotta Get Yours, I Gotta Get Mine”), New Edition, Ron Isley, and many more. (69:33)

Hip-Hop Royalty Rankings & Reflections

• On Eminem:

  “He definitely in the top. The top. He in the top 15. I don’t want to make it too small like top 10 because there’s some dope motherfuckers, some heavy hitters.” (73:01)

• On Kendrick Lamar’s place in LA hip hop:

  “In his generation right now, in his era, yes, he's the king...He’s in that now.” (76:27)

Personal Life: Loss, Family, and Longevity

• Death of Nate Dogg on tour—emotional recollection of friend and collaborator:

  “We cried and cried and cried. Did the show and came back and cried more. Just couldn’t believe it.” (78:01)

• Nate Dogg remembered as a devout, loving father:

  “He was a man of God...He was a good father to his kids.” (79:45)

On Marriage & Fatherhood

• Key to 30 years of marriage:

  “She my best friend...If we argue...one of us come and say, ‘You know what, I'm sorry, I was wrong.’...That's my friend. We talk shit, have a good time.” (81:06)

• Communication is essential: “You got to be able to communicate.” – Shannon Sharpe (83:07)
• Navigating the temptations of music life:

  “It’d be a lot of temptation...but you just gotta say to yourself, do you wanna risk losing all of this over here, your beautiful wife and all you’ve built.” (85:24)

• Father of six (“That ain’t a lot!” he jokes). Stresses instilling values and maintaining discipline, despite his celebrity. (87:37)

  “I just gotta be a dad. I can’t be your friend and let you do anything, you know. I gotta be a dad.” (90:41)

Community, Business & What’s Next

• New ventures: Now part owner of Long Beach’s new minor league team, the “Long Beach Regulators.” Sees this as a way to give back and create community pride. (94:41)
• Aggressively pursuing new music, collaborations, business opportunities, and mentoring younger artists.
• Still passionate about barbecue—“Sniffin Griffins” rub and sauce line continues to grow. (97:31)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I barbecue three to four times a week...Year round, yeah. When I'm at home...” (08:22, Warren G)
• “All the tours we've been on, I done cooked at all of them, really.” (10:55, Warren G)
• “It was gangsters, I ain't gonna lie. They was, they was hardcore. My sister Felicia, she had hands.” (14:59, Warren G)
• “He just your brother. I ain't never really...He just your brother.” (33:05, Warren G on Dr. Dre’s success)
• “Tupac is one of the first dudes...to give me my first shot at production outside of...Death Row.” (37:34, Warren G)
• “If you win, we all going to win.” (28:55, Warren G)
• “She my best friend.” (81:06, Warren G on marriage)
• “I just gotta be a dad. I can’t be your friend and let you do anything.” (90:41, Warren G on fatherhood)
• “My mindset is, you never too old to make a hit record.” (70:08, Warren G)

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Key Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | Description | |-----------|---------|-------------| | 01:16 | Barbecue’s Mount Rushmore | Warren names his top BBQ places and talks about pitmasters. | | 02:14 | Barbecue Contests | Winning his first BBQ contest. | | 04:08 | Business Plans | Plans to open brick-and-mortar restaurants. | | 13:48 | Family Background | Parental divorce and ongoing relationships. | | 18:04 | Meeting Dr. Dre | Childhood stories with Dre, boxing, Sir Cool origin. | | 23:40 | NWA Memories | Doing skits for NWA albums. | | 28:55 | Creative Process | Contributing to The Chronic, lack of credits. | | 41:32 | Tupac & Death Row | Attempting to bail out Tupac, industry politics. | | 45:26 | Suge Knight drama | Near-violent encounter at Can-Am, chain snatching. | | 51:06 | Tupac Tragedy | News and processing of Tupac’s shooting. | | 54:12 | Producing for Tupac | Making hits quickly, studio stories. | | 58:03 | Michael Jackson | Meeting, producing, and advice to Michael. | | 63:07 | Turning Down Prince | Youthful misunderstandings about Prince. | | 69:33 | Producer Credits | Lesser-known tracks, work with Jeezy, New Edition. | | 73:01 | Eminem’s Place | Ranking Eminem among hip-hop’s best. | | 76:27 | Kendrick’s Legacy | Kendrick as a storyteller and king of his generation. | | 78:01 | Nate Dogg | Emotional recollections of Nate’s passing. | | 81:06 | Marriage Wisdom | 30 years of marriage, friendship, and forgiveness. | | 85:24 | Temptation in Music | Staying faithful despite industry pressures. | | 87:37 | Six Kids | Parenting style and values. | | 94:41 | Long Beach Regulators | Community involvement and sports ownership. | | 97:31 | Closing | New music, businesses, “Sniffin Griffins” BBQ sauces. |

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Final Reflections

This episode offers a heartfelt look into Warren G’s multifaceted journey—spanning food, music, family, and life lessons. Listeners come away with a sense of authenticity, humility, and gratitude for both the extraordinary and ordinary parts of Warren’s journey. The candid conversation—peppered with rare insights into hip-hop royalty and brought down to earth by stories of home, kitchen, and community—makes this one of Club Shay Shay’s most engaging episodes for hip-hop fans, foodies, and anyone who appreciates stories about resilience and growth.

Transcript

[Podcast Host]

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[Interviewer]

You for coming back. Part two is underway. You, you mentioned you like Austin, but obviously Memphis is barbecue. Kansas City barbecue. You have North Carolina. If you had to, if you had to say, what city would you, you say Austin. Memphis. North Carolina is not a city, it's a state. But what, what do you, what, what places you think? If I said, okay, give me your Mount Rushmore barbecue. Barbecue places.

[Warren G]

Off Austin. Memphis. And I think it was, what was that? South Carolina.

[Interviewer]

South Carolina got some good barbecue.

[Warren G]

Okay. Yeah, yeah, they got some good care. They got some good barbecue. Met a lot of good pit masters from out there as well.

[Interviewer]

Do, do they, do they share secrets?

[Warren G]

Some, some just a little. They, you know, tell you, you know, some give you some secrets and stuff. I just, I, whatever people want to know, I can tell them.

[Interviewer]

Right?

[Warren G]

You know what you want to know.

[Interviewer]

I tell you, is a situation like when you taste barbecue, you try to figure out what they've done to it. Like, you know, how long, you know, man, I think they probably, probably let this cook. Like 10, 12 hours. They probably did this. They probably brined it. They probably had this, you know, such and such.

[Warren G]

I just like to taste it to see if it's better than mine. But I didn't have some good barbecue. I'm not gonna lie. Really good barbecue. And I'm like, I gotta step my game up here. But I still, I still, I'm right there with them. I actually did the national barbecue contest for the first time in, in July and June and I won. I won fifth and brisket and six and chicken.

[Interviewer]

Wow.

[Warren G]

First time. That was a win for me.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. So now you hooked? Now you hooked?

[Warren G]

Yeah, and I went up against like, popular guys. Like, it was real pit. Like, yeah, I'm a pit master. But it was like some of the guys I look up to in the contest, and I, I beat some of them and I was like, o my God, I can't believe I beat this person. And a lot of. They showed me a lot of love too.

[Interviewer]

When you, when you, you entered this contest, you probably didn't have a whole lot of expectations. Like, man, I'm going against some of the, the greatest pit masters in the world. I've only been doing this for a small amount of time, you know, to the level that you're doing it now, obviously you're, you both feed in it now. You, you hook, you really, you really, really hooked. Did that make you like, man, you know what? You gonna open a restaurant? What are you. What are you gonna do with this?

[Warren G]

That's. That's where I'm headed to open. Open. Right now I'm online, working on getting in the stores from the, From. Once I'm in the stores and working on the.

[Interviewer]

To get brick and mortar.

[Warren G]

Yep, get. Get the brick and mortar. Establish one here, California and Vegas. Let people get it. Get to tasting some good food.

[Interviewer]

Did your mama like you? Cuz that's a. See, like I, I remember growing up, that's got to be a, a, a, a, a Midwest or something. Cuz Southern grandmas ain't letting everybody in the kitchen all kind of high. I mean, you, hey, you come in here and get a glass, get some water or something. But mainly, most time or not, hey, go to that, go to that spigot outside and get you some water. Get out of this kitchen. Yeah. So you say your dad was allowed, you know, you watching him? Did he allow you to participate?

[Warren G]

Not really. If I had to go, go get that from me. Go get this right? Other than that. Nah. But I just used to.

[Interviewer]

You just watch?

[Warren G]

Yeah, yeah, I used to watch and just, you know, everybody that used to just, you know, be like, having fun, I'm like, oh, this is great, because.

[Interviewer]

Everybody'S coming over, all the family coming over. You got your cousins, your aunt, all the kids get an opportunity to play together and do all that other stuff.

[Warren G]

Yeah, yeah. And it stuck with me, man. Do you.

[Interviewer]

Do you cook anything other than barbecue?

[Warren G]

Yeah, yeah, I cook. Oh, I mean, I do crab boils, salmon. I do salmon. I do crab boils. I do anything, you know, anything. I should have made you some of my black Eyed Peas, man.

[Interviewer]

Oh, you got black Eyed peas?

[Warren G]

What? My black eye. I should have made some. I'm. I'm gonna make some black Eyed peas. I'm Do Something where you get a vent or something where you could taste the Black Eyed peas. I do.

[Interviewer]

When you put bacon, you put ham hard. What you put in your black eye?

[Warren G]

Can't tell nobody. Sharon.

[Interviewer]

You can't cook no Black Eyed peas if you ain't got no meat in them.

[Warren G]

Now, it's some meat in them, but it's a twist that I have to it that nobody is doing.

[Interviewer]

Turkey necks or something in them.

[Warren G]

I do. I do have turkey necks in it. That's definitely. That's definitely there.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, I know it.

