Warren G Album: “Take a Look Over Your Shoulder”

I'm a laid back type of guy, who enjoyed laid back type of music, especially from the west coast. To me, I find a lot of Warren G.'s music to be laid back and fit my prefrence of my enjoyment, and that is why I listen to his albums. Like everyone realized, Def Jam hardly promoted any west coast artists on thier label, despite his multiplatnum debut

. True, this album isn't his first, but it holds it's own as well.

Like most of Warren's albums, what stands out to me is the production. It's the type of west coast production that anyone can vibe to. "We Brings Heat" is the type of west coast production that I love so much. "Transformers" carries another dope beat. A personal favorite of mine is the song "Relax Your Mind" featuring Real Tight, more of that laid back feel here.

Lyrically, Warren is still good. "Reality" and "Can You Feel It" show off his lyrical skills. The EPMD remix of "I Shot The Sheriff" is dope lyrically and production wise.

What weighs this album down for me is first the skippable tracks. I wasn't feeling the origonal version of "I Shot The Sheriff". It's not a bad job, but really don't think Warren is good at producing reggae sounding tracks, as you can see Erick Sermon did a better job remixing it, and the two tracks are side by side in comparison. Also some of the guest appearances aren't all that good as well, although others were nice.

But overall, I find "Take A Look Over Your Shoulder" to be a highly underrated LP for 1997. It sucks that Def Jam didn't push their west coast artists, and the fact that this is out of print shows how much they care about this LP. If you're a fan of west coast rap music, I recommend that you check this out. Peace.

Lyrics: A

Production: A+

Guest Appearances: B-

Musical Vibes: A+

Top 5 Favorite Tracks

1. Relax Your Mind (featuring Reel Tight) [personal favorite]

2. Reality

3. Transformers

4. We Brings Heat (featuring Da Five Footaz, The Twinz, Knee-Hi, and Ricky Harris)

5. I Shot The Sheriff (EPMD Remix)

Honorable Mention Tracks

1. Annie Mae (featuring Nate Dogg)

2. Young Fun (featuring Knee-Hi and Jayo Felony)

3. Smokin' Me Out (featuring Ronald Isley)

After taking nearly 3 years off, Warren G returns with his 2nd effort, which may be his best to date (along with "Regulate ...G-Funk Era" & "I Want It All" - they're all about equal but I think this one has a slight edge). It has 3 classics, 1 near classics, and 3 ok songs but noe that I'd skip. He producers all the songs on here but one, which Erick Sermon does. He still has that G-Funk sound that helped make him a multi-platinum star, and he released this one on Def Jam (who has a thing screwing over artists from the west - see Jayo Felony, Richie Rich & South Central Cartel). A must have CD.

#2 - 9.5 (f/ Nate Dogg - about a trick they once knew)

#3 - 10 (classic f/ Ron Isley - very relaxed laid back song)

#5 - 9

#7 - 9 (f/ Jayo Felony & Knee-Hi)

#8 - 10 (classic f/ Bad Azz, Perfec & Mr. Malik - has a tight beat - see if you can find the original version f/ Dogg Pound {Kurupt & Daz})

#9 - 7 (f/ Twinz & jah Skillz)

#10 - 9

#12 - 10 (another laid back classic f/ Reel Tight)

#13 - 8

#14 - 8.5 (K-9 & PC, no Warren on this one)

#15 - 7.5

#16 - 7

#17 - 8 (same as #16 but a remix by Erick Sermon - better beat)

Warren Griffin III -- b. 11/10/70 -- Long Beach, CA

LONG BEACH - 213

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Warren G came on to the scene with a bang because of his highly successful debut album "Regulate...G-Funk Era". Since then Warren G's albums have not been given as much notice publicly, despite the fact he has continued to make solid albums. "Take A Look Over Your Shoulder" is case in point, as it has sold nowhere near his debut, but musically is nearly (not quite) its equal. Deserving a rating of 4.5 stars (5 stars for his first).

