History[edit]

Death Row years (1991-1998)[edit]

Before the The Chronic album came out, Kurupt & Daz were solo artists, however having heard the chemistry the two had
whilst recording the album, Dr. Dre suggested they make a group. The two went on to feature on Doggystyle and various
features and soundtracks as Tha Dogg Pound.
Between 1993-1994, 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 2x platinum status. It was quite a success. "Let's Play House" was the biggest hit, breaking into the Top
50 of the Hot 100, while "New York, New York" was an MTV favorite; in the video for the latter, Kurupt, 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 legendary, and widely acclaimed 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" among other tracks which solidified 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. They remained active thereafter,
rapping on Snoop's Tha Doggfather in 1996. Tha Dogg Pound was an integral part of the Death Row Records empire, which
cast a tall shadow over rap music in the early to mid-'90s.
Kurupt and Daz leave Death Row (1999-2001)[edit]
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 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.
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 1failed 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 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 entitledDillinger & 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.
External matters[edit]
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 Doggand Kurupt were featured on Krayzie Bone's album Thug
Mentality 1999 in the song "The War Iz On." Kurupt was featured on Flesh-N-Bone's song "Kurupted Flesh" on the 5th Dog Let
Loose. Krayzie Bone also featured on Daz Dillinger's 2008 solo album Only on the Left Side on the song "Meal Ticket" and later
on the song "Money Fold'N" on Tha Dogg Pound's 2009 album That Was Then, This Is Now.
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.
The duo engaged in yet another conflict, the beef Suge and new signee 2Pac initiated against Bad Boy Entertainment's Puff
Daddy and Notorious B.I.G.; Daz and Kurupt would expand the feud to include Capone-N-Noreaga, Tragedy Khadafi and Mobb
Deep with their Snoop-assisted single "New York, New York."
Internal problems (2002-2004)[edit]
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" featuringBad 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)".