[Warren G]

Yeah, I got a. It's a nice.

[Interviewer]

You like breakfast? You cook breakfast food? You like breakfast? Are you a breakfast guy?

[Warren G]

I cook breakfast. Just the basic breakfast, you know, bacon.

[Interviewer]

Eggs and bacon, egg, grits. You. Grits. That's the. I mean, you inside that you're an ATL now. You gotta have grits. No Cream of Wheat. I mean, we do oatmeal, but mainly. Mainly grits.

[Warren G]

I've been eating grits like crazy. It's grits everywhere. Every menu is grits everywhere. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

You ain't get no Cream of Wheat. So if you come to the south, you ain't getting no Cream of Wheat. You get grits.

[Warren G]

Yeah. And I've had a lot of shrimp and grits.

[Interviewer]

Shrimp and grits. Catfish and grits.

[Warren G]

Yep, yep, yep. Yes, indeed. And everywhere I've been, it's been some good. Some good. Some really good food, man.

[Interviewer]

So this is called Sniffing Griffins, Warren G Productions Original Poultry and Seafood Barbecue Rub.

[Warren G]

Yes, indeed.

[Interviewer]

And this is the. That you like, goes with some of everything.

[Warren G]

Yeah, the all purpose.

[Interviewer]

All purpose.

[Warren G]

Oh, yeah.

[Interviewer]

But none of them. I mean, some got some. Which one got a little kick.

[Warren G]

We bring heat, which is. This right here, this sauce, it's not a major kick. It just. It's a creep up.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Warren G]

It's not too overwhelming where you like. Oh, it's just a little bit of a spiciness. And it don't even. It ain't like one of them last longs either.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Warren G]

It's just in and out. But it's. People like that extra little lightweight kick. And it ain't. It's not a super kick, but it's a great. It's a. It's even. It's right there to where it's not too much of this or two less of that.

[Interviewer]

How often do you. How often would you say you cook? You cook daily. You cook, you know, special occasion. Once a week, a couple times a week.

[Warren G]

I barbecue three to four times a week.

[Interviewer]

Damn.

[Warren G]

Yeah. Year round yeah. When I'm at home, you know, I. I tell my wife, she'll be like, well, I wanna do this. I said, let me cook it on the grill. Whatever that. Let me cook it on the grill. I love doing it. I love doing it. Yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer]

So your house is normally busy? Cause you cooking like that. Cause people always over there.

[Warren G]

Yeah, yeah. I just cooked for a couple of my buddies just for the fight. Yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer]

That was a good fight.

[Warren G]

Yes, indeed.

[Interviewer]

That fight wasn't that close, bud. Beat the brakes off Canelo.

[Warren G]

Yeah, that was. Yeah, he did.

[Interviewer]

I don't know how they get 115, 113. I don't know what fight they was watching.

[Warren G]

Right. Did you see the fight? The first fight between the dude Adams and, I think Martinez? The black dude and the Mexican dude Martinez.

[Interviewer]

Oh, yeah. And Billy. Oh, they would throw the draw, the split draw. Yeah. Oh, they would throw a leather.

[Podcast Host]

Wow.

[Warren G]

Yes. Now that right there, when they mentioned them going again.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, I'm for that.

[Warren G]

That's gonna be it. That's what it do.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. Cause Bomac Buzz trainer trained Martinez. Yes, yes, yes.

[Warren G]

They was slanging him. I was like, wow.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Warren G]

That damn. There was the fight of the year.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, they definitely throw a leather.

[Warren G]

I was.

[Interviewer]

I was surprised. I was like, man, I mean, both got hit with some shots, but boy, and dealing set down on his boy. He was throwing. I mean, bow, bow. I like.

[Warren G]

Oh.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, yeah. He was throwing some leather.

[Warren G]

I was like, damn, they both gonna have brain damage. Them hitting hard, But.

[Interviewer]

But damn, Warren, you cooking three, four times a week, year round.

[Warren G]

Yeah, when I ain't. When I'm not.

[Interviewer]

Well, you're not traveling, when you're not doing, you know, your music and stuff.

[Warren G]

I come straight home and cook. I just like to do it damn well. I mean, I take breaks. I do.

[Interviewer]

But I'm saying. But let me ask you a question. When you were. Let's just say you in your. Your mid-20s, 30s, were you cooking, like, when you.

[Warren G]

No, I wasn't doing it like that. I just would cook wherever we was. Because we're moving so much, moving around, right. Whenever we have time, I know we was there for a little bit, right? Boom.

[Interviewer]

Right. Instead of going out and spending all that money, you just buy the stuff and just go.

[Warren G]

All the tours that we've been on, I didn't cook that. All of them, really. All the tours we done been on, Me, Snoop and Wiz just did a tour about year and a half, two years ago. I cooked every Day on that. Till Snoop wanted me to be his cook on the pitmaster on the tour. I said, snoop, I can't do that. I'm already performing here and I'm performing with you. I can't cook all this goddamn food. But he really wanted me to cook. And I was like, I will, but I can't do it like you want me to do it. But I do it here, here and there. Here, here, here, here. Well, not every day for you. And we. We on every day. Five. All during the week. Even though I like doing it, but I couldn't do it during the performance. Cook, performing, because.

[Interviewer]

Barbecue take a long time, man. You gotta watch it.

[Warren G]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

First of all, you gotta prepare it. Hell, it take a couple hours just to get it prepared.

[Warren G]

Yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer]

Do all that brining.

[Warren G]

Yeah, yeah. I brine my turkeys too. I love. I let em sit for like almost three, two. About two and a half days. Damn.

[Interviewer]

You cook turkey wings, turkey legs. What you the whole turkey. The whole turkey.

[Warren G]

Turkey legs, turkey wings, all of them. Damn, I should have bought some turkey wings. Boom. You'd have did that. Everything would have just said off the bone.

[Interviewer]

Off the bone.

[Warren G]

Off the bone.

[Interviewer]

You cook collard greens too?

[Warren G]

Greens too. Green beans. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

What you put in. What you put in your collard green? You put.

[Warren G]

I use turkey necks. Turkey necks, turkey leg.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Warren G]

I have the butcher cut the turkey leg in half. Uh huh. When I put it in there, man, I do like a damn near wanna say, not a roux, but like a nice base.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Warren G]

Then build it up and build all my stuff off from my base all the way up.

[Interviewer]

You don't put pigtail. When I grew up, we put pigtails in collard greens. I think everybody's gonna kinda gradually. I ain't did that one that done picked y', all, man.

[Warren G]

I ain't did that. Nah, I ain't did that one. But no. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

You mentioned your. Your parents got divorced when you were younger. Did that impact you in any way?

[Warren G]

No, it didn't impact me because I. She made. My mother made sure that I was still around my dad. She would. He would come pick me up on the weekends and I would spend time with him. Mm. So she never.

[Interviewer]

She never tried to keep you away from him?

[Warren G]

Never.

[Interviewer]

Never said anything bad about him?

[Warren G]

Nah, she didn't talk bad about him or nothing. She did send me to him, like, go move with your daddy. I'm like, shit, all right. But it was all good. I still was back down right around.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, yeah. Because you, you. You mentioned you're the only boy. You had three. You had three sisters?

[Warren G]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

You the oldest or where'd you fall into pecking order?

[Warren G]

I'm the, I'm the third oldest.

[Interviewer]

Okay.

[Warren G]

Yeah, I'm the third oldest. I got a sister under me. It's my sister Missy, me, then Tracy and Felicia.

[Interviewer]

Okay, so you the knee baby?

[Warren G]

Yeah. Yes, indeed. Oh, yeah.

[Interviewer]

So how was it? I mean, with your sister? Were they protective?

[Warren G]

It was gangsters, I ain't gonna lie. Yeah, they was, they was, they was, they was hardcore. Like my sister Felicia, my older sister, she had hands, right? So she, she was fighting. Geez. Like real.

[Interviewer]

She was fighting dudes. She putting paws on dudes.

[Warren G]

Putting paws.

[Interviewer]

Wow.

[Warren G]

Yeah. She was a gangster.

[Interviewer]

You know, I read you said, your mom said that she sent you with your dad because she said you needed a man in your life or you think that was the reason why she did it? Or you just. Were you a bad one?

[Warren G]

I wasn't a bad, I wasn't bad. I wasn't, you know, I mean, I was just doing the things that, you.

[Interviewer]

Know, that 13, 14 year old boxing.

[Warren G]

Ding Dong, Ditcherman, fighting a little bit. But he just. I, you know, and then, but the one thing I used to do, I.

[Interviewer]

Would.

[Warren G]

I wouldn't, I didn't like, like anybody she was with.

[Interviewer]

Oh, so was your dad? Yeah, he was, he was dead.

[Warren G]

Yeah. So she used to tell me, like around them, she's like, you the man of the house. She would tell me that still, like you the man of the house. Don't. Even though I got a boyfriend or whatever, you the man of this house. She used to always tell me that.

[Interviewer]

You'Re like, okay, well, since I'm the man of the house, you get out. I don't like you. You heard what she said, I'm the man of the house. Get to see.

[Warren G]

I didn't know. I was like, ah, yeah.

[Interviewer]

But did you ever think the situation that your mom and dad would get back together? Did you hope they would get back together?

[Warren G]

I hoped. But it never happened. My dad had moved on, my mother moved on. And actually my mother, she had a guy that they was gonna get married. His name was Tommy Cotton. Tommy was cool. Yeah, he was a cool cat. He probably was the only guy that I.

[Interviewer]

That you rocked with.

[Warren G]

Yeah, yeah, he was cool. I ain't gonna lie. He was cool. Yeah. And then my dad, Mary Verna. And Verna was Verna. Yeah, Verna was really good to me and actually she showed me a lot. Raised me as well, you know, she Raised me as well. Very. You know, her and my mother both was. They both made me, you know, would raise me as a young man and along with my dad. And.

