Tha Dogg Pound is a rap duo made up of Daz Dillinger and Kurupt.
They were signed to Death Row Records in their early careers and
were key to the label's success. The group made their 1992 rap
debut on Dr. Dre's The Chronic, on various songs. They also appeared
on Snoop Dogg's debut album Doggystyle, and the Death Row soundtracks
Murder Was The Case and Above The Rim. Their debut album Dogg Food
was released in 1995. It was another addition to the controversy
of hardcore hip hop due to the sexual and violent lyrics and went
on to sell two million albums.
Kurupt and Daz went on to release solo albums starting in 1998.
They had both eventually left the crumbling Death Row Records in
1999 after Daz left due to long-lasting internal struggles on the
label after friend and labelmate Tupac Shakur's murder in 1996. Kurupt
started Antra Records, while Daz started D.P.G. Recordz. In 2002
a feud arose between the two when Kurupt decided to sign back with
Death Row Records, upsetting everyone involved with the group. His
awaited Death Row release Against Tha Grain had been postponed several
times while Kurupt was on the label, later being released in August
2006, after he was off. In January 2005, Daz made another solo album
release titled Tha Dogg Pound Gangsta LP. Tha Dogg Pound then got
back together as a group and released Dillinger & Young Gotti
II in November 2005. In 2006 Snoop Dogg decided to get involved and
the three released their official reunion album Cali Iz Active.
An extended family, referred to as D.P.G.C. (short for Dogg Pound
Gangsta Crips[citation needed]), is made up of Snoop Dogg, Daz Dillinger,
Kurupt, Nate Dogg, Soopafly, Tray Deee, Lady of Rage, Lil' 1/2 Dead,
RBX, Warren G, The LBC Crew, Goldie Loc, Butch Cassidy, Mr. Malik,
Roscoe, E-White, The Twinz and others. The Dogg Pound Gangstaz are
commonly featured on each other's albums and projects.
Before the The Chronic album came out, Tha Dogg Pound consisted
of Daz, Kurupt, and later Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg & Soopafly. They
instantly took the West Coast music industry by storm. When Snoop's
debut album Doggystyle was released in 1993 it looked like Tha Dogg
Pound was shortened to just Daz and Kurupt.
Between 1993-1994, the group assisted Hammer on his album The Funky
Headhunter (ie. the song "Sleepin' on a Master Plan"),
along with Suge Knight and the Whole 9.
In 1995, Daz and Kurupt released their debut album Dogg Food under
Death Row Records. The album debuted #1 on the Billboard 200 and
went on to reach 2x platinum status. In October towards the end of
the same year 2Pac Shakur had been bailed out of jail by Death Row's
Suge Knight and was immediately introduced into the Death Row family
and became good friends with Tha Dogg Pound especially.
In 1996, they were featured on 2Pac's legendary and widely acclaimed
Death Row Records debut All Eyez on Me with Daz Dillinger producing
the hit songs "2 Of Amerikaz Most Wanted", "Ambitionz
Az A Ridah", and "I Ain't Mad At Cha" among other
tracks which solidifed his status as a talented and successful producer.
In early September of the same year, Shakur was murdered in Las Vegas,
Nevada. Kurupt and Daz were deeply affected by this and struggled
to release anything after Shakur's passing. 7 years later in a 2003
interview, Daz stated that he now believed Suge Knight was responsible
for Shakur's murder.
[edit] Kurupt and Daz leave Death Row (1999-2001)
In 1997 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 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. Afterwards 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. They were supposed to make a contract with a young up-rising
star May Ah Leong.
Daz also eventually parted ways with Death Row in late 1999 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. Daz has been quoted as saying this album was "bullshit",
and even claimed to have raided Death Row Records vaults during one
of Suge Knight's incarcerations and stole back as many DPG songs
as he could find. Most of which were Soopafly's songs and featured
on his 2001 solo album Dat Whoopty Woop.
[edit] Beef & Separation
[edit] External Beef
Over the years Tha Dogg Pound had beef with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony,
due to Death Row Records being embroiled in a feud with Eazy-E's
Ruthless Records. Tha Dogg Pound made a diss towards The Bone Thugs,
on the song Dogg Pound Gangstaz, with Kurupt's line "Ain't got
no love for no hoes in harmony." In response Layzie Bone shot
back on the track Shotz to tha Double Glock with the line "Dogg
Pound hoes it's on." "Krayzie Bone says "Gotta find
these 'Row Hoes" in the song "Mo' Murda" off the East
99 album. The feud ended when Snoop Dogg and Kurupt were featured
on Krayzie Bone's album Thug Mentality 1999 in the song The War Iz
On. Kurupt was feature on Flesh-N-Bone's song Kurupted Flesh on the
5th Dog Let Loose. Krayzie Bone also features on Daz Dillinger's
2008 solo album Only on the Left Side on the song Meal Ticket.
Tha Dogg Pound were also involved in a feud with B.G. Knocc Out & Dresta.
