G-Funk
The 8 Best G-Funk
Tracks of All Time
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
- Los Angeles, California, 1992
- Tempo
- 85–100 BPM
- Also known as
- gangsta funk, west coast hip-hop, death row sound
- Tracks
- 8
- Updated
- 2026-08-29
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Number 1: Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg / Nuthin' but a "G" Thang
1992 · Death Row
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.
Also on The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred
Number 2: Ice Cube / It Was a Good Day
1992 · Priority
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.
Also on The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred
Number 3: Warren G & Nate Dogg / Regulate
1994 · Death Row
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.
Also on 1994, The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred
Number 4: Snoop Doggy Dogg / Gin and Juice
1993 · Death Row
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.
Number 5: 2Pac featuring Dr. Dre / California Love
1995 · Death Row
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.
Number 7: Luniz / I Got 5 on It
1995 · Noo Trybe
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.
Number 8: Coolio / Fantastic Voyage
1994 · Tommy Boy
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.