Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 03/21/2011 at 4:17 PM News

The Popdust Files: DJ Premier, Kurupt, nate dogg, Warren G, wiz khalifa

The premature death of Nate Dogg unsurprisingly continued to hang over the rap community over the weekend, as more tributes and remembrances trickled in for the hip-hop legend. Collaborators and friends Snoop Dogg, Warren G., Daz and Kurupt played a set at the South by Southwest festival devoted to Nate that included a rendition of the Chronic 2001 cut “Xxplosive“; afterwards, Warren talked with MTV about Nate’s death:

“I was out on the Sweat Tour with Snoop, and we had got the word from his family on what was going on, and it was just a crushing blow for us… Just, from going to see him and lifting his spirits up when he was in therapy, and stuff like that, it’s just crazy for that to happen. And I still don’t believe it, you know what I’m saying? “

Warren also recently related his memories of recording his and Nate’s ’94 classic “Regulate” to DJ Skee, including sampling the song’s unforgettable spoken-word intro directly from Young Guns off his VCR, and calling Nate over (“I got a record man, that we should do…go back and forth on it, that’d be dope”) to record the song in his shitty apartment’s closet.

Elsewhere at South by Southwest, Pittsburgh rapper Wiz Khalifa–a new friend of the G-Funk family due to his growing association with Cousin Snoop–paid tribute to stoner-in-arms Nate with his own set. Wiz played the Nate-assisted Dre tracks “The Next Episode” and “Xxplosive,” grooving around the stage to the latter, and letting the crowd sing along to Nate’s defining “Smoke weed every day!!” commandment from the former.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb8f16jj66M

Finally, DJ Premier, the producer and Gang Starr member best known for his mid-90s work for East Coast leading lights like Nas and the Notorious B.I.G., offered a tribute mix to his late cross-country peer. The 32-minute mix shines a light on some of Nate’s lesser-known hooks, including for forgotten singles like 213′s “Groupie Love (Remix),” Jadakiss’ “Time’s Up,” and Nate’s own “Nobody Does it Better,” blended together with Premier’s trademark cut-up panache. It’s certainly worth hearing, whether you’re a diehard fan or someone just learning about his catalog.