Thursday (March 15) marks one year since Nate Dogg, the beloved voice of G-Funk sound, died due to complications from multiple strokes. On the one-year anniversary, Warren G reflects to XXLMag.com about his frequent collaborator and fallen friend. Mount  up.

“It’s been a year now since he passed away. It ain’t no fun making music without Nate Dogg. Today, I’m just celebrating his life. He graduated to being with God, a better place than here. His mom is still really hurt. It’s hard for me to call her because she's crushed. That’s her baby. It’s real hard for his entire family. Me and his son chat back and forth on Twitter. I’ll never forget Nate. He was a genuine individual. He was the greatest cat around, ever, as far as hooks, but one thing about him is that he wasn’t just the hook man, he was a great song writer. That guy could write songs out of this world. When me and him would work we would work so fast. He’d be like, ‘Ok, I’m gonna do the hook and you just do a verse and lets go to the next song.’ Hook, verse, next song let’s go, hook, verse, next song.' What’s so crazy about “Regulate” is it never had a hook, but it was just dope the way we did what we did on the record. I was just like, ‘Nate let’s go back and forth and let’s just talk about some of the stuff we went through on 61st Street.’ Another special moment I had with Nate was when me, him and Snoop did the 213 album. That was like some of the most fun I’ve ever had in my life, just being able to finally work with the guys I started with as a family and the guys I helped build their careers. To this day that 213 album is a real classic record. [If I could talk to Nate right now], I would just tell him that I’m still being Warren and I can still hear him telling me to stay sucker free. So, I would talk to him and let him know that I’m still keeping it sucker free. I’m doing the things that you always told me to do and just staying away from the bullshit and being a solid individual. I’d tell him, ‘Man, I’m still just holding it down for you and I wish you were here and I love you.' It’s hard for me to do music sometimes because I’m so used to tailor-making records geared towards me and him, ’cause that was my partner, you know how Snoop and Dre is, that’s how me and Nate is. That’s how it was—Nate and Snoop and Warren and Nate. I’m so used to him being right there with me, when I make my music its like damn Nate would have killed this. So, I’d just tell him, man, we miss you a lot.”—As told to Mark Lelinwalla

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