G-Funk Page #10

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Smalls was leaving

a music industry party.

The shooting was eerily similar

to Tupac's six months earlier.

[Simmons] After Biggie's death,

it's too late, right?

You know, I regret it because,

you know, I could've maybe...

maybe saved some lives.

I should have did more.

[Snoop Dogg] We was just trying

to create music

that made people feel good

no matter where you was from.

But when everything happened

at the Source Awards in '95,

it no longer became

about the music.

It became about

what side you was on.

And G-Funk was never

the same after that.

["The Shiznit"

by Snoop Dogg playing]

[jail cell door slams]

[crowd murmuring]

[Ice T] There's

a lot of people in hip-hop

that made records that drifted

into oblivion.

I think the key with music

is that you're trying to make

something that'll stand

the test of time.

[Ice Cube] When you're doin'

original music

and you're bringin'

in melodies,

and you're bringin'

in the fusion of rap and R&B,

I think that's the legacy

of G-Funk.

[Too Short] I do believe

that that G-Funk era

was when hip-hop

figured it out.

It was like these guys

were like,

"Let's f***in' smoke and drink

and make the best f***in' music

in the world."

You could've locked those people

up in a studio for years,

and they would've just

kept givin' us timeless music.

The one thing I could truly say

about all these cats, man,

they've been consistent.

Warren G has always been

the same cool, calm, collected,

intelligent dude

who thought before he acted.

Snoop, same way.

What Dogg and Nate and Warren G

are to each other

are the type of friends

that you want.

They are the reality and vision

of what you would call

childhood friends

that grew up together

and been friends

until the end.

[The D.O.C.]

Good dudes.

Even in the midst

of all of that sh*t

that they had to live in,

their heart is good, you know?

The rest of us,

we changed our thing.

We thought more of ourselves,

and it came back to bite us.

Warren G is excellence.

Warren G's an era.

You know what I'm sayin'?

Not everybody's an era.

Some of y'all are just down.

Bein' down is cool.

We need you.

But an era,

everybody don't get that.

[Too Short] I know Snoop hears

the same thing every day.

Warren hears the same thing

every day.

Daz and Kurupt hear

the same sh*t every day.

"Y'all raised me."

We raised millions of kids.

We raised them,

and the same person

wouldn't even say that

to his own daddy.

[Warren G]

These cocksuckers is

not rappin' like the f***

we was rappin',

and the sh*t today

is some bullshit.

Straight up. F*** it.

Nah, I don't mean that.

[laughs]

["Twist My Fingaz"

by YG playing]

If you were to delete

G-Funk music,

I think that rap today

would be totally different.

[Simmons] G-Funk changed

hip-hop dramatically.

And artists of today,

some don't even realize it.

There's so many branches, limbs,

whatever you wanna call it,

they came

from what G-Funk was.

[Simmons] There's these

beautiful, melodic songs

with these gangsta rappers

on 'em

that the artist would never

have dreamed to make 'em.

Man, I think everybody

playin' now with the funk.

If you listen

to those bass lines

of all the songs

that come on nowadays,

it's straight G-Funk.

[Ice T] Kendrick Lamar

is kinda like the culmination

of all the old souls

of the West Coast.

Kendrick,

that's a funky mother.

You put that on at a party,

everybody's up off their ass.

[Warren G]

You got Problem,

YG,

he got that funk in him.

Ty Dolla Sign,

Wiz Khalifa.

Sh*t, Wiz Khalifa's

from the West Coast now.

He ain't from Pittsburgh

no more.

He out here.

He got the funk.

For Warren to say

that I'm G-Funk is cool as hell.

I would definitely consider

Dre and Warren and Snoop

to be big influences

of mine,

and not even just on my music,

but on my lifestyle.

There's a absolutely 100%

influence of G-Funk on my music,

the fact that, you know, I sing

all of my hooks like Nate Dogg,

my producers that I work with,

Sledgren, E. Dan and everybody,

they're all heavily

Dre-influenced

and just that era of music.

I definitely keep

the G-Funk alive.

[Snoop Dogg] The young rappers

nowadays are saying,

"My mama used to play

your music

all the time

when I was a baby."

They didn't grow up

off Motown and R&B.

They grew up off of us,

so that's how the foundation

has spinned around that

we are the Marvin Gayes

and Smokey Robinsons.

[Khalifa] You have

to pay respects to the G-Funk.

They smoothed out music

and added certain elements

that are now stamped

in the game.

All of my core fan base,

anytime they hear me

or anytime you think about me

or listen to my music,

those are the core...

those are the elements

that you're gonna think about,

so it's like that's...

that's how I've been inspired,

and it's always

gonna be a part of me,

and it's always gonna be

a part of my fans as well.

[music continuing]

The whole West Coast era

is the foundation

for a big chunk of hip-hop

right now.

That different credible factor

made G-Funk

the best brand-building thing

for hip-hop.

G-Funk completely commercialized

gangster rap.

It just pushed it to a whole

'nother level, you know?

[Ice Cube]

The economics of hip-hop

finally kind of settled in.

You know, people knew

what they were worth

and knew what they were

supposed to get.

To me,

that's the money age.

We just realized that this is

a multi-million-dollar business,

that you gotta...

you gotta do what

the people expect of you.

Whether it's makin' music

for movies,

makin' music for video games,

makin' just cultural moves.

You know, because a lot

of corporations of today,

they're using hip-hop

to sell their products.

You know, I just got finished

doing a Sonic commercial.

I just got finished

doing a GEICO commercial.

So now it's part

of American culture.

[Clinton]

And hip-hop became pop.

Hip-hop is the biggest music

around the world.

Any country you go to,

they love some hip-hop.

Everybody got they're

own version of it, too.

So, you know...

we now are at a point

where, yeah,

it's very commercialized.

[Snoop Dogg] Just a small

introduction To the G-Funk era

Every day of my life I take

A glimpse in the mirror

I think G-Funk set the

foundation as far as clarity,

quality, lookin' good,

feelin' good,

and havin' a visual piece

to support your musical piece

and to stand by what you say.

[Ice Cube] Artists

shouldn't be responsible

to do anything else

but that,

because everything should come

from the heart.

You know, you shouldn't

feel obligated.

Just come from the heart.

[Snoop Dogg] G-Funk gave

a voice to many people,

not just from California

or from gang-bang

neighborhoods,

but people that

didn't have a voice

that felt oppressed,

that felt like

this was a way

of expressing themselves

through music, good music

that sometimes made a point

to address,

you know, social issues,

but to be mainly party music.

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