NATE DOGG, R.I.P
As we were going to sleep last night, we were shocked to hear that Nate Dogg, an R&B singer in his own right and oft-time collaborator with Snoop Dogg, had died. At only forty-one! So sad.
It’s weird–I never have time to listen to the radio, but I did on Sunday, and something I heard there made me think of Nate and wonder how he was doing. And then this somber news just two nights later.
I knew him only briefly back in the day. He was dating the other best friend of my best friend at the time. We girls were, of course, privy to some of the details of their stormy relationship, so I felt that I knew him a little before I even met him. (They’ve since had at least one child together, but, as time has moved on, I’ve lost track of all of them.)
I have one amusing story about Nate Dogg to share–it always makes me smile. [Note: I’m sure it’s way better as an audio and visual tale than a written one, but I’ll try my best. This reminds me to get my podcast going already!]
A bunch of us girls were at the club on Sunset that now houses Trousdale, if you know clubs in LA. Nate had told Mimi (his girlfriend at the time) that we should meet him and his posse there. So I blew-off a kind-of important (for me) MTV party to do this with my friends because, as I was a club promoter then, (the first female one, btw,) I was happy about having a night at a club that I wasn’t in charge of! I was so excited to be a guest for once!
As the evening wore on, Nate and I wound-up in a booth together alone for a little period, sitting opposite each other. We knew only of each other prior to that night, so I was a little nervous hanging with him, not knowing just what to talk about. (I know, I know–that’s never stopped me before. But it did give me pause this time.)
Nate called the waitress over and ordered six rum and cokes! For the two of us! She left before I could ask for just a plain coke, as I hate the taste of alcohol, (and therefore, don’t drink it.) When she brought the six drinks, and put them on the table, Nate lined them all up in front of him.
I asked, “Are those all for you???” He looked at me and stated seriously, “That depends.” I again queried, “On what?” Nate answered, slowly and matter-or-factly, “If you drink rum and coke, they’re ours. If you don’t, they’re mine.” That really cracked me up, and my mirth even got a smile out of Nate, which, if you’ve seen pictures of him, you know was a rarity. I loved it because up until that moment, his visage had held the same expression all night, one of being above-it-all.
From that moment on, I was a fan. Every time his beautiful voice came on the radio, it brought a smile to my face.
When I heard through the grapevine about three years ago that Nate had had a stroke, I was hoping that it was just a small one and he would recover quickly. I heard nothing more about it, so I assumed he had. Until last night.
R.I.P, Nate Dogg. I just may choke down a rum and coke today in your honor.
