Diggy's Time To Shine
By : Conan Milne
I have always ranked Daz Dillinger pretty high on my list of favourite
West Coast rappers. As one-half of the gangsta-rap duo the Dogg Pound, Daz was often overshadowed by the lyrical kingpin and his partner in crime, Kurupt. This was a little harsh in my opinion. Sure, Kurupt had the amazing lyrics but Dillinger had a flow that grasped my attention every time I threw on one of his records.

His first album flopped on the infamous Death Row records, down to a distinct and obvious lack of promotion. Eventually Daz performed the task of actually managing to escape 'Tha Row' and released three solo albums on his own independant label, DPG Recordz. His second album 'R.A.W' was heralded as an underground West classic, and recently Daz was spotted by Atlanta hit-maker Jermaine Dupri, best know for his work with the likes of Bone Crusher, Da Brat & Bow Wow. With a new deal on Jermaine's 'So So Def' imprint, now is the chance for Daz to step up and garnish the success that I feel he has had coming for a long time.

Daz has not had an easy time when it comes to his career in music. When he entered the rap game he was often referred to as 'Snoop Dogg's cousin' and struggled to find an identity for himself. Daz followed his cousin in signing with Death Row records in the early 90's, then home to the likes of
West Coast legends Dr. Dre & The D.O.C. It was at Death Row where Daz would meet his future partner, Kurupt. After appearing on the classic album that is Dr. Dre's 'The Chronic' Daz was featured with Kurupt on Snoop's incredible debut 'Doggystyle'. It was clear that the pair had natural
chemistry together and Snoop took them under his wind. The duo then named themselves the 'Dogg Pound', a reference to their mentor Snoop. The 'Dogg Pound' made their mark on the industry with their first album 'Dogg Food'. Whilst not as big of a commercial success as 'The Chronic' or 'Doggystyle' it nonetheless quickly went platinum and spawned the hit record 'New York, New York'.

Whilst Daz was surely satisfied with the results of the CD, he still yearned for a solo career. Putting his time as a 'Dogg Pound' member on hiatus, he began working on his solo LP, 'Retaliation, Revenge & Get Back'. The album suffered from problems from the beginning.

First of all, it was shortly after 'Dogg Food's' release that Dr. Dre, the co-founder of Death Row, made the difficult decision of leaving the label to form one directed entirely by himself. This, and the fact that Daz & Dre never had as good a relationship as Dre & Snoop, meant there was very little
chance of Dillinger securing the talent's of Dre' funky, popular prouduction for his CD. Death Row, however, still had the power of mega stars Tupac Shakur and Snoop behind them. With these two still in tow, there was no way Daz was going to take priority at the Death Row studios. On top of this,
more trouble was brewing.

When Tupac Shakur tragically died of bullet wounds caused by an anonymous drive-by shooter in September 1996, Death Row was left without an obvious leader. CEO Suge Knight had been putting a lot of pressure on 'Pac to shine as the biggest star at the label, and now there was a complete label. The dramatic situation clearly shook up Shakur's close friend Snoop Dogg (aka Calvin Broadus) who, after releasing his sophomore effort 'Tha Doggfather', quickly jumped ship to join rapper and all round entrepeneur Master P's 'No Limit' records. Daz's partner Kurupt had also abandoned 'Tha Row', and Daz was left stranded on a recording company that was a shadow of its former self. With Suge in jail for disorderly conduct (breaking his parole ruling) and no other big names attracting attention to the label, Daz's solo record was released with no major push. It quickly sank into oblivion.

Daz stook by Death Row for some time, and even dissed his cousin Snoop on wax for leaving. When asked about his time on the label recently in an online interview with hip-hop site, Tha Formula, Daz claimed he was merely biding his time, 'grabbing' as much equipment and tracks he could put to use
before getting out of there. To be honest, this is questionable. I believe there may be truth in the idea that Daz stayed at the label because he felt that, with the likes of Snoop gone, he could become the next big star. This is irrelevant now as, sure enough, he eventually got off Suge's 'Row and
formed his own independant recording imprint, DPG Recordz.

It was on DPG where Daz released his follow-up album, the painfully over-looked 'R.A.W.'. The album was pure venom from a man eager to demonstrate his abilities and skills, yet suffered the same fate as 'Retaliation, Revenge' for arguably the exact same reasons: a total lack of promotion. With Daz not making any major money on DPG, it was practically impossible for him to advertise his music.

At this point, Daz's relationship with Snoop appeared to still be on the rocks and this was not doing him any favours. He missed out on a spot on the highly anticipated 'Up In Smoke' tour, headlined by Dre & Snoop, and featuring many of his one-time peers such as Kurupt, Warren G and fellow
former Death Row artist Nate Dogg. His friendship with Kurupt was nonetheless still strong and in 2000 the duo finally reunited to record their second album under the moniker of 'DPG' (since Death Row owned the rights to the 'Dogg Pound' name). The record showed Daz off well, and on
many tracks his lyrical skills were on par with that of 'Young Gotti' Kurupt. Considering its release on Daz's 'DPG Recordz' the album sold moderately well for an independant release, but could not match the success reached by its predecessor. Unfortunately, this would be the last official studio album recorded by the talented pair.

Kurupt & Daz's relationship turned sour when rumours abounded that Kurupt had returned to 'Death Row' and signed a new contract making him not only the head recording artist but vice-CEO of the company. At this point Snoop & Daz had reconciled after settling their differences, and were together in their hatred of their former recording home and boss, Suge. Daz sued the company in a ten million dollar lawsuit claiming they had cheated him out of royalties, whereas Snoop just plain hated Suge Knight.

