From converse Chuck Taylor high tops to '64 Chevy Impalas, Los Angeles thrives on nostalgia. It's not surprising, then, that the city moves with the G funk – that fat-bottomed, mellowed-out sound that conjures up the days of way back. Its lazy, loping shuffle suits the Southern California climate, while bouncing bass lines and hypnotic, high-end melodies make it moving and meditative – and ideal driving music.

This gangsta groove has traveled far and wide behind the multiplatinum success of Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg, but now Warren G brings it back to Long Beach with Regulate ... G Funk Era, a debut fashioned after Dre's hugely influential album The Chronic.

Like his older brother Dre, Warren G not only produces but raps, too, and he matches verbal skills with several underground MCs whom he thrusts into the spotlight. "Regulate," from the Above the Rim soundtrack, already has generated a serious buzz for Nate Dogg, and its backing track, powered by a funky snippet of Michael McDonald's "I Keep Forgettin'," provides a perfect example of the retro feel captured on this album.

But while many of the cuts on Regulate roll on vintage R&B-flavored beats – sometimes funky, sometimes bordering on cheesy – the lyrics hark back to the gangsta lifestyle that we have come to associate with the wild West. Warren G's sound hits hardest on songs like "Recognize" and "What's Next," an eerie, suspenseful journey with Lil Malik of Illegal that utilizes the trademark P-Funk mini-Moog and hand claps. Female MC Jah-Skilz, who adds Jamaican chatting to "Runnin' wit No Brakes," is also a nice find, but longtime homie Snoop, who has definitely informed Warren's own vocal style, is conspicuously absent from the festivities.

Undeniably smooth and more melodic than most rap, G Funk seems fixed in a certain context and time. Unfortunately, that time is not the present, as the market has been saturated with such product. But even so, that does not diminish the best that Regulate ... G Funk Era has to offer. (RS 688)

S.H. FERNANDO JR.