Songoftheday 1/5/22 - You know cuz this world is built on material thangs, but we ain't trippin' off that...

 

 

"I Want It All" - Warren G featuring Mack 10

from the album I Want It All (1999)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #23 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 9

 

Today's song comes from rapper and hip-hop DJ Warren G, whose second studio album Take A Look Over Your Shoulder scored a pair of top-40 hits on Billboard magazine's pop chart with "I Shot The Sheriff" and "Smokin' Me Out", the latter peaking in the autumn of 1997. He also appeared on Nate Dogg's top-20 pop hit "Nobody Does It Better" in the summer of the following year. In 1999, Warren left Def Jam Records, who released his first two records, for the indie Restless, where he returned with his self-produced third effort I Want It All. The title track, which sampled the DeBarge soul classic "I Like It", was released as the lead single. Featuring rapper Mack 10, who had hit the top-40 also in the fall of '97 with "Backyard Boogie", was written by the pair. The record is a whole lot of prosperity flexing, but curiously has flashes of realness as within the Bentleys, Benz', and Harleys, Warren mentions wanting "new socks and drawers" while Mack 10 advises "I got two little mouths to feed, They don't know nuttin' about no excuses and disrespect or somebody bein' jank with they Daddy's royalty check". They both ride the flow with G-funk ease, and have good rapport together, as opposed to today's cut and paste "feature verses"....

"I Want It All" became Warren G's seventh, and so far most recent, top-40 hit on the Hot 100 in November of 1999. The song topped Billboard's Rap Singles chart for four weeks, and just missed the top ten on their R&B chart at #11. The I Want It All album, releasd in October of that year, rose to #21 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #4 on the R&B Albums genre list, going on to sell over a half million copies.

A second single from the I Want It All album, "Game Don't Wait" featuring G-funk friends Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, and Xzibit as the "supergroup" 213, was a minor R&B hit at #58. Switching back to major label Universal Record, Warren came back with his fourth album, The Return Of The Regulator, in 2001. Lead single "Lookin' At You", featuring Toi (singer LaToiya Williams) and produced by Dr. Dre, went to #72 on Billboard's R&B chart, while being a minor hit in the UK at #60 and France at #45. The following year, Warren was a featured rapper on Shady Sheist's single "Wake Up", which went to #53 on the R&B Singles chart, Warren's most recent appearance as a solo artist.

 

In 2004, Warren along with Snoop and Nate Dogg put out a proper 213 "supergroup" album, which topped Billboard's R&B Albums and peaked at #4 on the Billboard 200. First single "So Fly", a Missy Elliott co-write, got to #39 on the R&B Singles chart, and almost made the pop Hot 100, "bubbling under" at #102. 

The following year, Warren went back to being indie again, releasing The Mid-Nite Hour in 2005. None of its singles made the chart, but the record still made the Billboard 200 at #80, and #15 on the R&B Albums tally. His most recent full-length studio set, The G Files, came out in 2009, going to #88 on the R&B Albums list. In 2015, Warren G along with Nate Dogg put out a four-song EP, Regulate...G Funk Era Part II, which made the top-40 on the R&B Albums list at #34. Last year in 2020, Warren and Ty Dolla Sign released a one-off single, "And You Know That". Warren won't be back to the series, but Mack 10 will along with his own supergroup Westside Connection. 

(5/10)

(Click below to see the rest of the post)

Here's Warren G and Mack 10 performing "I Want It All" live for a TV appearance...

Up tomorrow: A Mouseketeer predicts her future.