213 "THE HARD WAY"

[JumpinJack AJ]

The album has dropped and these guy will remind that G-funk is still relevant and easily seperate themselves from your average "gangsta rappers"...especially since they dont' really exist anymore. Anyways, as a straight Hip-Hop fan, i like this album alot. My only ?uestion is why Warren G didn't produce anything on the album. Nearly every beat is dope and their chemistry is perfect but i think Warren G could have made the album a lil' more solid. Here's a kinda-old MTV.com article on them.

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Snoop's 213 Get Wrong Number While Doing Things The Hard Way
05.11.2004


213's Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg and Warren G
Photo: MTV News
"All of us coming together and putting our projects on the back burner to make this happen is only going to enlighten our solo careers." — Snoop Dogg


NEW YORK — It's been long understood that Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg and Warren G wanted to come together and represent for their Long Beach 'hood in a West Coast supergroup called 213. But it's been so long since they first talked about it that Long Beach no longer has that area code.

Such telecommunication barriers have not put the project on hold. The three showed up in New York on Monday to make everything official and announce the July 20 release of the debut 213 album, The Hard Way.

Though this will be the first album released under the 213 name, the three hip-hop heavyweights formed the crew when they were young pups growing up in Southern California — before producer Dr. Dre discovered Snoop and birthed the G-Funk era.

"[We] started in like the late '80s, early '90s, just around the neighborhood putting it down," Warren G explained. "I was on the turntables, Snoop was rappin', Nate was singin'. We kept striving and striving and striving."

The three have been recording songs for 213 over the past year. They originally were scheduled to release the album on Geffen Records, but the trio recently struck a deal with TVT Records.

Snoop sees the 213 project as a chance for the group to bring West Coast hip-hop back to the masses. "Music right now is missing a sound like this," he said. "All of us coming together and putting our projects on the back burner to make this happen is only going to enlighten our solo careers. And it's fun to do because we're homeboys and always dreamed of it. So why wait till we're 37 or 50 years old and no one wants to hear us anymore? Why not do it when we in our prime?"

The group did use West Coast producers like Battlecat but also people like Kanye West and DJ Hi-Tek, both of whom hail from the Midwest. Warren G did not produce any of the songs on the album, he said, because he wanted to concentrate on his rhymes.

Maybe 213 are taking a cue from the success of 50 Cent and G-Unit, because the name of the first single from The Hard Way is "Groupy Luv." G-Unit have a song on their Beg for Mercy called "Groupie Love."

Snoop explained the concept behind the single. "We're trying to find groupie love. That means beautiful girls who want to become video stars aspiring to do something with their careers. We can give you that upliftment. We can get you in the video."

When asked if 213 would tour, Nate Dogg deadpanned, "How else do you think we'll get groupie love?"

The members then explained, more seriously, that they plan on mounting a small tour starting June 11 that'll see them doing a medley of solo hits and new 213 songs.



—Joseph Patel

[Da Brakes]

:thumb:

[jj+fp2004]

that's great news!!! now i'll have something new to hear until wills album... :thumb:

[Guest lambertj3]

i disagree that the average gangsta rapper dosen't exist but i do love this album GO 213!

[Hero1]

that videos pretty funny..and the track aint 2 bad either

[JumpinJack AJ]

[quote=lambertj3,Aug 23 2004, 08:32 AM]i disagree that the average gangsta rapper dosen't exist but i do love this album GO 213![/quote]
When r u gonna realize that real gangstas don't rap?!? Just cuz u go 2 jail dosen't mean u are a gangsta. Just cuz u have a gun dosen't mean u are a gangsta...it just means u are a coward. Anyone who is over serious about being this thugged out hardcore gangsta is a phoney.

Back to 213. The track "Another Summer" is amazing. It's a produced by Kanye West. The song is pretty amazing. It's mentioned on the sticker on the front of the album so hopefully it'll be a single (even tho' Summertime is pretty much up).

[Da Brakes]

Ooo Kanye! I'll check it out!!

[Guest lambertj3]

aj when did i ever say if you have a gun, or go jail you are a gagnsta rapper? obviously you have't heard the bloods+crips cd's that been coming out of la over the years,and snoop along with most of the dog pound are ex-gang bangers ok.

[JumpinJack AJ]

:roll: Those Bloods and Crips CD are trash. Just cuz u put out and album also dosen't mean u are a rapper. Those crappy old CDs would be the perfect example. And Snoop and The Dogg Pound aren't real gangbangers...they would be in jail if they were. Smoking some weed and selling drugs isn't gangbanging. Warren G even says a line on the album about them being "gangstas that never killed anyone." They use the term as a label...as a style. They aren't talking 4 real like they do that. U are talking about 3 guys who have kids and grew up in church. They are paid aftering being in the game 4 so many years and gangbanging is about as far away from what they do as u can get.

REAL GANGSTAS DON'T RAP!!

