​Long Beach native Nate Dogg passed away last night, and although he had been battling serious health problems after suffering from a massive stroke in December 2007 (he was left paralyzed on one side of his body, then was struck by a second stroke in September 2008), the news was a shock to everyone in the hip-hop world.

Nate Dogg released numerous solo albums, but he made a name for himself collaborating with just about every iconic hip-hop star. He was on Dr. Dre's classic album The Chronic; had a massive '90s hit with Warren G on "Regulate"; and stole the show on Mark Ronson's "Ooh Wee," which also featured Ghostface Killah.

When the news hit, hip-hop artists 50 Cent, Ludacris, Snoop Dogg, The Game, Xzibit, Nate Dogg, Daz Dillinger and more posted tributes on Twitter to the man whose distinctive sound will always be remembered. Read them and watch their collaborations with Nate Dogg after the jump.

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Megan Strouse

​Watch our slideshow here!

Due to family obligations, day jobs and matters of taste, OC Weekly couldn't cover the Lilith fair stop at Irvine (which their Web site called the LA stop, duh) last Saturday. As Entertainment Weekly said, "by the time Lilith rolled into Irvine, Calif.'s Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, it felt a little bit like attending the funeral of something that wasn't quite dead." So while it didn't seem like we missed much, we went on Twitter to check out what really happened. Sure, there were stellar performances by Brandi Carlile and Melissa Lambert, but otherwise...well, read for yourself:
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Drunken buffoons attempting mating and math...ugh.
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First Zach Braff, now this? Yeah, as we type, right now the top two trending topics on Twitter are "RIP Kanye West" and "#LongLiveYeezy." Don't be fooled; this is another sad sign that the "microblogging" site is, as I've spent so long denying, sometimes kind of dumb. Or actually harmful. The infamously self-obsessed yet undeniably talented rapper is, as far as anyone can tell, most definitely still alive, probably at home writing something in all caps right now.

Misinformation tends to spread like H1N1 on Twitter; earlier this year, there were rumors that Miley Cyrus (it's Miley!) had died. No wonder she deleted her Twitter. Don't think, though, that the days of post-Taylor Swift Incident weirdness from Kanye West is over--first there was the inexplicable, Spike Jonze-directed We Were Once A Fairytale short film posted over this past weekend. Now it's disappeared form 'ye's website, saying simply "SORRY I HAD TO TAKE IT DOWN : (" Don't trip, it's still on YouTube--for now.

After the jump: some of the best "Kanye is dead" tweets from a recent round-up (there are a lot of tweets--and keep in mind that some of these jokes have no doubt been made multiple times, so the usernames attached to them may or may not deserve any real credit). People are gullible. (Read: dumb.)


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"I see dead celebrities."

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Twitter has many uses: spreading important information and breaking news. Seeing super-awesome iPhone pictures from concerts that we're attending. Letting us know when Ashley Tisdale is getting her hair done. But now the limits of Twitter's power will truly be tested, as a UK costume shop will be using it on October 30 to raise the dead (cue ominous music!).

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​The folks behind Beverly Hills-based concert promoters Live Nation have been promoting the heck out of themselves lately, with the company unleashing a variety of P.T. Barnum-esque stunts to drum up attention for their events in this flagging economy.


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We're all about the sweet tweets here at Heard Mentality--you can read ours and follow us through the little blobbies of text to the right. And we're also fans of local acts the New Limb (pictured) and Stacy Clark, who we've written copious amounts about in the past. And who doesn't love supporting a good cause? So a fundraising event revolving around Twitter and featuring performances from the New Limb and Stacy Clark is sort of a no-brainer for us. (There's also free food.)
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Were you working, sleeping, distracted, saving a cat from a tree, organizing your cheese label collection or otherwise unavailable to follow our live Twitter posts from Michael Jackson's memorial? Well, you're in luck, because here they all are (and pics!), both from Matthew Fletcher of the band Satisfaction live inside the Staples Center (he took that pic up above these words) and myself watching on the TV.

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Hmm, I just paired the words "memorial service" with the word "Twitter" and an exclamation point. I guess I'm going to hell.

Anyway, if watching the televised coverage of this morning's Michael Jackson memorial service at the Staples Center isn't enough for you (and why would it be? never enough dead MJ news!), your pals at Heard Mentality (that's us!) have it covered through a couple of different angles. Matt Fletcher, keyboard player for OC/LA band Satisfaction will be there, manning his trusty iPhone and providing real-time Twitter updates of noteworthy happenings over at our plucky OC Weekly music Twitter, found handily enough at @OCWeeklyMusic. And hopefully Twitpics of the sure to be, uh, eclectic crowd.

Frequent music section contributor Gabriel San Roman will also be at Staples, and will treat us to a thoughtful recap of the happenings shortly after its conclusion. (Seriously, two dudes we know got tickets? They should start playing some gambling game where picking random numbers could result in a cash prize.) I won't be there (goodness no), but I'll be here watching it all going down and assisting where I can, like Ed Harris in Apollo 13.

So yeah: starting at 10 a.m., be sure to tune in to our tweets. That's @OCWeeklyMusic. Surely, the untimely demise of one of music's greatest artists and global pop culture's most-maligned figures deserves a proper send-off, and we'll be there to catch every fond memory, gleefully contributing to this nation's compassion fatigue in the process. Deal with it.

Word of Michael Jackson's death at age 50 pretty much shut down the Internet, with Twitter in particularly nearly crushing under the weight of the news (failwhales a'plenty!).

Unsurprisingly, plenty of local music folks weighed in on Jackson's passing, and here's a sample of some of the more tweeted reactions:

The Union Line (@theunionline): "A moment of silence for the king of pop... You'll be missed"

Pop Noir (@PopNoir): "Big R.I.P. For Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, and Sky Saxon. Anyone else?"

Stacy Clark (@stacyclark): "King of pop is dead! Crazy!"

 Billy Kernkamp (@Billykernkamp): "I'm sure there are a few kid's who will be resting in peace tonight......"

Parade of Lights (@paradeoflights): "#RIP Hey...due to conflicting reports...PARADE OF LIGHTS ARE IN FACT STILL ALIVE!"

And if you're looking for a bit of a laugh (it'll help the grieving process! really!), check out my bud Martin Cizmar's piece on MJ over at Up on the Sun. Oh, and don't forget to follow our Twitter (using the death of a controversial music icon to plug a Twitter? This might be my personal nadir).

The blues! What's it all about? I dunno. But I'm gonna find out.

Tomorrow marks the start of the two-day Doheny Blues Festival in Dana Point. I'll be covering the highlights of the performances from soulful people who got famous before I was born, from Brian Setzer to B.B. King. Follow the beach-and-blues action on my Twitter (skornhaber), and check this very blog for the wrap-up review.