[Interviewer]

It was when you met Andre Government name, goes by Dr. Dre. Everybody know him as. What were your first thoughts? How old were you when you guys met?

[Warren G]

I think I was about. Maybe. I had maybe about 11, 12, somewhere around there.

[Interviewer]

So that means he was about 15 probably.

[Warren G]

So he. You know. Yeah. If I was 11, he. Yeah, yeah. And I mean, we automatically.

[Interviewer]

Y' all hit it. Y' all hit it off. Did y' all hit it off? Was there, like, any.

[Warren G]

Nothing? No, no. They took me in. Just took me right in. And actually they had me fighting and had me fighting. Boxing. I used to box like a lot of the neighborhood kids right there in our neighborhood. And so they had me fighting, like, the guys my age, we would have battle of the blocks, right? And then that's what we would. You know, getting the gloves. I used to win a lot of them, you know. My competition was one of my buddies. His name was Stank. He had hands. We was. They called me Kibbles and Bis back then. Cause I was, you know, Kibbles and Bis. Kibbles. Get him. We went from Kibbles to Sir Cool, which actually is the name that. Actually, that's the name that's going to be the title of the new project that I have coming. It's called Sir Cool. And that name was given to me, you know, between my sisters and Andre and them. I don't know which one of them came up with, but they started calling me Sir Cool. Yeah. And that name, I'm, like, bringing it. Like, bringing it back. Yeah, bringing it back for that project.

[Interviewer]

So how were the sleeping arrangements? So was it like, okay, the boys had a room. Cause did Andre have sisters?

[Warren G]

Yeah, Shamika.

[Interviewer]

Okay. So obviously. So obviously, she had her own room. Your mom and father had their room. And then all the boys slept in one room.

[Warren G]

Yeah, we slept in one room. It was two. Two beds. So I had to sleep in. In the bed. Either I sleep in the bed with Andre, or I sleep in the bed with Tyree. I was young, or I sleep on the floor or wanted some, you know, to be right, you know. But Dre was on the move a lot, so he wouldn't. He would be coming in super late, you know? Cause he would be on the move, bouncing back and forth. Hey, we. We was. We all slept.

[Interviewer]

You made it work.

[Warren G]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

How was it having a famous brother? Because fairly early on in his late teenage, early 20s, he became Dr. Dre.

[Warren G]

Yeah, I mean, it was cool. It was cool. I was in junior high school and I was just, you know, like, I looked up to him so much. I asked him could I wear his jacket. Was a world class wrecking crew jacket. One time he let me wear it and a Swatch watch. And he let me wear that shit. I was the man in school. Cause I had the nw, the purple. Not nwa, but the World Class Record crew purple jacket with the little record thing on it. And he had Swatch watches. He let me wear a Swatch watch, and I was the man. Everybody was like, damn. He got on an nw I mean, a world class record crew jacket. It was amazing, you know, really cool. And everybody was just like, damn, they thought I was famous.

[Interviewer]

And then Obviously he joins NWA it's easy. It's Dre. It's Cube Ren, with Doc.

[Warren G]

Above the law as well.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Warren G]

Lalo Cole. 187 KMG and Go Mac. Total chaos.

[Interviewer]

When they formed NWA they told you what the NWA stood for. Did you have any idea? They transformed. They're the original gangster rap. They're the OGs. Did you know they were gonna become what they became?

[Warren G]

I knew it because they was already bubbling in the neighborhood off of just mixtapes. They was bubbling at the Rhodium Swap meet off of mix tapes. Doing mixtapes around the neighborhood with. With, you know, that's actually. Boyz n the Hood was pretty much like a. Like a. Just a mixtape, right. Song.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Warren G]

That just went circulating and then it blew up. From the Rhodium Swap meet to the neighborhoods to it turning into a. A single. They always. They bubbled before, you know, before the nwa, they was always just making noise, Right? You know? Yeah. Yeah. So I knew they was gonna be something.

[Interviewer]

You got an opportunity to see them see it grow. From the very beginning, you saw the emphasis. You saw the seed state. And then you see the plant and you see the finished product.

[Warren G]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

What was it. What was it like being around Easy? What was it like being around Q? What was it like being around Ren and those other guys?

[Warren G]

Crazy. A lot of fun. A lot of. Lot of talking. A lot of beautiful women. A lot of just everything, just fun. Just, you know, they would. They. And I used to just be the young pup around everybody, right? And just like them talking shit. And I actually. On the For Life album, I did the 1900 to Compton skit where they had me come in there and act like I was getting arrested. And. Well, in the county Jail. And that was really one of the. That was a really popular skit on that album. I think I was like. I think I was about maybe like 16, about 17 years old when I did that skit. Yeah, that was niggas for life. 17 or 18. It was for life. 1900 to Compton. People probably listen to that now. Like, that was you, like, yeah, that was me, you know, and so it was that type of stuff going on a lot of fun. Just a lot of shit, talking a lot of. Lot of gangster shit. It was exciting.

[Interviewer]

You mentioned earlier, and we touched on this briefly about Dre and your music. Do you think one of the things that he wasn't as supportive as you thought he should have been? Maybe he didn't think you was taking it serious enough, or he didn't think you was as serious as you needed to be, or it wasn't gonna go. What do you think the reasons were? Or he felt that, you know, what people gonna say he just got on because of me. Let him go figure it out on his own. Let him blow up. And if he blows up over there, they can't say Dre gave him a handout.

[Warren G]

Uh, I wanted to be different. You know, he taught me a lot of stuff, but I just wanted to do my music different. I wanted to do more because, like, it was. The music they was doing is like super hardcore. Yeah, I wanted to do. I. I still could do that, but I wanted to do this to where it's. It's a good feel to it. Like a. Feel good. Like a. Like. Like with some of the. The records that's on that was on the Chronic. Like, some of those ideas. I. I brought some of those ideas.

[Interviewer]

You brought some of those? Yeah.

[Warren G]

And the ones that I was involved in, it was more like a feel good or it had a message to it, you know, like the skit, like the Deez Nuts. That was a whole. I told Dre, turn the mic on. Went in there, jumped on the phone and called one of my homegirls, just having a normal conversation. And then I ended it with, you know, did what's your name get at you? And she was like, ooh, these nuts. So I told him, we did that right there. Just even like the skit from the Mac, right. You know, that was a record. I bought a whole black exploitation. Well, I went to a company, a record company, record store, and bought a whole, like, maybe two or three crates of a black exploitation movies and brought all of those back. And we dug through those albums and we would find Skits. We like Dolomite. We used a lot of Dolomite. We had pulled that out of there. A lot of the records that was used was pulled out of these crates. Like, Let Me Ride was a. A. It was a dub record that I bought from the store. Used to sell, like, dub records. It used to sell, like, sample. Different samples and stuff like that. So I got that record, and that's where the Let Me Ride idea came from. The let Me Ross and Dre listen to this shit. And he listened to it. He was like, that shit is dope. And Dre is such a genius and dope producer. He took that shit and put it together. Outside of the idea that I brought, it was like he put it together and made it come to life. And that's a lot of records. I used to push a bunch of ideas to them, and he would take them and do it, you know, Little ghetto boy, you know, that was one of the records that. Another record that I did that he took it and changed it over. I had. My drums was a little different, but I was like, shit, go ahead. Just like, you know. Cause my whole mentality is, if you win, we all going to win.

[Interviewer]

Right?

[Warren G]

So we invested everything we had in us to make Dre a superstar.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Warren G]

Period. And that was along with what. With what? With him as the producer. We just. That's what our. That's what our mindset was. That's what our goals was, to make him a superstar. So we took everything that we had and invested in him.

[Interviewer]

You learned a valuable lesson about working on the Chronic because, like you said, you brought some ideas.

[Warren G]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

And probably say, man, I wish I could have gotten me a couple of those credits, a couple of little publishing on that thing. It had been real nice.

[Warren G]

I wish I was pretty. I had a business mind, but I didn't know about the publishing. I didn't know about it, like, off top. But, yeah, I did. I wish I would have got. You know, I wish, you know, it would have been more of like, okay, let's get this dude some credit. Because he did put in a lot of work. None of that was. Was there. None of that was done. But, you know, my. Like, I said, our goal was to. To put all we got into helping Dre become a monster.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Warren G]

A huge. To blow him up, you know, because that's what we looked up to. So we like. And he was away from NWA he was away from easy. Them. He was like, you know, and he.

[Interviewer]

And that was the time that he had. No, he hadn't because he didn't. He didn't leave Suge until the late 90s.

[Warren G]

Yeah, this was.

[Interviewer]

And started out. Yeah, he was still at Death. He was at Death Row.

[Warren G]

Well, no, it was. If he wasn't with nobody. Well, it wasn't. Death Row wasn't even formed yet.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Warren G]

Future shot.

[Interviewer]

Okay.

[Warren G]

It was called Future Shock. First that, you know, that's. Then it turned into Death Row. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Cuz basically when Tupac got out, what, 96, 95.

[Warren G]

Like, 95. Like, 95. Like the summer 95. Somewhere around there.

[Interviewer]

And then he ended up like, hey, given the entire Death Row to Suge. And then started Aftermath. Was that how Aftermath started?

[Warren G]

Yeah, that was Aftermath. Charged it to the game like he just didn't want to be involved with the way.

[Interviewer]

The way they were doing business, the.

[Warren G]

Way it was moving. He didn't want to be involved because, you know, it was Just. Couldn't move around. He couldn't go nowhere. Cause it's like, oh, that's one of them. Death Row. Yeah. You know, and they probably whooped somebody ass or done something, you know. You know, I don't know. Something might have happened. And then, okay, you out, just.

