{
  "slug": "g-funk",
  "name": "G-Funk",
  "aliases": [
    "gangsta funk",
    "west coast hip-hop",
    "death row sound"
  ],
  "description": "Los Angeles hip-hop rebuilt around slow tempos, a whining Moog lead and Parliament basslines played live rather than sampled. From 1992 it was the commercial centre of rap and the most sonically relaxed music ever made about violence.",
  "origin": {
    "place": "Los Angeles, California",
    "year": 1992
  },
  "lineage": [
    {
      "genre": "golden-age-hip-hop",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/golden-age-hip-hop/",
      "inherited": "The form, slowed and moved west. G-funk keeps the verse structure and the producer-as-author model intact and rejects the density: where New York stacked four samples, Dre used one line and a great deal of space."
    },
    {
      "genre": "funk",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/",
      "inherited": "The source, and unusually openly. Where New York chopped James Brown into unrecognisable fragments, Dre interpolated whole Parliament and Funkadelic arrangements with session players, which is closer to covering than to sampling."
    }
  ],
  "bpm": {
    "min": 85,
    "max": 100
  },
  "updated": "2026-08-29",
  "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/g-funk/",
  "trackCount": 8,
  "curatedBy": [],
  "playlists": {},
  "tracks": [
    {
      "rank": 1,
      "trackKey": "dr-dre-featuring-snoop-doggy-dogg--nuthin-but-a-g-thang",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dr-dre-featuring-snoop-doggy-dogg--nuthin-but-a-g-thang/",
      "title": "Nuthin' but a \"G\" Thang",
      "artist": "Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dr-dre-featuring-snoop-doggy-dogg/",
      "year": 1992,
      "label": "Death Row",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A Leon Haywood loop, a synth whine and two people sounding entirely untroubled. The template, delivered so completely on the first attempt that the genre spent five years elaborating it.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Dr.%20Dre%20featuring%20Snoop%20Doggy%20Dogg%20Nuthin'%20but%20a%20%22G%22%20Thang",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=8GliyDgAGQI",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 2,
      "trackKey": "ice-cube--it-was-a-good-day",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/ice-cube--it-was-a-good-day/",
      "title": "It Was a Good Day",
      "artist": "Ice Cube",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/ice-cube/",
      "year": 1992,
      "label": "Priority",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "The Isley Brothers under a lyric that lists ordinary things not going wrong. The most affecting record in West Coast rap, and it achieves that entirely by describing an absence.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Ice%20Cube%20It%20Was%20a%20Good%20Day",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=h4UqMyldS7Q",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 3,
      "trackKey": "warren-g-and-nate-dogg--regulate",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/warren-g-and-nate-dogg--regulate/",
      "title": "Regulate",
      "artist": "Warren G & Nate Dogg",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/warren-g-and-nate-dogg/",
      "year": 1994,
      "label": "Death Row",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A Michael McDonald sample, a story told in alternating verses, and Nate Dogg singing hooks nobody else could have sold. Perfect construction from beginning to end.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "nineteen-ninety-four",
          "name": "1994",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Warren%20G%20%26%20Nate%20Dogg%20Regulate",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1plPyJdXKIY",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 4,
      "trackKey": "snoop-doggy-dogg--gin-and-juice",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/snoop-doggy-dogg--gin-and-juice/",
      "title": "Gin and Juice",
      "artist": "Snoop Doggy Dogg",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/snoop-doggy-dogg/",
      "year": 1993,
      "label": "Death Row",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Snoop's timing is the whole record — behind the beat, unhurried, audibly enjoying himself. Rap's most relaxed vocal performance sits on top of Dre's most disciplined arrangement.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Snoop%20Doggy%20Dogg%20Gin%20and%20Juice",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=fWCZse1iwE0",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 5,
      "trackKey": "2pac-featuring-dr-dre--california-love",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/2pac-featuring-dr-dre--california-love/",
      "title": "California Love",
      "artist": "2Pac featuring Dr. Dre",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/2pac-featuring-dr-dre/",
      "year": 1995,
      "label": "Death Row",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A Joe Cocker interpolation, a talkbox and Shakur newly out of prison. The genre at maximum scale, and the last moment before the whole enterprise turned tragic.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/2Pac%20featuring%20Dr.%20Dre%20California%20Love",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=J7_bMdYfSws",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 6,
      "trackKey": "dj-quik--tonite",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dj-quik--tonite/",
      "title": "Tonite",
      "artist": "DJ Quik",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-quik/",
      "year": 1991,
      "label": "Profile",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A year early and technically ahead of everybody. Quik played and mixed his own records, and the swing on this one is finer than anything Death Row managed.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Quik%20Tonite",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=qOcrDKk0OGU",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 7,
      "trackKey": "luniz--i-got-5-on-it",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/luniz--i-got-5-on-it/",
      "title": "I Got 5 on It",
      "artist": "Luniz",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/luniz/",
      "year": 1995,
      "label": "Noo Trybe",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Oakland rather than Los Angeles, and proof that the sound had escaped one label's control. The Club Nouveau flute loop is one of rap's most recognisable four bars.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Luniz%20I%20Got%205%20on%20It",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ERtkpnXLrL4",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 8,
      "trackKey": "coolio--fantastic-voyage",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/coolio--fantastic-voyage/",
      "title": "Fantastic Voyage",
      "artist": "Coolio",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/coolio/",
      "year": 1994,
      "label": "Tommy Boy",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "The genre's warmest record, built on a Lakeside disco song and pointed at escape rather than territory. Included because g-funk is remembered as menacing and was frequently nothing of the kind.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Coolio%20Fantastic%20Voyage",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=anFD_aYi5GQ",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}