The album starts off with "Annie Mae" featuring Nate Dogg. This is a great song as Nate and Warren go back and forth over a great G-Funk beat. Of course it isn't as good as their first combo "Regulate", but what could ever be. "Smokin' Me Out" is the sleeper and surprise of the album. It sees Ronald Isley on the hook and is one of Warren's best songs. "Reality" has a real smooth beat with a nice rhythmic bass guitar in the background. In this song Warren patrols Long Beach for all the haters that have been giving him heat lately. This song will definitely grow on you. "Young Fun" is a nice bouncy song, with great appearances featuring Knee-Hi and Jayo Felony. "What We Go Through" is a real funky beat, with a nice piano that comes in and out of the background. More great guest appearances. This time coming from Malik and Perfec. "We Brings Heat" is probably the weakest song on the album. The beat's real nice, but the guest appearances take awhile to get into. Most will probably either love it or hate it. "Transformers" is classic G-Funk with a boomin' beat and synths moving in and out of the song. "Relax Ya Mind" is a one of the albums best as Warren's R&B group, Reel Tight, is featured on the song and they make a solid contribution. "To All D.J.'s" was a song I wasn't feeling at first, but I really like it now. Great funky song with a good appearance by Malik, who I really like. "Can You Feel It" will have you saying just that. The bass on this song is continuous throughout the whole song. "I Shot The Sheriff" and the EPMD remix are highlights of this album. This was a really nice concept that Warren G did. The first is produced by Warren G and has a real relaxing G-Funk beat. The remix is produced by Erick Sermon and has a bouncier P-Funk beat. Great contrasting styles between the two songs as you really see how G-Funk and P-Funk are able to take the same beat but make them individually their own style.

This album is traditional Warren G as lyrically he won't blow you away, but he does more than hold his own on this album. The production is great and as everyone knows nothing sounds better in your stereo than Warren's beats. "Relax Ya Mind" and "Can You Feel It" bump like nobody's business. If you're looking for an intellectual album with mind-blowing lyrics, this probably isn't the album for you. But if you want smooth, quality production with Warren's fluid voice than pick this one up.

It boggles my mind to this day how this CD failed to garner anyones attention after the superb CD that was Regulate: The G Funk Era. Perhaps it was the delay between his last album and this album? Or perhaps people have no taste?

Warren G serves up another great CD with non-stop quality (well not exactly, the skits are not needed and once you hear them once you need not hear them again) and his beats are as equal to what he released on first cd.

The classics:

Annie Mae - Warren G tags with his life long buddy Nate Dogg and drops another hit. Nate Dogg's hook is amazingly smooth and Warren G is at ease. Warren and Nate talk about a trick they once knew.

Smokin' Me Out - One of the best beats on the CD, Ron Isley delivers the best hook on the CD, and Warren G calmly raps to another classic of his own. Warren talks about a girl smokin' him out.

Reality - Probably my favorite rap on the album. Warren talks about people talking junk about him.

To All D.J.'s and Can You Feel it: Love both these raps, don't know which is better but they are both very good and are just behind Reality in quality.

The rest of the raps are of four star quality, possibly higher.It's a shame that this CD is long forgotten, because It almost matchs Warren's original CD in quality (Although Regulate and This DJ are still his best efforts to this date). I highly recommend this item to anyone who is a fan of Warren G or still listens to Regulate to this day.

This is an unreal album, with phat beats and great lyrics the whole way through. The only problem i have with this CD is that i have this CD and it has a totally different cover, and two extra songs. On my version of this CD it has song number 16 as What's Love Got To Do With It (featuring Adina Howard) and track number 18 What's Love Got To Do With It REMIX. So i would advise you to buy the version of this cd i have as you are missing out on a great song if you get this version. Still i would recommend this CD to anyone who likes the G-Funk style of music.