[Interviewer]

They got you isolated.

[Warren G]

You don't even know. You blind.

[Interviewer]

Right?

[Warren G]

And I mean, it's taken. Got tired of and just wanted to, you know, get away from all of that. So he bounced.

[Interviewer]

You got to be forward thinking.

[Warren G]

You got to tell me. He bounced.

[Interviewer]

But that's the thing. Don't think about it. I mean, he really. He really created that. And to say, man, you know what? Y' all can have that. I'm out.

[Warren G]

Because he knew what he could do. You know, he knew. He was. That. He's that talented. He knew what he could do. And he had the machine behind him that followed. You know, Jimmy went with him. That was the machine. So he can redo this all. He could do this all over again. You still got all of us if you need us to help with anything. And the second chronic came, you know, boom. He still. But that was all him on his whole. A new breed, new company. And that album was now. I didn't have nothing to do with that one. That was dope. Yes, indeed.

[Interviewer]

What is it like seeing someone that you actually grew up with that you actually know that you could actually touch, be a billionaire?

[Warren G]

I mean, it's.

[Interviewer]

I'd be bragging my ass.

[Warren G]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean.

[Interviewer]

I mean, my brother was good at football, but let him out. Have been a billionaire.

[Warren G]

I mean, it was just. I wasn't even I. Don't be tripping. I was just like, he just your brother? Yeah. You know, I ain't never really just like.

[Interviewer]

Cause it's hard. It's hard to real. I give you prime example, Warren.

[Warren G]

Well, now, let me. Now, I say this took me on a vacation with him. Now, I ain't gonna lie. We had our own private jet, everything. We went out to the islands and, like, some shit way out in the deep out there.

[Interviewer]

Like the Maldives, Bali.

[Warren G]

Not that far. What was it? Mustique.

[Interviewer]

Okay.

[Warren G]

It was a spot called. It's a cold spot. We went out there and he had that shit laid out. We had our own mansion. Dang. I was like, this is rich.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Warren G]

We on our own private jet. We flew to the. When we got to the airport, we jumped on another little bitty plane where the windows was open, like, and we flew here. When we got there, golf carts picked us up and they said, Mr. Griffin, and jumped on the court. We're taking you to your quarters. I'm like, my quarters? Shit. Hearing me. We went to our own mansion. I'm like, this is ballin'. And then he had a. He had like. It was a call thing where everybody got. We all got called. Okay, everybody meet up at the main mansion at this time. So we like, all right. Boom. So the courts out there pick you up. Pick us up. And they drive us over there. And we drove in that mother. And that shit was like, coming to America with, like, the curtains and shit swinging like the. It was a beautiful mansion. Big ass mansion. And the entry. And like, I said that shit, the waving. And then we walked through the house. The house was huge. Went out to the back. Big ass, like, thing with lights and shit around and a big old beautiful table with just food everywhere and just beautiful, beautiful music. Even Guapile was banging. I was like, oh, this nigga, is he doing it big? Damn, we smoking cigars. I ain't even a cigar smoker. I'm up there like. But that's when I was like, this. This dude is. He got it going on. Yeah, man.

[Interviewer]

That's for me. When people would tell me, man, your brother as good as Jerry Rice. Your brother good as Michael Irving. Your brother as good as this. I couldn't see anything but my brother, so I couldn't see him outside of that. And I think you. You like, Man, I grew up with him. Yeah, he. Yeah, I understand. He Dr. Dre. I understand he the super producer. He's my brother.

[Warren G]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Slept in the same bed. I mean, we ate the same food. At the same dinner table. We did all that. It's hard to see somebody that you grew up with outside of what you saw from that very point. Yeah, yeah, but then you like. Yeah, he different. Yeah, he not my brother, but he different. He's definitely different. Cause this here, this here is what you read about when you see these movies. You see this James Bond stuff and they're on this island and they lady come up out the water and James Bond. Is he standing on the. He's standing on the thing with a cat. Yeah, this different. This different. He different.

[Warren G]

We different.

[Interviewer]

We different now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we different now.

[Warren G]

Oh yeah. Yes, indeed.

[Interviewer]

You also, during that time you were around Tupac.

[Warren G]

Uh huh.

[Interviewer]

Tupac was. Tupac was a lot of people. Like, man, Tupac was living a lot too. He might have been the first, like, rapper that became a movie star. Now we've seen other guys, we've seen. Who is that? Meth? Do it. We've seen Busta Rhymes do it. Ice Cube has done it. Snoop.

[Warren G]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

Has gone into that. So we see a lot of other guys but Tupac with, you know, juice and Poetic justice and all that. Excuse me, Jason Lyric, what was Tupac like?

[Warren G]

Cool. Like just a cool dude. He hyper. He was hyper. Actually. Tupac is one of the first dudes. Him and MC Breed was the first couple. Couple of guys to give me. Give me my first shot at production outside of. Outside of the Death Row company. But he was a good dude, man. Just didn't. He'd tell you whatever he felt he'd tell you. He wouldn't hold nothing back. And just, Just a cool dude, you know, we. I had a. I got a story that, you know, I did. I done some music for him and I was hitting him like, pop, I need to get my money, man. I didn't done all the, you know, done this music for you. And he was like, I'm gonna get you your money. But I'm like, all right. So it was still cool. So, seen him up at the Comedy Store. I. I walked up to him, I was like, pac, I need to get my bread. Came right out the pocket. Like, came out, broke me off my money. It. I was only charging $1,500 a beat back then, right? So he came right out the pocket and broke me off my bread right then and there. And you know, I felt kind of bad, like. Cause we cool, right? You know? So I felt kind of bad, like business. Yeah. I felt kind of bad having to ask him, like, man, I need my mother money and but we, we still was cool after that. But right after that, him and. Him and Tretch had got into a fight with some cats, right at the comments. Tretch, he could, he, he was there. They got into a squabble right after that. But you know, that was like a moment where I was like, damn, that's my guy. But I gotta, you know, you gotta.

[Interviewer]

Do business, you gotta step up.

[Warren G]

I gotta get paid. Shit, I gotta get paid. But we were still. We was cool after that, everything. And he always been a solid guy. And I actually tried to get him out, you know, when he had that bell going. Me and another one of my good friends, Richie Rich, he was from the bay up there where Pac was at, we used to talk all the time. So he knew that me and Pac was cool, him and Pac was tight. And so I told him, like, look, let me put up the money. I'll put some money up to get him out. And Suge beat me to the punch, right? Wow. You know, but what if you put a million.

[Interviewer]

Well, Suge put up a million dollar cash though, right?

[Warren G]

Yeah, I was gonna put. Actually, I don't think he might have. He probably put a million up. But it wasn't a million dollars, right? It wasn't a million dollars. It was less than that. But, you know, he wrote the letters, him and Rich was going back and forth and I told him, just let me know what I could do. And I, I was like, I don't want nothing, you know, want nothing back. But if I ask you to do a song or something, let's. Let's do a song. Other than that. I just want. Don't want to see you in that position. So I was willing to put up some bread to get him out of there. And my guy Rich, he was, he was, he witnessed that. You know, it was a few people, you know, out there saying that, that, that wasn't real, but, you know. Well, Suge even said it wasn't real, but it's real, you know, Rich was his. That was his dog. So, you know, but it is what it is.

[Interviewer]

This was before. Look, he was a digital underground. He had a little part bag. He's more of a dancer then. Did you know he was. When he got out and he did All Eyes on Me, the two disc?

[Warren G]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Did you, did you hear it before it came out?

[Warren G]

No, I wasn't nowhere around it.

[Interviewer]

Did you know he was gonna do this?

[Warren G]

No, I didn't, I didn't. I wasn't. I didn't know nothing that was going on But I had actually. I ran into him at the House of Blues, and we hugged and everything. And this was around. When he got out, we hugged everything. He was like, I'm gonna work, Won't. Let's work. So I was like, all right. It's all good. And what had happened. It was an incident that happened, a studio incident that happened. That. That's what led to me saying. Cause he was like, let me come to this. To up the Can Am. And I was like, nah, I'm not coming up there. You know that. But because it was a little incident that happened up there where, you know, they had called me in. It was like, warren, you know, sug didn't want to holler at you at the. In the. You in the back. So I'm like, what do you want? Like, what do you want with me, right? So I'm like, let me. So I said, I'm coming, man. So somebody else like, man, sug want to holl at you. So I was like, all right. So I'm like, man, let me go back here and see what's going on, man. He probably want to do some business or something or something like that. And I walk back in that. And then came out of the side doors and tripping, tripping, like, all ran up on me, grabbed me and shit. And I'm like, the. And it was.

[Interviewer]

You ain't know what it was about.

[Warren G]

I know what it was about, but I didn't know that. That. That it was because Dre left, right? And he. I. He didn't tell me.

[Interviewer]

He didn't tell you.

[Warren G]

He had told, like, warren, don't go around that shit. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Cuz if he had told you, you would have never went over there.

[Warren G]

Never. I wouldn't have never went. But it was just like, you know, I'm just like, damn. Well, you know, like, why y' all tripping on me? You know what I mean? But so it was kind of. It was like a. One of another guy. I know, one of my homeboys, he kind of caused, like, a diversion. He came in like, why y' all tripping with Warren? What's going on? What's happening? So when he was doing that, I went just like that. I got on the door, and I hit that knob, and boop. Slid right out the door. And when I walked through the door, I seen people I knew in the kitchen. I'm looking at them like these tripping. And so walk through. And I got to the middle of the hallway, and they came running out that mother. Get that nigga blood. I took off again. I took off, but this time I got out the door. But they. The. The. I swear to God, the whole. Whoever. All the people that came running after they just fell. It was like a domino, like they fell in the hallway, which that's the reason why I was able to get away. So I got away and I jumped in my truck, backed it up, and I was like, fuck y', all, and took off. Took off.

