BIOGRAPHY
Death Row Years
Before The Chronic album came out, Kurupt and Daz were solo artists. Having heard the chemistry they had while recording the album, Dr. Dre suggested they form a group. The two went on to feature on Doggystyle and various features and soundtracks as Tha Dogg Pound.
Between 1993 and 1994, the group assisted Hammer on his The Funky Headhunter album (such as the song “Sleepin’ on a Master Plan” and others), along with Suge Knight and the Whole 9.
In 1995, they released their debut album Dogg Food under Death Row Records. The album debuted #1 on the Billboard 200 and went on to reach twice platinum status. “Let’s Play House” was the biggest hit, breaking into the Top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100, while “New York, New York” was an MTV favorite; in the video for the latter, Daz and Snoop stomped Godzilla-like around the Big Apple, taunting their East Coast rivals. In the October that followed, towards the end of the same year, Tupac Shakur had been bailed out of jail by Death Row’s Suge Knight in exchange for releasing his following four albums on Death Row Records.
In 1996, Tha Dogg Pound were featured on 2Pac’s Death Row Records debut album All Eyez on Me with Kurupt featured in “Got My Mind Made Up” and “Check Out Time” and Daz Dillinger producing the hit songs “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted”, “Ambitionz az a Ridah”, and “I Ain’t Mad At Cha”. They made an appearance on Snoop Doggy Dogg’s album Tha Doggfather.
After Death Row
In January 1998, Kurupt left Death Row but remained in Tha Dogg Pound. Kurupt released two solo albums in 1998 (Kuruption!) and 1999 (Tha Streetz Iz a Mutha) that had Daz Dillinger and the rest of DPG on them. However, in 1998, Daz was making noise of his own over at Death Row and released his only Death Row album (Retaliation, Revenge and Get Back) which went gold. Afterward, he made his own label called Mobstyle Muzik, in which he had his first taste of the independent scene. Mobstyle’s first release Poppa Snoop Presents Mobstyle Muzik Volume 1 failed and Daz returned to Death Row. He later started up DPG Recordz along with Christopher “Big C-Style” Bowden through Death Row Records.
Daz also eventually parted ways with Death Row in December 1998 and released his first independent album R.A.W. in 2000. That was followed by the D.P.G. album from Tha Dogg Pound entitled Dillinger & Young Gotti. After Tha Dogg Pound’s full departure from Death Row, Suge Knight claimed ownership of the name “Tha Dogg Pound” and any tracks recorded prior to them leaving. To avoid a legal battle at the time, Daz changed their marketing name to D.P.G. short for Dogg Pound Gangstaz. In 2001, Suge Knight released a Dogg Pound album entitled 2002, which consisted of unreleased Dogg Pound tracks. Soopafly’s songs were featured on his 2001 solo album Dat Whoopty Woop.
In late 2002, Kurupt shocked the entire DPGC and fans alike, when he accepted the job of executive producer at Death Row Records. Daz, Soopafly, Snoop Dogg, and the rest of DPGC viewed this as betrayal and took many shots and dissed Kurupt harshly for making the move. Kurupt did the same claiming they all were wrong to have turned their backs on Death Row. They declared war between both camps and that he was not the one who changed, rather them.
The rap duo heavily dissed each other from 2003 to late 2004, both recording diss albums against each other. The feud continued until early 2005 when Kurupt and Daz made a truce. The struggling Death Row Records failed to promote Kurupt’s album Against Tha Grain and the duo began to feel remorse for one another. Kurupt left Death Row apparently along with their former Tha Dogg Pound alias and reunited with Daz. The duo started rapping together again and even made a new album together entitled Dillinger & Young Gotti II: Tha Saga Continuez. After The Western Conference in 2005 the two of them agreed to revitalize the DPGC by working together once again on an album with Snoop Dogg, Soopafly, Nate Dogg, Warren G, RBX, Lady of Rage and Lil’ ½ Dead with Snoop taking over the producing and distributing tasks for it.
Tha Dogg Pound then released a joint venture reunion comeback project the next year in 2006 called Cali Iz Active under the aegis of Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle Records with the main single “Cali Iz Active” featuring Snoop Dogg and a wide range of new producers throughout the album.
In 2021, Tha Dogg Pound were prepping to release their “Dogg Food II” album with the lead single “Let’s Roll” debuted in late 2020. Their follow-up single “Nice & Slow” was released in July 2021 and featured Snoop Dogg. In 2023, Daz Dillinger shared on social media that the album would be released soon on Dogg Pound Records. As of April 2024, the album is yet to be released.