Snoop Dogg Keeps Nate Dogg By His Side

West Coast rap veteran Snoop Dogg expressed his sorrow over hip-hop artist Nate Dogg's passing earlier this month by tattooing his late 213 rap group member onto his body.

Snoop's tattoo reveals Nate's face with an "All Doggs Go To Heaven" phrase below it.

Snoop Dogg has found an interesting way to remember his friend Nate Dogg, who died earlier this month. The "Gin and Juice" rapper got a tattoo sleeve of Nate on his arm, with the phrase "All Doggs go to Heaven" written underneath. "Tha tattoo u been waitin 2 c. My bro Nate Dogg by @Misterctoons," Snoop wrote on his Twitter page and posted a pic of the image on Saturday. (Us Magazine)

Yesterday, a funeral was held in the memory of Nate Dogg.

On a dark and damp Saturday morning (March 26), thousands of family, friends and fans turned out for one last show from their hero, rap legend Nate Dogg, who was laid to rest in his hometown of Long Beach. Inside the Long Beach Cruise Terminal, lights shined down on the wooden coffin adorned with red and white flowers. Two jumbo screens on opposite sides of his casket flashed six different photos of the singer from a childhood boy, when he was known to family as "Buddy," to the platinum singer known to the world as Nate Dogg. West Coast rap artists including Dr. Dre, Game, DJ Quik, Mack-10 and WC, DJ Pooh, Battlecat and others were on hand to pay their respects to the singer with platinum vocal chords. (MTV)

Although just barely over 20, West Coast rap newcomer YG recently told SOHH about his connection to Nate Dogg's son.

"I'm a big fan of Nate Dogg," YG told SOHH. "Nate Dogg's son is like my little brother's homeboy, we're cool. So I'm gonna do something for him and when he passed away, I tweeted, "Rest In Peace Nate Dogg" a couple times and everybody re-tweeted it. I grew up listening to Nate Dogg, Snoop Dogg, the whole 213. Nate Dogg is a f*cking legend. And that sh*t is f*cked up but it's life. I've known Nate's son for about two years or so. I used to stay in these apartments out in Long Beach and his son used to stay out over there. He was real cool with my little brother. So I've known him for about two years." (SOHH)

While an official cause of death has not yet been revealed, Dogg's family believes it was in relation to medical complications.

Nate Dogg's family believes the singer's death was caused by complications stemming from the two strokes he suffered over the past couple of years ... this according to the singer's close friend and manager Rod McGrew. McGrew tells TMZ ... Nate's death was unexpected ... since he was making significant progress in his recovery from the most recent stroke he suffered in 2008. According to McGrew ... Nate was "95% recovered from the first stroke in 2007" ... when the second stroke occurred in 2008 ... leaving Nate partially paralyzed and causing partial memory loss. But McGrew says Nate had "cognitively fully recovered" -- meaning he got his memory back and was fully alert and aware all the way up to his final days. (TMZ)