Who was the go-to hook singer for just about anyone who made a rap record for about a decade starting in 1994? Nate Dogg. Born Nathaniel Hale, the monotone crooner with the most expressionless face in pop music history went from being a classmate and groupmate of Snoop Dogg and Warren G. in 213 to a man that was capable of challenging Mary J. Blige for most appearances singing the chorus of rap records. Starting with his first truly memorable performance on Snoop’s “Ain’t No Fun (If the Homies Can’t Have None” back in ’93, Nate rang up hooks as dependably as your postal worker brought the mail, collaborating with not only his homeboys like Snoop, Warren, Dre, Xzibit and Eminem, but also providing hooks for Ludacris, Fabolous, Mos Def and Jadakiss, among a host of others. Even after being slowed down by a pair of strokes, Nate made appearances as recently as 2009’s “Holiday” with Twista.
R.I.P. Nate Dogg-hip-hop’s secret weapon.
2 comments
GG says:
Mar 16, 2011
I remember buying the Never Leave Me Alone single and thinking that he has no chance at a solo career, but he could sing hooks forever. And then the G-Funk era sort of died down.
It was odd in that he had the strokes and was completely out of sight out of mind. I’m sure his people wanted it that way, but imagine someone like Elliott Yamin having two strokes before the age of 40 and no one really making a fuss out of it. I always thought it as odd, but also pretty cool that his people were able to keep people away from him while he was sick.
I’m not sure how exactly I feel about him as an artist considering he was singing hooks on some really bad message party songs, but I do know that when I heard his voice, my ears perked up for sure.
blerd says:
Mar 16, 2011
I actually forgot about “Never Leave Me Alone”. I don’t think I would’ve been able to deal with an album of Nate Dogg as a main artist. He was the hook dude. Nothing more, nothing less.