[Interviewer]

Let me ask you, what do you think?

[Warren G]

But my chain got snatched.

[Interviewer]

They snatched it.

[Warren G]

Snatched my chain.

[Interviewer]

So what chain did you have?

[Warren G]

I had a G Funk chain.

[Interviewer]

Oh. And so that where they started that doing that foolishness. Start snatching chains. So you might have been the first down to get your.

[Warren G]

No. Chain snatching had been going on for a long time. And I'mma admit, was nothing I could do.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Warren G]

I was in a position like, where I can't do shit. If I pull out a gun and start the. Pull this. Start blasting, I'mma get killed by these other mother with all these guns here. It was a no win situation. So when my chain got snatched, I was kind of like.

[Interviewer]

But it's like that lit to see another day.

[Warren G]

Yeah, what am I gonna do? Right These Three times my size.

[Interviewer]

Had you not. Had you not snuck out of the door, you thought they would. You think they would've did. It would've been worse.

[Warren G]

Yeah, yeah. It would have been ugly.

[Interviewer]

Cause they was mad at you because you was the closest thing to Dre, pretty much. And so to get back at Dre, they gonna get you.

[Warren G]

That's the way I. That's the way I looked at it. Cause I. And I didn't know. I'm like. I wish he would have told me that he was leaving, you know, but charged it to the game, you know? And even. Even. Even, you know, even today, you know, every now and then, Suge will say some shit. Just talk some shit.

[Interviewer]

Why he mad at you?

[Warren G]

I have no idea. He'll say some shit like, warn them. Set up Tupac or some crazy shit.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Warren G]

Stop it. You know, But I ain't, you know, like, at the end of the day, I done grown so much to where it's just like, you know what I don't have.

[Interviewer]

You don't even listen to it.

[Warren G]

I don't listen to it. I ain't got no hate towards him, none of that stuff, any of those situations. I charged all that to the game. And it's just like, don't keep poking at me, you know, I ain't. I ain't I don't say nothing about him. He'll say something here and there, and I'm just like. Every now. I responded a couple times because it had pissed me off, but it's just like, I'm not gonna keep entertaining that. I ain't. I ain't got nothing against you. I done moved on. I do my thing. I'm grown now, right? Whatever happened back in the day, whatever. Okay, cool. You know, it is what it is. So now I'm moving on. But don't come. Don't keep poking on me. Cause I ain't with you.

[Interviewer]

Right?

[Warren G]

You know, so leave me alone. Everything I speak on is facts. And I never threw no dirt on his name. Nobody, nobody. None of these guys. Never been a whistleblower. Never do no dirt on nobody. None of that. I just always, you know, just meant me. And I carry myself in a different way and out the way.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, yeah. Is it true that you told Snoop not to go to that Tyson seldom fight? Yeah, because I had actually. I had went to the Tyson Frank Bruno fight. I think that was April. And as a matter of fact, that was my first time being in Vegas. And I was walking on the Strip. Tupac and Snoop was in a Rolls Royce together, drop top.

[Warren G]

Wow.

[Interviewer]

And I remember walking. I was walking down the thing, and I was looking over there, and they both kind of, like, looked over there. They're like, man, what's up, Sharp? I was like, what's up, guy? You know? Cause it was like.

[Warren G]

It was like, we love you, man.

[Interviewer]

Cause I didn't expect. I didn't expect to see no, we love you, man. And so I was like, damn. And I remember getting on the phone, I called my sister. I called my homeboy. I said, man, you're never gonna guess who I just saw rolling down the Strip.

[Warren G]

They like who?

[Interviewer]

I said, man, I saw Tupac and Snoop. And so that was the. That was the Frank Bruno and Tyson fight. And then I think that September was when Tyson fought Bruce Seldon. And that's when all that went down. And like, you told Snoop, slick, Snoop, don't go.

[Warren G]

It wasn't. The reason why I called Snoop is because I. I didn't like. It wasn't like, don't go, Snoop. Because I knew, like, if I knew.

[Interviewer]

Something, you knew something would happen.

[Warren G]

I called Snoop to come kick it with me down here. I'm a barbecue, right? You don't never come hang with me no more.

[Interviewer]

Come on.

[Warren G]

Come on over here. I'm single. I was in a beginning relationship with my Wife kind of in a very, very early stages, but I was still, like, by myself. I was still living by myself and all that stuff. So I had a gang of people come over. It was a couple girls came through, guys came through, barbecued. But he was. He. You know, he would never come when I would invite him, right? So I invited him. He was like, nah, nigga, I'm going to Vegas. Da, da, da, da, da. So he pretty much surprised me and came over. You know, he came dun, dun, dun. So I look outside and he in a Rolls Royce, a white one with the peanut butter, all that. I was like, damn. I said, let me drive that mother. So he let me drive it. I drove it around, you know, around the neighborhood a little bit where I lived at. It was inside Gates, but I was driving it around and stuff. But he was just like, I'm gonna hang with you. And I was like, all right, shit. So it was all good. We barbecued, had a good time. And then that's when all that stuff started happening. All this is all kind of. All kind of his phone ringing, all kind of beeping it. And he had got the news, like, what happened down there? He just immediately took off. Boom. He shot straight out of there. He's like, I gotta go. I'm gone. Film and he shot. Jumped in his car and was shot straight to Vegas. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

And when you had heard what happened, Tupac had gotten shot. Did you. Did you know. Did you know it was a drive by? Did you think he had gotten into a confrontation? Somebody had got the drop on him? What did you think had happened when you heard Tupac had gotten shot? Or did you. Did they give you any details?

[Warren G]

I didn't get no details or nothing. I just heard he had got shot and was hoping that he was okay.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Warren G]

You know what I mean? Cause it's like, damn, okay. Pac got shot. He gonna be all right.

[Interviewer]

Right?

[Warren G]

Yeah. And because he, you know, from what they were saying, you know, he was in the hospital, he was getting some operations or whatever, but they wasn't saying, like, you know, that he was gonna die or anything.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Warren G]

That shit was hard. That shit was rough. You know, like, that was some serious shit like that. Everybody up for sure. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Because if I'm not mistaken, Tupac was only 25.

[Warren G]

Yeah, he young.

[Interviewer]

He had just. He hadn't even been out maybe a year.

[Warren G]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer]

And was gone. And that's what people don't realize. He. He didn't have the longevity that a lot of these rappers have. I mean, he didn't have a 5 year, a 10 year, 15, 20 year career.

[Warren G]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

As a solo artist, it might have been, what, a year, maybe two years, tops.

[Warren G]

Well, he. He had albums before he had. He had. He had records before that. He had Soul the Story. He had a bunch of. He had albums like, right before the Death Row thing, and Death Row picked him up, took him in. Yeah, but he asked for. He was popping, you know, then as well. But what's a trip is that. That Me against the World album. Yeah, he pretty much like. That was like 30, like, 20 something years worth of work in one album. Like the. The. The things he. The direction he was staring, the guys our age in and the. The things about the kids and what he talked about.

[Interviewer]

Dear Mama and all. Brenda's got a baby. Yeah, this. I mean, what. Like the story that. I mean, he was telling a story.

[Warren G]

Yeah, yeah. And it was like he told the future because now a lot of this stuff happened and some of it is still happening. Like he said, epidemic and diseases. What is the future? And look, we be having all these epidemics and diseases and shit like that.

[Interviewer]

So you look at somebody, okay. He left Digital Underground probably in the early 90s, so he probably jumped on the scene. Probably, what, 92, 93. Went away for, what, 16, 18 months.

[Warren G]

He was. He was still putting out records. He was putting out. It was two Interscopes there.

[Interviewer]

People don't. I mean, so. So, so young.

[Warren G]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

I mean, he wasn't even in his prime.

[Warren G]

No. No.

[Interviewer]

And then All Lives On Me just came and it was just like the 2 desk, and it just like, Dre was on it. It was just. It was. It. It was crazy.

[Warren G]

Yeah, it was crazy. I produced How Long Will they Mourn Me? Definition of A Thug and then I produced Lie to Kick it for him. The Definition of a Thug was his first, like, Thug Life song that I did. Me and him at Echo Sound. And then. How Long Will They Mourn Me? I done that the same night at Echo Sound when we did Definition of a Thug. I was. That's. When I. That's. Once again, I was. I was solo. I was out on my own and just wasn't. I was still working and doing things, but I wasn't, like, around at that time around anybody. I was just at home. Well, at my sister apartment, sleeping on the floor. And I got that call, you know, I didn't know it was Pac, but. Cause he. Well, he called, but I didn't think it was him, right. It was like, Pac ain't getting ready to be called. But I'm like, man, who is this playing game? This ain't Pac. And he was like, this Pac? And then I saw this. I said, oh, shit, this is Tupac. And he was like, you got some music? I was like, yeah. It's like, I'm at Echo Sound. So I grabbed my drum machine, grabbed my Crater Records, grabbed my. My. My bladder, da da da and jumped in my Regal and shot straight up the Echo Sound, walked in there, and it was him. And I went straight to work, started popping diss in the drum machine, playing it. Yeah. And we came up with a hit fast, too. He wrote that record in, like, 30, about 35, 40 minutes. Definition of a thug. After we talked, we sat right there and talked with each other for. We talked for maybe, like, maybe an hour. Because he was asking me questions. He was like. He was interviewing me, right? And so it's like he took some of the things that I told him. He put that in that song, that. That. That he went in there and laid. He laid it in, like, 35, 40 minutes and knocked it down damn fast. And then he got a call that one of his buddies that got shot. So he came in, he said, warren, you got something for me? I want to do a song for my buddy that just got killed. So I dropped. I actually did a record that I flipped already on another record and gave it to him, and then he did a song on it, and it worked on that on his record. Wow.

