Warren Griffin III (born November 10, 1970[1]) is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and DJ who helped popularize West Coast hip hop during the 1990s.

The album has since received triple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), signifying sales of three million copies.

In 2015, he released Regulate... G Funk Era, Part II, an extended play featuring archived recordings of Nate Dogg, who died in 2011.

[1] They divorced when Warren was 4 and he lived with his mother and three sisters in East Long Beach until he was just about to start middle school.

[1] His new wife, Verna, had three children from a prior marriage,[1] one of whom was Andre Young, the soon-to-become Dr. Dre who in 1984 joined a leading DJ crew, the World Class Wreckin' Cru, which by 1985 doubled as an electro rap group, which in 1987 put out the Los Angeles area's first rap recording under a major label.

N.W.A’s landmark album, Straight Outta Compton, was driving the Los Angeles area's rap scene to swiftly drop electro for gangsta.

[5] Once out of jail, Warren worked at the Long Beach shipyards[1][7] and began focusing on music after Dr. Dre taught him how to use a drum machine.

[10] Warren G initially helped there;[8] not desiring a career in his mentor and stepbrother's shadow, however, he signed to Def Jam Recordings in New York City.

[8] Liking it, he summoned Dr. Dre, who, hearing the Snoop rap "Super Duper Snooper", immediately welcomed the trio.

[10][14][15] In April 1992, Dr. Dre's debut solo single "Deep Cover" introduced America to Snoop Doggy Dogg, the track's guest but instantly star rapper.

[24] On the Above The Rim soundtrack, from Death Row Records in April 1994, the single "Regulate" was a duet cowritten and performed by Warren G and Nate Dogg.

[29] Russell Simmons, a Def Jam founder, explains, "Warren's music was worldwide because the melody plays no matter what the language.

"[12] Yet further, unlike other G-funk (short for gangsta funk) artists, Warren G, even called "a romantic" at heart,[30] voiced simpler concerns.

[36] Certified gold in November 1999,[27] it bears the single "I Want It All", featuring Mack 10, which, becoming Warren's most recent Top 40 appearance, peaked on the Hot 100 at No.

[27] Released in December 2001, Warren's fourth album, The Return of the Regulator, with a litany of collaborators, including the P-Funk father and G-funk godfather George Clinton and, elsewhere, Dr. Dre producing a track, is allegedly overdone, a comeback undone by Warren's reaching beyond his strengths and being outdone by his guests.

[38][39] He "wastes a hot, Dre-produced beat", in the single "Lookin' at You", alleges a Vibe writer, who finds G-funk on its deathbed and Warren G "administering the fatal shot".

[41] Heavily featuring his native, 213 groupmates Nate and Snoop, it is devotedly Warren's own project, homemade on a low budget.

[42] From June to September 2013, Warren toured in the West Coast Fest, "an OG affair" with DJ Quik, Mack 10, the Dogg Pound, Bone Thugs N Harmony, and others.

[43] Meanwhile, in a guest role, Warren played OG Hemingway in the sitcom Newsreaders on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming.

With his unique knack for intuiting Warren's production cues, Nate leaves behind some of his 213 partner's favorite recordings.

Getting older, increasingly identifying with his father, fond of cooking and storytelling, Warren G embraces "his morals and good family fun".

[47] His oldest son, Olaijah, played college football for the USC Trojans at the cornerback position from 2018 to 2020; he was also recognized with all-conference honors in 2019 and 2020.

In 2019, Warren G launched a line of barbecue sauces and rubs, Sniffin Griffin's BBQ, for retail and restaurant supply.