(Photo: Interscope Records)

The hip hop community is still mourning the loss of a legend. For fellow West Coast rapper Crooked I, Nate Dogg was more than just a singer. He was an artist who fathered a sound that became a staple in hip hop.

“We always knew that the hook was very important, but I think he just showed us how important it was," Crooked I tells BET.com. Back in 2008, Crooked I collaborated with Nate Dogg on the Battlecat-produced "Crook in Me."

The Compton, California, native, who recently dropped his Million Dollar Story EP, remembers what it was like to hear a Nate Dogg hook. Says Crook, "I party everywhere. If I’m in New York and a Nate Dogg song comes on, I guarantee you the crowd will be singing along with that hook. I think he was the greatest at that.”

Nate Dogg was laid to rest this past weekend in his hometown of Long Beach, California, at a memorial service that was attended by his rap brethren (Snoop Dogg, Warren G, Daz Dillinger) and hundreds of his fans.