In response to Eazy-E's Real Muthaphukkin G's and Kokane & Cold
187um's "Don't Bite The Funk", Tha Dogg Pound along with
Snoop Dogg made a track called What Would You Do with such lines
as: "Fuck B.G. Knocc Out and every nigga down with him." Later
B.G. Knocc Out & Dresta retaliated with the song D.P.G. Killa,
on their debut album Real Brothas. They have since squashed the beef
and released a song called Blaze it up, as a bonus track on Tha Dogg
Pound's Dogg Chit album.
[edit] Internal Beef (2002-2004)
In late 2002, Kurupt shocked the entire DPGC and fans alike, when
he wound up signing back to Death Row Records as vice president under
Suge Knight. 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. Daz took aim at Kurupt
and Death Row with his single U Ain't Shit featuring Bad Azz and
another song I Don't Give a Fucc which is sung over the beat to 50
Cent's In Da Club. Kurupt responded heavily with his Originals album
which featured many disses throughout nearly every song, most notably
the bonus track Eat a Dicc (Fucc Daz).
[edit] Reunion & Cali Iz Active (2005-2006)
It was like that until early 2005 when Kurupt and Daz made a truce.
The struggling Death Row 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, Warren
G and Nate Dogg, 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.
The album wasn't received with much acclaim and the various producers
did not seem to fit the Daz and Kurupt style leaving fans reminiscent
of the G-funk sound that Cali Iz Active lacked.
[edit] Dogg Chit & New Projects (2007-Present)
Several months later their next album entitled Dogg Chit was released
independently on March 27, 2007; with the single Vibe also featuring
Snoop Dogg. This album goes back to their G-funk roots with a reminiscent
style similar to Dogg Food and features Daz Dillinger back as the
main producer on almost every song. The album cover is very similar
to the Dogg Food album cover, and the album was successfully received
by DPG fans and G-funk fans as a solid Dogg Pound album.
In August 2007 it was announced that Tha Dogg Pound had signed to
Birdman's Cash Money Records. Their next album was expected to be
entitled Westcoast Aftershocc but has since been postponed in favor
of the 100 Wayz album due to, in short, Cash Money not being able
to raise the required money for the project. The contract had since
been apparently ended but in a later interview Kurupt stated the
deal is still on the table but only postponed. Daz Dillinger did
however leak the singles entitled "Ch-Ching" and "Mystic
River" which would have promoted the new deal and album. The
deal with Cash Money and the Westcoast Aftershocc album is still
on the table but is on hold as the duo pursues other projects. The
single "Ch-Ching" was later released along with other unreleased
tracks on Tha Dogg Pound's online iTunes album entitled Let's Ryde
2Night EP. Mystic River is now likely to be the main single off of
Kurupt's upcoming new solo album History of Violence. Westcoast Aftershocc
is in production for a 2009 release on Cash Money Records.
100 Wayz features Pharrell on the club single Cheat released in
early 2008. Daz will be producing most of the album but also features
producers such as Pete Rock, Swizz Beatz and Hi-Tek. Cheat was followed
up with the street singles They Don't Want It featuring Soopafly
and Get My Drink On & My Smoke On to promote the album heading
into the summer. 100 Wayz was expected to be released in the summer
of 2008 but has since been delayed as Tha Dogg Pound seeks an optimal
distribution deal for the album. Tha Dogg Pound recently released
their latest single and video Y'all Know What I'm Doin featuring
Turf Talk with a brand new album cover. A release date for the album
was aimed at January 2009 but has since been delayed due to a dispute
with Koch Records' president, Alan Grunblatt. As a result, 100 Wayz
has been put on hold indefinitely.
Tha Dogg Pound will now release a different album independently
entitled That Was Then, This Is Now which includes several songs
that were intended for 100 Wayz as well as additional new material.
The latest single from the album features Krayzie Bone on a track
called Money Fold'n. In addition, Tha Dogg Pound also has another
iTunes exclusive album coming out that was announced during the summer
of 2009 called Dillinger & Young Gotti III - Get Paid as well
as a collaboration album with Pete Rock under the current title of
Pete Rock & Tha Dogg Pound.
[edit] Discography
Main article: Tha Dogg Pound discography
[edit] Studio albums
* 1995: Dogg Food
* 2001: Dillinger & Young Gotti
* 2005: Dillinger & Young Gotti II: Tha Saga Continuez...
* 2006: Cali Iz Active
* 2007: Dogg Chit
* 2009: That Was Then, This Is Now
* 2010: 100 Wayz
* 2011: Westcoast Aftershocc
[edit] Compilation albums
* 2001: 2002
* 2004: The Last of Tha Pound
* 2010: Keep on Ridin
[edit] EPs
* 2008: Let's Ryde 2Night EP
[edit] Awards
Grammy Award nominations
Tha Dogg Pound has been nominated for one Grammy Award but has not
yet won an award as of 2010[update].
Category Genre Song Year Result
Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group Rap "What
Would You Do" 1996 Nominated