Def Jam is forever indebted to Warren G.
Signing To Def Jam
During an interview on “Drink Champs,” co-hosted by N.O.R.E., also known as Noreaga, he mentioned that a few individuals are referenced when new artists are signed to Def Jam. These include LL Cool J, its first signee, and Warren G, the rapper who “singlehandedly” saved the label.
Warren G, a California-born rapper, signed to Def Jam when it was led by then-president Lyor Cohen, According to HipHopDX, he was discovered by A&R executive and manager Paul Stewart.
“We were really excited about being down with Def Jam,” Stewart told Rolling Stone.
“Def Jam had missed out on all the West Coast stuff. Death Row was killing it. So they were smart, and saw an opportunity,” he continued.
One day, when Warren G was leaving Roscoe’s House of Chicken ‘N Waffles, he saw a man selling a crate of records. Warren G purchased all of them for $500, and one of those records was from Michael McDonald. It inspired his 1994 rap single “Regulate,” he said on “Club Shay Shay.” The song sampled McDonald’s classic “I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near),” Billboard reports.
“I had an apartment on Long Beach Blvd and San Vicente in Long Beach, California. That was the apartment I done ‘Regulate’ in. I had all my equipment set up in the bedroom, a vocal booth in the bathroom and in the closet, and that’s where we created it,” Warren G said, according to Rolling Stone.
“I had an MPC 60, a Numark mixer, and a Technics 1200, and a ton of records,” he continued.
According to information on Warren G’s YouTube, the song peaked at No.2 on the Billboard 200 and No. 8 on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart. Warren G admitted he did not realize he had been making one of the biggest records at the time.
“Even like today with the the new generation, it’s like it started over again … I didn’t think that record was going to be this big. It’s amazing to be able to eat off it, hear it,” he said on “Club Shay Shay.”
Helping The Label Escape Debt
Warren G’s debut album, “Regulate: The G-Funk Era,” was released in 1994. Its success reportedly took Def Jam out of the doghouse, as it was able to escape debt after securing more than $100 million, as noted in the rapper’s interview on “Club Shay Shay.”
“The love was given back to them for believing in me ’cause nobody was really believing in me. And they gave me that lane to get my music out so people could hear it and say, ‘Okay, this n-gga is dope … And they opened that up, and the reward to them for that was helping them,” Warren G said on “Drink Champs.”
“I didn’t know they was in the situation that they was in. I was like, “Damn,” when I learned it, they was like doing my sh-t with credit cards … but they had got me the bread and everything,” he continued.
“And, you know, it was just, it just felt great, man, just … for them to give me my shot and then me blow up and then also help the company and then help the company to where it opens the door for Jay-Z,” the rapper added.
Warren G said on “Club Shay Shay” that he was able to get an increase for the amount he earned per record after the album’s success, from around .30 cents per record to $1.50.
He currently owns his master’s publishing and said he should receive full ownership of his master’s in the next few years he mentioned in the same interview.
