Regulators
We regulate any stealin' of his property
We're damn good too, but you can't be any geek off the street
You gotta be handy with the steel, if you know what I mean
Earn your keep
Regulators, mount up

It was a clear black night, a clear white moon
Warren G was on the streets, tryin' to consume
Some skirts for the eve, so I can get some phones
Rollin' in my ride, chillin' all alone

Just hit the eastside of the L-B-C
On a mission tryna find Mr. Warren G
Seen a car full of girls, ain't no need to tweak
All you skirts know what's up with 2-1-3

So I hooks a left on 2-1 and Lewis
Some brothers shootin' dice, so I said, "Let's do this"
I jumped out the ride and said, "What's up?"
Some brothers pulled some gats, so I said, "I'm stuck"

Since these girls peepin' me I'ma glide and swerve
These hookers lookin' so hard they straight hit the curb
Onto bigger, better things than some horny tricks
I see my homie and some suckas all in his mix

I'm gettin' jacked, I'm breakin' myself
I can't believe they takin' Warren's wealth
They took my rings, they took my Rolex
I looked at the brother said, "Damn, what's next?"

They got my homie hemmed up and they all around
Can't none of them see him if they goin' straight pound for pound
They wanna come up real quick before they start to clown
I best pull out my strap and lay them busters down

They got guns to my head
I think I'm goin' down
I can't believe it's happenin' in my own town
If I had wings I would fly, let me contemplate
I glanced in the cut and I see my homie Nate

Sixteen in the clip and one in the hole
Nate Dogg is about to make some bodies turn cold
Now they droppin' and yellin', it's a tad bit late
Nate Dogg and Warren G had to regulate

I laid all them busters down, I let my gat explode
Now I'm switchin' my mind back into freak mode
If you want skirts, sit back and observe
I just left a gang of hoes over there on the curb

Now Nate got the freaks and that's a known fact
Before I got jacked I was on the same track
Back up, back up, 'cause it's on
N-A-T-E and me, the Warren to the G

Just like I thought, they were in the same spot
In need of some desperate help
But Nate Dogg and the G child
Were in need of somethin' else
One of them dames was sexy as hell
I said, "Ooh, I like your size"
She said, "My car's broke down and you seem real nice, would you let me ride?"
I got a car full of girls and it's goin' real swell
The next stop is the Eastside Motel

I'm tweakin' into a whole new era
G-funk, step to this, I dare ya
Funk on a whole new level

The rhythm is the bass and the bass is the treble (woo)

Chords, strings, we brings melody
G-funk, where rhythm is life and life is rhythm

If you know like I know
You don't wanna step to this
It's the G-funk era, funked out with a gangster twist
If you smoke like I smoke
Then you're high like everyday
And if your ass is a buster
2-1-3 will regulate


Lyrics submitted by defubuskorn

Regulate Lyrics as written by Mike Stoller Jerry Leiber

Lyrics © Royalty Network, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, REACH MUSIC PUBLISHING, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Regulate song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

22 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +2
    General Comment

    This is a rap song from the early 90’s that I just came across a few months ago while I was at my friend’s house burning a CD. He told me we should put this song on a CD because it was a cool song, especially for rap. Ever since then it has been one of my favourite rap songs. The way that Nate Dogg and Warren G put the song together like a story is great, because most rap songs don’t have much for content. This one tells a story about getting jumped and then bustin’ some caps on the punks who jumped you and then finding some ho’s and heading to a motel for some fun. This song also has no harsh swearing which is irregular for a rap song and I admire any rapper who can have a popular song without too much if not any foul language. This is me and my friend’s favourite song to listen to on a Saturday night before we go out partying!

    dylmeisteron September 15, 2002   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Can you hear the beat of my heart? Bump-ba-bump-ba-bump-ba-bump-ba-bump-ba-bump-ba-bump-a-bump!

    wraton June 18, 2006   Link
  • +1
    My Interpretation

    This is pretty much an old-fashioned outlaw ballad, reimagined for the hip-hope age. Warren G goes looking for a good time and gets in over his head. Nate Dogg comes to help him out, and they ride on. In another age they'd be cowboys and this would be a country song.

    Anarquistadoron December 13, 2017   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    best rap song ever, i don't think it will ever get old or outdated. Everybody knows this song, if you put it on, everybody starts rapping it.

    gage006on April 04, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    The other night, I crashed in a motel on the east side of Elk Grove Village, Illinois. On the way there, with my girlfriend and her friends, I couldn't help but sing to my self, "I got a car full of girls and it's going real swell. Next stop is the East Side Motel."

    For once, this overly-white nerdy 20 year old felt like a true-blooded 1994 regulator.

    MOUNT UP!

    letitslipon July 04, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Why hasn't anybody given Michael McDonald any credit here? Where exactly do you think Warren G. got the groove from for this song? Go and listen to "I Keep Forgetting" and you'll hear some smooth shit!

    FreezeSukkaon January 02, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i was wondering for a long time where i heard that beat before then a while back i heard michael mcdonald's i keep forgetting and it hit me. that's where it was sampled from and i had to listen to both songs back to back. 2 classic. regulate is on the sdtk of above the rim. i liked this song even when i didn't appreciate the rap music of the early '90's. but unlike most of the rap today the rap songs of yesterday had more substance and told stories. and were not about how much money they had or the cars the drove.

    boutuxon April 08, 2010   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation

    This song is about how Warren G is a loser who can't go anywhere without getting jacked by some punks, while Nate Dogg is the mack. At the end of the song, Warren has to make do with Nate's leftovers - note how only one of the girls is "sexy as hell".

    pearcedon October 21, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    True homie. He ain’t gonna leave his homie stuck in a bad situation, he’s gonna regulate. He’s got 16 in the clip, and one in the hole, and he ain’t afraid of murdering a few bodies and leaving them to turn cold; man he got real really fast! I mean it’s cool that you’d ride for me like that, but damn, could you just scare them away instead of killing them dead? They are our brothers after all…

    movietangoon February 15, 2023   Link
  • -1
    General Comment

    I remember listening to this song when I was younger. It brings back a lot of fun memories

    sweet_jealousyon August 29, 2002   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve. The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future. Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere" The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Album art
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Album art
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988. "'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it." "There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Album art
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Album art
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.