[Interviewer]

So that's. How. How long would they mourn me?

[Warren G]

How long will they mourn me? I had a song called Super Soul Sis, which used the same sample. And how long will they mourn Me Was that same sample. I used the same sample on two different albums. Wow. And it worked on both of them? Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Tupac, he worked with Mike. You worked with. No, not Tupac. You did.

[Warren G]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

So, I mean, to see. And every once in a while, you hear Mike singing acapella, and then you could hear his voice. You could understand. I could only imagine what Michael would be in the Internet era because people were fainting. People were going berserk. He sold 100 million albums. Ain't nobody selling 100 million. Nothing now.

[Warren G]

Nothing. Nowhere near.

[Interviewer]

He was doing that. But to be in the studio with Mike and to hear his natural voice, what was that like?

[Warren G]

Shit, I almost fainted. Shit.

[Interviewer]

So you was one of the people that almost passed out seeing Mike?

[Warren G]

Yeah. Bruce and Renee were two guys he was working with. They were his producers, and they were fans of my music. So they called Me. And they was like, we want you to produce some records for Michael. And I was like, hell, no. Y' all Michael Jackson? They was like, yeah, Michael Jackson. I was like, oh, my God. I couldn't believe it. And they like, he wants to meet you. And I was like, are you serious? They like, he wants to meet you. So went up there. He was actually at Record One studio up in the Valley. Got there, went inside and walked in the room and it was just like. Like, hey, what's up, man? Michael. Duh. Like, he wasn't. It wasn't none of that.

[Interviewer]

Some people said, like, hey, this is Michael.

[Warren G]

It wasn't none of that.

[Interviewer]

That's what I heard people say. His normal voice was not like, none of that.

[Warren G]

He was like, what's up, man? Like, what's up, man? You know, da, da, da, da. Like, I'm like, oh, my God, I'm about to lose it right now. I'm about to paint. I'm about to do everything. I'm about to just go crazy right now. I couldn't believe it. And he said he loved my music, and that blew me away. Just for him to say that. I ain't even right now. I can't even explain how. How happy I was and how. How I had anxiety so bad. Just like, wow, this is. This is. This is Michael Jackson right here, right now. And did some. Did the work, you know, I did some music for him. He loved the music. He recorded the songs. And I also had told him, you know. Cause he was kind of like, at that time, he had a little bit of. It was a little bit of backlash, like some bad press. And I told him that what you do is don't, Don't. Don't sit up there and be sad about it. Do a song back at them, you know, for putting that bullshit out the fake shit on you. You do a song back at them, you know, and that's what he did. It wasn't one of my tracks. I can't remember the song, but it was a. What song was that? It was where he was talking. He was talking shit back to the press and back to everybody. What was the song? I Can't Get It Off Top. Having a brain for it.

[Interviewer]

You saying that. And a lot of people believe that the industry. Because he had become so big, he had become so popular, he had become so powerful. You hear about him wanting to buy this record label and this television company, and they just couldn't have that. He had purchased the Beatles catalog, plus he had his own catalog. So he had the two most popular catalogs that were created.

[Warren G]

Yeah. You know, I mean, I can't see nobody like stopping somebody. Well, you know, stopping somebody from getting involved and you know, buying this or buying that. If he got the money to get it, then it is what it is.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Warren G]

But I don't know, I don't, I mean, I just, I just, you know, I think that, you know, he was just exhausted with all that was going on as far as like that case he had that he was going through. I think a lot of that stuff was wear and tear on him, you know, and he just was just wore out, you know.

[Interviewer]

And he had been Michael Jackson for so long.

[Warren G]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

I mean from the time he's probably six or seven years old, he couldn't go anywhere. Yeah, he couldn't do anything. He had a very lonely life. He had a life of isolation.

[Warren G]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Cause just think he could, he could, he could never do anything that a 6 or 7 year old. He couldn't do what a 13, 14 year old do. He couldn't do what a 25, 26 year old do. He couldn't do what a 30, 40 year old do.

[Warren G]

He could never do any of that, none of it. And I think it was a lot of that wear and tear just like with all of that along with people trying to blame him for different things. It's like, you know, at the end of the day, it just war and tore on her. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Is it true you turned down an opportunity to meet the Prince?

[Warren G]

Yeah, yeah, I did.

[Interviewer]

Damn, you don't believe nobody.

[Warren G]

No, no, I just, it was just, I just thought Prince. I mean, I loved him as an artist. Like I really love, love him as an artist. Loved him and loved him as an artist. He was just, I just wasn't, you know, just like, why do he want me to come sit down with him? But I was young, so I'm like, you know, I'm like, shit, this mother might be trying to hit on me or something. I don't know what. So I'm young, not, not thinking about. He wants his, his business. Come sit down with, go sit down with this dude. After I, you know, when I thought about it later on, I'm like, I should have went, sat my ass down with Prince and, and really got game from him. Learned, got a lot of knowledge from him.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Warren G]

You know, instead of thinking a different way, like what do he want with me? Right? What do, what do you want? Like what's up? Are you, what, what, what? You know, but I still was, was A die hard Prince fan. Still. Still a fan of him.

[Interviewer]

But you did finally get a chance to meet him.

[Warren G]

Got a chance to meet him. Really cool dude. Just had a lot of knowledge, like, a lot of knowledge and just would give me a lot of game on shit like the industry and. But he was. He was a cool dude. But that was another one of those things, just being young that I regret not doing, you know, I should have went, you know, and all my folks was like, warren, you better go.

[Interviewer]

Warren, you better go see what him, right.

[Warren G]

What is wrong with you? Like, oh, man, I just don't, you know, and never. I didn't get the record cleared that I wanted to clear for. Cause I redid one of his records. That was me and Nate again. It was. It was a bona fide, right?

[Interviewer]

See now if you went and stopped with him, you probably could have got it cleared.

[Warren G]

Man, I. I was just like. Man, I. I just, you know, I just. I was young. Just like, you know what? I. I ain't getting ready to go out there. I don't know. I don't. I don't know what he want. What do you want me out there for? You know. But, you know, it was just to have a conversation and. And meet the guy who wants to use some of my music.

[Interviewer]

Right?

[Warren G]

You know what I mean? But I wasn't thinking like that. I was all over the place like, this is it.

[Interviewer]

Other than Prince and Michael. And Michael. Have you ever been starstruck? Who else has been got you starstruck?

[Warren G]

Anita Baker. Like all of the OGs. OGs before me. All of them just like Anita Baker and was like. I was like, this. I am. I was in love with her music from Tiny, Tiny Kid. So let me see. Just like all I was. Anybody I would meet, just, I was. I was like, I can't believe I'm here.

[Interviewer]

Oh, yes.

[Warren G]

Chaka Khan, which. I've been around her. I've been around all of them. Tina Marie and just everybody. Like, you been around them every week. Charlie Murphy's. And just everybody. Like, I done been around everybody. And them. Me being like starstruck towards them. And they like fans of me. Like, man, that's Warren G. And I'm.

[Interviewer]

Like, y' all know my name.

[Warren G]

This is crazy. Yeah, but it's.

[Interviewer]

You did Chloe's birthday party. What was that like?

[Warren G]

It was dope. It was dope. Lot of beautiful women up in there. It was like this. It was like pink everywhere. And Chloe and Kim came up to me and they. They was just like regulators is our favorite song ever. And I was like, what? She was like, that is our. So when I did it, they was just like. They was right there in the front dancing. And that was just. That was. That was like a dope moment. Like, damn. Like, the. The Kardashians love my shit. They like. This is their favorite shit. So that was a moment, man. A really, really special moment just to get that love from them. And then I seen a clip of her and Kanye in the car, and they was banging. Regular singing it together. Banging. I was like, wow, what's the wildest.

[Interviewer]

Party of event you've done?

[Warren G]

Oh, wait, shit, I'm gonna say this. The wildest party I done ever been to was Wet and Wild. NWA Eazy and NWA Wet and Wild. That was the wildest party I ever been to. That.

[Interviewer]

I.

[Warren G]

Well, I didn't. I didn't. My parties wasn't that wild. But that NWA Party Easy and NW it wasn't. Well, that was party. That party was wild. But it was a lot of. I was a young kid, though, but I was a young teen. I think I was about 14, 15, somewhere around there, around that time when I went to that. And it was good old time, huh? Good old times. It was cracking. And they. They, you know, they treated me like one of the fellas. Yeah, I got the, you know, a grown man treatment in there.

[Interviewer]

Ain't nothing wrong with that.

[Warren G]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

You produced Jeezy, Leave youe Alone, is there a lot of songs that people wouldn't guess that you've actually produced?

[Warren G]

Yeah, well, it's a lot of them out there that people don't. They, you know, I did Leave youe Alone for Young Jeezy. I've. I've done even. Even. You Gotta Get Yours, I Gotta Get Mine. With MC Breed and Tupac, you Gotta get yours I Gotta get my people like Warren, you did that. I was like, yeah, that was. That's. Once again, that was one of the first records that I had a shot at producing. And it ended up being one of their biggest records together.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Warren G]

But I've done a lot of. I done produced for New Edition, a lot of groups. Ron Eisley, I didn't produce for a lot of artists even younger or even today artists. So today, you know, been working with a lot of the younger artists, you know, because my mindset is you never too old to make a hit record. And, you know, I don't try to just because these guys are young and they doing this and doing that. I give them knowledge and I direct them In a different path. And give. They call me like, Warren. What about such and such and this, that and this? And then I give them, tell them, okay, you should do this. You know, so I'm kind of like a big brother. And as well as, you know, us working a business relationship. Work, business, work, relationship with different artists.

[Interviewer]

Have you ever got an opportunity to work with a M50?