KRS-One said that 2 Eazy-E's face on The Arsenio Hall Show in 1993. Eazy-E just laffed cuz he had nothing 2 say. Eazy-E is the godfather of gangsta rap. If he wazn't challenging the fact, who can?! Anyone who says they are seriously a gangsta in their music is just a phoney and all their music is a joke. They are living a lie and any people who support that are just ignorant human beings.

[Guest lambertj3]

lol how wrong you are first off all three of 213 are FORMER GANGBANGERS ITS BEEN DOCUMENTED! second i am not saying being a gangster is a good thing because its not i have no love for people that kill people, and when did i say smoking weed and carring a gun means you are a banger you aren't from the westcoast so you don't know much about it to talk about it , i live on the west and have far more experince in it than you. and aj who hasn't grown up in church? evryon e myself included has but you are leaving out their other past you cvonveintly forgot. you don't know most rappers personally to say whose been living a lie or not. and saying just because you put out an album dosen't make you a rapper is just plain ignorant.

[JumpinJack AJ]

Let's be real about it. Who here considers people like those people on those Bloods + Crips albums rappers?? They are just people off the street putting an album 2gether. That dosen't mean they are rappers. They are just trying 2 monopolize off their stupid life choice. Do they live and breath Hip-Hop, perform, and put their art 1st??

And please confirm that the guys from 213 were legit gangbangers. I've heard them in interviews for over 10 years and they've never talked about that. My comment above comes from 99% of the rappers who call themselves gangsta rappers...they sold some drugs and have addiction problems and it makes them think they are hardcore hood-stompin' gangsta when they are really playing themselves and trying 2 fool their fans.

REAL GANGSTAS DON'T RAP. How many people u know are like "Yo, after this drive-by, i'ma hit up the studio." :roll: Gangsta rap has been dead since 1996. Other than the necleus of "gangsta rap" (Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Tha Dogg Pound), who actually attempts 2 make it anymore. Nobody, cuz when De La Soul, Fugees, A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, and others were making real music. Intellegent music fans were realizing how stupid and phoney it was. Besides, other than the main players, all the wannabes fell off with no success. Some people would say Warren G waz a gangsta rapper...but if they actually listen 2 his lyrics, they'd realize he wazn't. People tryed 2 tag 2pac as that....listen 2 the man's words!! He would always knock that idea in interviews. Ice Cube makes hardcore Hip-Hop...not 2 be mixed up with gangsta rap like uneducated rap fans always do.

[Guest lambertj3]

in many articles and magazines snoop is always talking about his 20's crip gang affiliatation i am suprised you don't notice it , and in certain rap magazines he is even pictured in a blue rag. if you listen to the 213 album on a song i dont remeber which he remmbers back in the day where he was a crip going to a party in another neighborhood this is nothing new.i am eager to hear you define hardcore hip hop because that has always been associated with gangster rap. I AM FASCINATED TO SEE WHAT YOUR DEFINITION OF HARDCORE RAP IS , NOW WE BOTH KNOW NEITHER ONE OF US CAN DEFINE WHAT IS OR ISN'T GANGSTA RAP .

[JumpinJack AJ]

Hardcore Hip-Hop is Hip-Hop music coming from an artist who came from the streets and puts alot of that in their music. I think Ice-T would be the perfect example of that. There's nothing phoney about Hardcore Hip-Hop. I would considered. Ice Cube, Onyx, etc.

Gangsta Rap is just kinda all about style in my opinion. People would call this 213 album gangsta rap, but where on the album is their real gangsta stuff going on? On tracx like "Keep It Gangsta" they are clearly talking about their style, not going out killing people and running with a real gang. Fake Gangsta Rap is what all those other cats were making who weren't the originaters. Those ignorant fools who said they did this and say they did that but didn't really life any of it out. That's just mid-90's phoney trash...but some people called it gangsta rap at the time.

G-Funk would personified with Warren G's music. Most of that is just Hip-Hop with that west coast, funk-influenced or funk-sampled sound. Warren G keeps his topic on the down 2 earth level that your basic Hip-Hop group would, but since he's a party of G-Funk, people always toss that in with Gangtsa Rap.

p.s. i do remember back in the day, me and my friends used 2 laff that Snoop waz always wearing blue and Suge waz always wearing red. Snoop's past gang involvment i do remember. But Dr. Dre, Warren G, Sam Sneed, Nate Dogg....no way.

[WildWildWillennium]

"When I think of gangsta rap, i think of people who think they're doing what Tupac and Biggie were doing, but intellectually, spiritually, they're fallin' short of the mark." Fresh Prince - Vibe '98

[JumpinJack AJ]

I remember that article. The funny thing is, FP knew 2Pac and knew he wazn't a gangsta rapper. His knowlege on 2Pac's music waz more advanced than the singles cuz he's mentioned album music by him. Personally, i don't think Biggie waz gangsta at all. I'm not a big fan of his so maybe someone else can confirm what he classified himself. 2 me, he waz just your average New York rapper.