Warren G

Warren Griffin III was born on November 10, 1970 in Long Beach, California to Ola and Warren Griffin, Jr. Griffin\'s parents divorced when he was four years old, and he spent the majority of his childhood living with his mother and three sisters in East Long Beach. At the age of 12, he moved to North Long Beach, where he lived with his father and his father\'s second wife. By his father\'s marriage, Griffin\'s stepbrother is Dr. Dre. As teenagers, Griffin and his longtime friend Nate Dogg met Nate\'s cousin Calvin Broadus, better known as Snoop Dogg. The trio became good friends, and eventually formed a rap group known as 213. At age 17, Griffin joined the Crips and spent a short period of time in jail for gun possession. After his release, he began producing music after being taught and encouraged by his stepbrother Dr. Dre, who, by that time, was already a successful rapper and producer with the gangsta rap group N.W.A. To supplement his income, Griffin began dealing drugs after graduating from high school, but in 1988 he was arrested again and spent time in prison for drug dealing. After his release, Griffin got a job working in a shipyard, whilst also continuing to hone his skills as a music producer.\n', ' After 213 broke up due to Snoop Dogg\'s solo success, Griffin, who had taken the stage name Warren G, was introduced to director John Singleton by Dr. Dre in 1993. Singleton asked Warren to produce a song for the soundtrack to his movie Poetic Justice, and Griffin produced a song titled "Indo Smoke", and also rapped on the song along with Nate Dogg and Mista Grimm. The song proved to be popular, and Griffin was signed to Def Jam Recordings based solely on the success of Indo Smoke. Griffin and Nate Dogg continued to produce songs together, and their next single, Regulate, produced for the soundtrack to the movie Above The Rim was released in 1994 and peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and remained at number 1 on the MTV charts throughout the summer of 1994, and went on to be Def Jam\'s biggest and most successful single to date.\n', ' The song was also used as the lead single for Warren G\'s debut album, Regulate... G Funk Era,released in 1994, which, due to the success of Regulate, debuted at #2 on the US Billboard Top 200 Album Chart and sold one million copies in the first three days of its release. The album went on to sell over 3 million copies, being certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). After the release of his debut album, Warren G began working with Twinz and The Dove Shack in 1995, which released Conversation and This Is the Shack at the same time in August 22, 1995 respectively.\n', '