[Warren G]

No. No. Haven't got a chance to work with them. I would love to do a record with M or 50, produce a track for either one of them. Just gotta get around them and play some tracks.

[Interviewer]

You know, when you heard about em, man, this is white. There's a white. This white dude out of Michigan, Detroit, man. He liked that. Cause the last white dude, you probably thinking. You probably think of Vanilla Ice, you know, you like, come on, come on now. Come on now. They said, nah, nah, nah. Hey, he up there.

[Warren G]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

When you first heard it, they said, that's him. That's the one I was telling about.

[Warren G]

That's him.

[Interviewer]

That's a white dude.

[Warren G]

Yeah. We was like, who was this white up in here in the studio? Cause we. This. This was our shit. When Dre had first brought him around, yeah. We was like, who was this mother up in here? All of us like, is this. He got up in there this hard shit, and that was busting. We was like, God damn, he hard as ended up. He ended up being incredible, you know, Incredible. And really, really gelled right into what we already had moving musically.

[Interviewer]

Where would you rank em? Cause people seem to like. Because, you know, hip hop, where it originated, how. And so many of us. There are not very many ems. He's very unique. We understand that. And I don't think people give him the credit that he deserves because he's a white. And that's our genre. You know, Hip hop is us. Rap is us. Gangster rap is us. And so sometimes I don't think people give him the credit that he deserves.

[Warren G]

He definitely in the top. The top. And he in the top 15. I don't want to. I don't want to make it too small like the top 10. Cause there's some dope motherfuckers, some heavy hitters. Heavy hitters. He definitely in that top 15. He dope. He dope. See, Eminem is an emcee. He a straight hip hop. Straight hip hop. It's not. He wasn't on, like, what we was on. We was more storytelling. It was hip hop, but we was more storytelling and telling a story about our life and making it like a movie. On wax. And he was more of the straight hip hop, straight at you, battle mc, but could tell a story at the same time. But it's still in his way, in his element, the way he do it, in a hip. In a MC way.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Warren G]

But when he wrote the shit, like, the stuff that he writes for Dre and the way I was like, this mother right here. He can write this and then turn it down the way.

[Interviewer]

It'S amazing, because when you found out that it was ho that wrote Dre Day for Dre, and you hear em write, like, how did he write that for him? And it sound like he actually wrote it for himself.

[Warren G]

How. How did he do that? I tripped off of that thing. Just ain't the same for gangsters. Eminem wrote that. That shit was. That's one of my favorite songs on that album. I was like, this mother is dope. Yeah. I was like, wow. Yeah. That's still one of my favorite songs to this day.

[Interviewer]

Is Kendrick the new king of la?

[Warren G]

You gonna have me drunk up here.

[Interviewer]

Hey, that thing, it bust. It's hitting that, though.

[Warren G]

Yes, indeed. It's so good. I keep downin it.

[Interviewer]

We gonna send you home with a bottle. We gonna send you home with a bottle.

[Warren G]

Oh, yes, indeed.

[Interviewer]

I mean, we'll go see you home with.

[Warren G]

But.

[Interviewer]

We gonna see you home with two bottles.

[Warren G]

But as y' all can see, we been getting it in. Yes, indeed.

[Interviewer]

Kendrick, how surprised are you? Cause I've always thought he's been a great storyteller, but this last year and a half, with the five Grammys and the halftime show, and he's just going to a different level.

[Warren G]

Yeah, Kendrick. Kendrick definitely has solidified his position on the West Coast. I can't say king.

[Interviewer]

He the king right now, though. He might not be the king of the Elbow. He might not be the. Yeah, but he made a name for himself. Cause it was gonna be hard to break. When you look at the west, you look at Snoop and you look at Cube, and you look at Dre, and you look at 40, and you look at some of the guys that came out of the west coast park. You like OG but now you like. Okay, Kendra, you don't carve that little. You don't carve that little space for yourself.

[Warren G]

Yeah, he definitely made his mark and solidified himself as one of the best to do it from the west, you know, I can't just say he the biggest out of everybody there or, like, ever and stuff like that. I can't say that. But in his generation right now, in his era, yes, he's the king, but as him being the king of that younger generation that he's a part of now, he's the king of that. But as a whole, he solidified himself to be one of the greatest with the greatest, with the Snoop Doggs, the Ice cubes, the Warren GS, the Dr. Dre's, the Easy E's, Ice T, King T. You know, it's a lot of guys. DJ Quick, like, it's a lot of guys that. That don't get mentioned. Like, all those names I mentioned, and he's one of them. That's in there. He's in that now.

[Interviewer]

When you got the news that when you started this thing, it was you, him and Snoop. Snoop was doing his thing, but you and Nate, thick and thin, cold or hot, up or down. Yeah, you got the news that he was gone. First thought, what was the Emotions?

[Warren G]

What, What? When. When Nate passed away, we actually was on tour and we heard about it. Right. This was like right before we was about to go on the stage. We was in Corpus Christi, and we just. We cried, you know, all of us just. We all was in Snoop's room. We all. Everybody on the tour. We was all in Snoop room, and all of us was just pouring out, just crying. We cried and cried and cried. Did the show and came back and cried more. More. Just cried. Just couldn't believe it, you know? And we went straight home after that. We took off. Went straight home from off the road and went back. Went back home. Yeah. And to bury him. Yeah. And, yeah, that was like. It was really bad for us. Like, super bad, man. But like I said, we cried. We cried. We cried, cried, cried.

[Interviewer]

Cause he was so young.

[Warren G]

He was only 41 up here crying, Shannon. Yeah, but we was hurt, man. It still hurt, you know? Still hurt.

[Interviewer]

What do you want his legacy? What do you want people to know about Nate that they don't know or they haven't heard of any story that you would want to tell so people will get a better understanding just who Nate Dog was.

[Warren G]

He was a good father. He was a good father to his kids. He took care of all his kids. And he was a man of God, you know, even though he, you know, wrote like he wrote, he was a man of God. He was raised in the church. His mother is super church. She don't listen to hip hop. She don't. Don't want to have nothing to do with it. None of that. His whole family, him and Sam and his sister, they all was raised in the church. So he was. He was a very godly. Even though he went through the things. Some of the things he went through, all of the stuff he went through, he was a godly. Godly person, and he was a great dad to his kids. Mm.

[Interviewer]

You been married almost 30 years.

[Warren G]

Mm.

[Interviewer]

What's the secret? I hear a lot of secrets. I mean, I've heard a lot of people that's been married 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, 50 years. And it's gonna be interesting to hear what you have to say, and I'm gonna see how it jives with what some people that's been married for 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, what they say, what's the trick to being married for an extended period of time?

[Warren G]

Just, that's like, well, she my best friend. You know what I mean? We best friends. And, you know, if we argue, like, when we argue or we argue, whatever, we go at it or whatever, you know, I go back myself and I say, like, was I wrong or was I right? Was I wrong? Was I right? Or if she wrong or right, one of us come and say, you know what? I'm sorry. I was wrong. You know what I mean? Or I'll be like, you was right. You know, I was wrong about what I said or what I did or this, that, and this. And then, you know, but. And at the end of the day, that's my friend. We be friends, and that's. We not only husband and wife, but we friends, and we joke around. We talk shit, have a good time. We argue. We don't let none of that stuff.

[Interviewer]

We don't let it linger.

[Warren G]

Yeah. We clear it up. You know, sometimes we get hot at each other for maybe a day, two days or something, you know, where we still, you know, like. You know, it ain't like you be.

[Interviewer]

Mad like, you want to go out to eat.

[Warren G]

That's how it start back up. Like, let's go get a bite. You want to go get something to eat? I swear to God, you hit it right on the nose. And we take off and go eat. And then when we go eat, we back laughing and talking and having a good time and realize the.

[Interviewer]

The thing that we got upset about, it really wasn't that big of a deal to begin.

[Warren G]

It wasn't a big deal. You know, it.

[Interviewer]

You know, so have you guys always been great? Because I hear LeBron was talking about his wife Savannah. And I've heard a lot of people say the number one thing. Communication.

[Warren G]

Yes, indeed.

[Interviewer]

You got to be able to communicate.

[Warren G]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

And I think the Thing is, the biggest thing is that the therapist told me, she said, she. She told me one time, she said, Shannon, she said you're speaking two different languages.

[Warren G]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

She said she's speaking in Mandarin and you're speaking in Spanish.

[Warren G]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Now either you learn her language and she learns yours. So you know how to communicate.

[Warren G]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Or it's not gonna work.

[Warren G]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

It's really that simple.

[Warren G]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We communicate. And you know, to be honest, you.

[Interviewer]

Have to be transparent. If something bother you, you gotta say what's bothering you and not be. But you had. But you've been together for 30 years, probably you've been married 30 years, so you've probably known her for 35 years.

[Warren G]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

And so you kinda know what makes her tick. She knows what makes you tick. And you kinda able to navigate and stay out of those landfill those. Where those landmines are. And you kind of navigate that. But there obviously there gonna be times.

[Warren G]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

No A. Nobody has ever been married. And every day is a better road.

[Warren G]

Yeah. Like, I mean, even the other day, we, you know, we. We're, you know, driving, you know, and she'll be like, well, you need to do that. And I'm like, wait a minute, hold up. Why you gonna try to tell me how to drive? Wait a minute, I. You've had a fender bender. I ain't never had offended. Like, somebody has hit me.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Warren G]

But I ain't never like, boom. Like, but you know, and that, you know that sometime, you know, it get me hot, you know, so we'll argue a little bit and, you know, you know, we'll be mad for 10, 15 minutes and then we start back talking again.

[Interviewer]

How difficult is it to stay married, being in the music business? You travel a lot, you're around a lot of beautiful women, you're gone sometimes a week, two weeks, three weeks at a time. And she has to run the house while you're out there doing that. But obviously I said you gotta communicate. You have an understanding. You have to be transparent. You have to be honest.

