* I woke up and came into work today hearing the news of Nate Dogg’s passing, which sort of shocked me. I knew he had been going through some serious health issues over the past few years as his two strokes, one in 2007 and another in 2008, were well documented, and one of my generation’s biggest and most popular hook-singer had been out of the limelight for years. But still, you hate to see someone pass so young as Nate Dogg was only 41-years-old.

For those that don’t know, Nate Dogg went to high school with Snoop Dogg and in 1991, the two, along with Warren G, formed the group 213. Nate Dogg wasn’t a rapper, he was a near baritone singer who provided some of the catchiest hooks for some of the most popular songs in the mid 1990s to the early 2000s. He worked closely with Snoop Dogg, 2-pac, Warren G and Dr. Dre early in his career and as his career developed, he went on to work with Eminem, Fabolous, Ludacris, 50 Cent among many other of the biggest rap names in the past 20 years.

Who could ever forget hearing Dr. Dre’s monster hit “The Next Episode,” fade to silence and when everyone thought the song was over Nate Dogg enters the picture singing the line “Hold up, heyyyyyy.”

For those who have been to a Cavs game this year, the Cavs opening montage video before the starters are introduced featured the song “Till I Collapse” by Eminem ft. Nate Dogg and the video focused on Nate Dogg’s chorus:

“Till the roof comes off, till the lights go out
Till my legs give out, I can’t shut my mouth.
Till the smoke clears out and my high burn out
I’m gonna rip this (expletive) till my bone collapse.”

(However, the Cavs have since changed the opening montage video which now features the awful Three 6 Mafia “It’s a Fight” song.)

Anyway, the passing of Nate Dogg is sad news and below I’ll post a video to no doubt his most popular song. It was the first song most of us ever heard him on and it’s 1994s “Regulate” by Warren G feat. Nate Dogg released both on Warren G’s debut album as well as the soundtrack for Above The Rim (a very underrated movie, by the way)



* After three years of record label drama, it was announced Wednesday morning Lupe Fiasco's new album LASERS debuted at No. 1 on the billboard charts selling about 205,000 copies, which in today's day and age, is a large number of sales. Despite LASERS being by far Lupe's worst album, this is far and away his best charting and best selling first week figures. Good job Atlantic Records, you got your "mainstream" wish while letting Lupe take a career hit for releasing sub-par material for everyone's standards.

* The new Foo Fighters video, "Rope" can be seen below. It was shot using a VHS camera. Remember those?


* It was announced Tuesday night that Charlie Sheen is coming to Cleveland. Anyone care?


* On Monday, I purchased two tickets to the Manchester Orchestra concert which will be held at the very underrated venue, Beachland Ballroom which is literally in the heart of the ghetto. It's right around the corner from where I grew up for the first five years of my life near Collinwood (and where my grandmother still lives.) Anyway, I'm normally against seeing bands right before a new album comes out (the show is on May 6 and their new album doesn't come out until May 10) because I hate when bands play new material that I can't recognize, however an exception has been made for Manchester Orchestra who are such a phenomenal live band. This will be my fourth time seeing the band since October of 2009.

* It's a short week for me, which is why I'm posting the weekly round-up today, as I'll be heading to Charlotte tonight with some friends to visit some friends for St. Patrick's Day, the NCAA tournament on Friday and some Jose Canseco baseball charity event on Saturday. I'll be taking a video camera with me and if I don't come back with a video of me striking out Canseco, or at the very least, re-creating the scene in which a ball bounces off his head and over the fence, I'll consider the trip an epic failure 

K. Bye

By Nick Carrabine
NCarrabine@News-Herald.com
@CarrabineNH.