This was probably a result of Suge's unique relationship with his one-time 'employees'. When artists wanted to leave Death Row, such as Dre & Snoop, Suge seemed more than okay with it and, in most cases, let them go without a major fight. However, once you left Death Row, in Suge's eyes, you had
become the enemy. On post-Snoop & Dre Death Row releases there were several disses aimed at the big names for bailing out, notably 'Fuck Dre' and 'Its Easy to be a Soldier (When There ain't a War on)'. Suge was bitter and on the 'Death Row Uncut' DVD he gave out the address to Snoop's home and instructed fans to bombard him. Meanwhile, Suge Knight continued to exploit the rappers he now hated, by releasing 'Best Of' albums for Dre, Snoop and several for the deceased Tupac. In any case it may have been ominous that whilst the likes of Daz & Snoop were chanting 'Fuck Death Row' at their live concerts and Dre had cut all ties with his one-time business associate, Kurupt had nothing neagative to say about Suge. He even went as far as to say in several interviews that there was no bad blood between the two and that he respected Knight.

The rumours proved to be true when Kurupt, Suge, and fellow Death Row inmate Crooked I turned up on New York City to make Kurupt's return to the regime official. When asked if he was 'still cool' with Snoop, Daz and other members of the DPG Clique such as Nate Dogg and long-time Snoop
producer and rapper Soopafly, Kurupt responded by stating that he was still on good terms with those names - a complete lie. What made Kurupt, or Ricardo Brown's move all the more dirty, was the fact that not even Daz - the man referred to as 'my closest friend in the world' by Brown himself - had any knowledge of the move before hearing the news through associates of both camps. The switch had been conducted entirely in secrecy. As far as any member in the DPG was concerned, 'Young Gotti' was the enemy.

Diss tracks from Daz and the DPG camp started appearing thick and fast. The cut 'Pimp Slap' by Snoop proceeded to diss Suge AND Kurupt, whilst on the 'Welcome to the Chuuch' mixtape Daz shouted aggresively 'Fuck Suge Knight, Ni--a!', whilst dropping some hot new tracks with Snoop and the 'Doggystyle Records' family. Daz was not about to let Kurupt's activities slide by however, and on a freestyle for DPG's DJ Jam over 50 Cent's 'In Da Club' beat, Daz sang: 'Yo ni--a, Kurupt, it's ya worst day. We gone shoot up on ya birthday!'. Kurupt responded with the emotional track 'I Haven't
Changed' where he pondered what happened to his one-time friends and claimed that they had abandoned him. The DPG's were having none of it. On Daz's fourth studio album 'DPGC: Ya Know What I'm Throwin' Up!' Dillinger littered the CD with obvious disses to Suge and co. On the track 'You Ain't Sh--', Daz traded rhymes with fellow DPG Bad Azz, whilst once again cussing out Kurupt. The DPG/Death Row beef had reached feverish proportions. In an interview for Dubcnn Soopafly claimed that at this point Snoop was making people close to both labels decided who they wanted to hang with. They could stay around with the DPG or they could follow Kurupt to 'Row. One thing was certain: there would be no go-betweens and you had to choose. If you were a friend of Suge you were an enemy of DPG, and vice versa. Kurupt eventually responded to the many jabs hurled at him by Dillinger with the weak, seemingly lazy 'Eat a Dicc (Fucc Daz)', although all this was really doing (and I doubt this was the intention) was giving Daz and DPG promotion.

Perhaps the problem with Daz's 'DPGC:...' record was that he spent too much time throwing barbs at his current foes. It didn't have the focus of 'R.A.W' or the beats of 'Retaliation, Revenge...', and it was left lacking. This album was considered by many to be his weakesy and, in fact, it was
Daz' superior underground work that caught the attention of Atlanta's bling-bling super-producer JD.

According to reports from MTV, it was Daz's 'Welcome to the Chuuch' mixtape rhymes that JD found exciting. Perhaps sensing the talent and opportunity in front of him, Dupri served Daz with a contract to his own hit label So So Def. Soon it was reported on DPGrecordz.com that Daz had signed and finished the deal, although some people doubted this as Daz had made unfounded claims before (one such example was that he had recorded several beats for Eminem's Shady records although, coincedentally, none of these surfaced). Nonetheless, Dillinger proved the doubters wrong when he appeared on two freestyles with JD: 'Fo Sho' and 'A Few Gunz'. Both of these cuts showcased 'Diggy Daz' at his very best: you could hear the hunger back in Daz's voice. His flow blew me again and was really on point, particularly after his slightly dissapointing last solo LP. In my opinion, Jermaine has brought the talent out of Daz and he seems ready for success like never before. His commitment to JD and his new label is there for all to hear, as he hollers out 'So So!' and 'SSD-DPG!'.

Now I strongly believe is Daz's time to shine. With the backing of a powerful label aware of what he can do, Daz could re-capture the commercial market that has evaded him for so long. According to his web site's reports, his forthcoming album 'So So Gangsta' is looking highly promising. Featuring
proposed guest spots by Young Buck of the G-Unit, Clipse, Redman, Nate Dogg, Snoop, and the So So Def fam. The album is also executively produced by JD, and if Daz's new So So Def freestyles are anything to go by this can only be good news. Aside from this, Daz is also a member of the rumoured DPG-Unit project (a group collaboration of the DPG and 50's G-Unit) although there is
doubt as to whether or not this release will ever see the light of day. However, should it appear it would only increase Daz's popularity and credibility and that, to me, is a very good thing. Here's hoping that we soon see Daz shine as he really should...