[Warren G]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

How difficult has it been for you to navigate three decades of marriage? Being in the industry that you're in.

[Warren G]

It'd be a lot of temptation. You know, you just gotta say to yourself, do you wanna risk losing all of this over here? Your beautiful wife and all your. And everything that you built, your kids and everything that I built over here. Just over this.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Warren G]

You know, one night, you know, of this. To lose all of that?

[Interviewer]

It ain't no such thing as.

[Warren G]

Yeah, it's just. It's, you know. Yeah, but it's. It's just like. I just. Just. I just, you know, I just don't want to. You know, I don't want to. I don't want to.

[Interviewer]

It's not even worth it no more.

[Warren G]

Yeah, it ain't. It ain't. It ain't worth it. You know, when I. When I was young, though, before our relationship, I was a monster. I was everywhere. I was.

[Interviewer]

You was outside. Outside. Outside.

[Warren G]

Man. You know. But, yeah, she. She. She a good woman. And that's. That's another reason why, you know, I'm. I'm good to her as well, because she's. She's a really good woman, and she. She really, like, got my back 110% and something. I argue at her about some things, and then I come back. Cause I see what she just. We was just arguing about, and then I see what she was saying.

[Interviewer]

That, like, it makes sense now.

[Warren G]

Yeah. And I'll be like, damn, that's. She. Is she amazing?

[Interviewer]

You know, Would you have been. Would you have been as successful as you are had you not had the stability of having a wife for three decades?

[Warren G]

Uh, I probably would have went in. In a couple of different directions as far as, like, maybe getting into more trouble. Yeah. You know, back. You know, but, you know, she kept me. She didn't. Kept me out of a lot of. A lot of. A lot of bs. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Interviewer]

Children. How many kids you have?

[Warren G]

Six.

[Interviewer]

Damn.

[Warren G]

Six. That ain't a lot.

[Interviewer]

That.

[Warren G]

What you mean, that a lot? Four boys and two girls.

[Interviewer]

The oldest.

[Warren G]

The oldest is 28.

[Interviewer]

Youngest.

[Warren G]

That's one. The youngest is royal. He's 10. And then my daughter Lola is 15. My daughter Lauren, she's 20. My son Neil is 22. My son Elijah is 26. Yeah, 26.

[Interviewer]

You done now?

[Warren G]

Yeah. Did I get them all? I be forgetting sometime.

[Interviewer]

You done.

[Warren G]

Definitely. Nowhere near it. I'm done. Over.

[Interviewer]

What type of father are you?

[Warren G]

Cool. I'm cool. But I, you know, I. I still. And still, you know, like. Like some of the more I still instill morals. Like, you know, like we used to have when I was coming up, like, in there cleaning up that room every day, doing this, washing the dishes, all of that. I still. Even though I'm Warren G, I'll be like, go wash them dishes or go take out the trash. Go do the. You know, I'll be on them. And they. They. They. They don't. They. They probably don't even look at me as Warren G. Like, the, the, the artists or this, that and this. They like, you know, that's dad, dad, you know, they. Because they. I ain't mean, but they, they think that the stuff I tell them, like go take out the trash. That's being mean or that stuff. No, that's not being mean. That's the way it's supposed to go. Yes. You know, get up. You need to do this, you need to do that. I be on they ass, you know, and they all good kids. Ain't none of my boys been in no trouble, like gang shit or any jail stuff. They ain't never been to jail. They ain't never been in no trouble like, nothing. None of my girls, nobody have never been in trouble. And what tripped me out is they ain't the type. They don't never ask me for like Jordans or all the high tech stuff act. Wait, I take that back. My daughters is. They, they, they hit me here, they hit me. But other than that, my boys don't. They, you know, they don't, you know, they was kids, they never asked me for a bunch of stuff. And I've never been like, okay, you can have this. Well, getting them anything they wanted. I didn't do that. I would have them. You gotta work for it, you know, you gotta work for it no matter what it is. If, even when you in sports like my boys, I used to tell them, okay, if you do this or you do that in your football and this, that and this, okay, I'll give you $100. When they was kids, like little bitty kids playing Pop Warner and stuff like that, you scored two or three touchdowns. I got you. I'm gonna give you this. Tearing it up and I give you this, you know, Or I would make them work for stuff, but they would never be the type like, I want this, I want that, I want that or never. And I was like, damn, I'm blessed for that, you know. And they, they, you know, they think I'm. Think I'm pretty cool. They think I'm cool. They know I'm cool. Cause I laugh and joke and talk mess and, you know, I'll be messing with my daughters. I'll be calling them the baddies. And they don't like it, but they laugh at it a lot and. But they, they, they, they, they, they good, they good kids. And they, they, I just gotta be a dad. And I tell them that I gotta be a dad. I can't be your friend and let you do anything, you know, I gotta be a dad.

[Interviewer]

Because the dad name. I told my kids, I said, the dynamic of our relationship will never change. I'll always be dad. You'll always be the child.

[Warren G]

Yes, indeed. Yes, indeed.

[Interviewer]

You know, and so let's stay in our appropriate places.

[Warren G]

Yes, indeed.

[Interviewer]

I see your friend. Hey, y' all hang out. Y' all talk to each other in a certain way. That's fine.

[Warren G]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

But as a parent, there needs to be always a healthy level of respect.

[Warren G]

Yeah, yeah, There.

[Interviewer]

And, you know, and as they got older, you know, hey, it was no more. I didn't demand. I was like, look, you understand, you know, right from wrong. I shouldn't have to yell and scream and do all the other stuff. It should be, this is what I think you should do. And no matter what you should do.

[Warren G]

Yes, indeed.

[Interviewer]

But at the end of the day, you're grown now. You make your own decision.

[Warren G]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

But you. Hopefully, you've done a good enough job from birth until 18, 19, that when they get 25, they get 30. It's like, okay, yeah, this is what we should be doing. This is how we should do it. Yeah, let me get you out of here on this one. When you see a situation like a dame and he falling out with. With Rockefeller and a lot of the artists, how do we make sure we don't have another. A situation like that? Because it's sad.

[Warren G]

It is. Just gotta. Just gotta keep the business a little bit more tight. This the type of person I am. Even though, like, if I was. If I was in Jay Z position, even though me and this guy ain't getting along or whatever, we. We got history. Like, we done a lot of big things together. And if I see him just, like, if I see him and I'm like, damn, he's. He's struggling or this, that and this, I try to, like, figure out some type of way we can mend. So I could say, look, let me get you involved in this so you can get this. You know what I mean? Or do this so you can get that. Or, you know. Cause I don't want to. We got too much history together for. I don't want to see you that way or struggling. You know what I mean? I don't want to see that, man. Cause we started together, okay? We had our little falling outs, whatever. But at the end of the day, man, you know, I grew with you.

[Interviewer]

We did build something special.

[Warren G]

Yeah, we built some really special things together. So, you know, here you go here. Here you go there, you know, just so you can be back on your feet, you know? And if I'm here, billionaire. Shit, if I was a billionaire, I'd be like, look, take this, you know, now if you lose that, then something ain't right.

[Interviewer]

You on your own.

[Warren G]

You on your own. Yeah, but take this, you know, you should be good off that. Period. No more.

[Interviewer]

What's, what's next for Warren G.

[Warren G]

Just a lot of, A lot of good business, a lot of good music. I just got involved in baseball, just became an owner, part of the ownership group with Long Beach. It's a minor league baseball team, but it's the first team that's about to be coming from up out of Long Beach. And I became an owner, part of the ownership group with that. And we trying to make. We making the name, not trying. We gonna make the name the Long Beach Regulators. And I'm really happy to be involved and because it gives me a chance to give back to the community by doing different events and bringing like a snoop or bringing any artist there to the, to the stadium to perform for the neighborhood or the kids, wherever you from, whoever show up. And it's a chance for the team to go here or to King park to build this new court they got, or go to the rec and build the new rec thing or go to the homeless thing and help them and the mayor, you know, help out with some of the things with the mayor around the city. Cause I was born and raised there, so it's like, it's only that I give back in that way and then we got something to root for, you know, because they don't have a lot to root for. We got the Dodgers and the Lakers and you know, the Raiders and you know, the Chargers and stuff like that.

[Interviewer]

Raiders belong to Vegas now. Left, y'.

[Warren G]

All.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, you got a new, you got. When is the new music coming out? You talking about you working on some.

[Warren G]

New music right now. We looking well, I'm looking at dropping. I'm dropping the single by November. Yeah, I'm working on that right now. I'm pretty much there. I just got a few touch ups I gotta do with mixing and mastering and it's a couple more artists that I wanna work with before I shut it all the way out. A lot of good music, a lot of good businesses coming with the baseball, sports. A lot of business outside of the baseball, like real estate and then as well as still helping newer artists in the game and getting them under a good distribution to get their records out there in a good way, you know, still helping out artists, still doing everything and not ain't Nothing changed. I'm still. Still at it, you know, like I always been, but just a little bit more smarter, you know?

[Interviewer]

Go check out his barbecue rub and sauces. Sniffing Griffins.

[Warren G]

Oh, yeah.

[Interviewer]

Warren G production. Warren G, ladies and gentlemen.

[Warren G]

Much love. Appreciate you. All my life? Been grinding? All my life?

[Interviewer]

Sacrifice, hustle, paid the price?

[Warren G]

Wanna slice, got to roll the dice?

[Interviewer]

That's why?

[Warren G]

All my life I've been grinding?

[Podcast Host]

All my life?

[Interviewer]

Look?

[Warren G]

All my life, been grinding all my life? Sacrifice, hustle, paid the price? Want a slice, got to roll a dice?

[Interviewer]

That's why?

[Warren G]

All my life, I've been grinding? All my life?