Daz Dillinger Says He Produced Some Of The Classics Credited To Dr. Dre & Names Them (Video)

In the mid-1990s, Daz Dillinger became an elite music producer. In addition to a heavy hand in his Dogg Pound group with Kurupt, the Long Beach, California representative laced high-profile tracks for Tupac Shakur’s chart-topping All Eyez On Me, as well as tracks for Snoop Dogg, WC, C-Murder, and Nate Dogg. After Dr. Dre left Death Row Records in March of 1996, Daz would soon become the label’s musical “over-C’er” (as he was sometimes credited) and head of music. That journey started five years earlier, with the double-threat working alongside the Death Row inmates on G-Funk classics, The Chronic and Doggystyle.

In an interview with HipHopDX, Daz is asked about the credits that he deserves on those two legendary albums. At the top of the video, DX‘s Editor-in-Chief Trent Clark asks D-A-Z if there are beats he made that are confused for Dr. Dre beats. “I did ‘Ain’t No Fun.’ I did a slew of songs. I did [‘Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat’]. I did a bunch of songs I just got [credited as] ‘programmed drums,’ ‘programmer,’ or something like that on there. It was a clobbering game back then. ‘Mine, mine, mine, take, take, take, take, take, take,” says the DPG co-founder.

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In addition to his vocals, Daz is credited with “Drum Programming” on The Chronic.

Production credit, especially on the first two Death Row Records albums, remains a hot topic. Daz has asserted that he did more than the liner notes say for years. In July of 2006, Snoop Dogg defended Dre in a candid interview with DubCNN. “When [Dr. Dre] was [collaborating with] ni**as back in the days, they didn’t deserve to have their name in the game like that, because he did all of the work! So what you found a sample and you got a cool little drum file, but he brought the sh*t to life, so he really produced the track! Producing is bringing the track to life! Beat-makers make beats. A lot of ni**as make beats. He produces tracks. So that ain’t disrespect what I’m saying. I’m just telling you what’s real. I [have] seen him make tracks from scratch. My whole [Doggystyle] record, the ni**a made damn near everything from scratch. ‘Ain’t No Fun,’ Daz and Warren G brought him the little [sings melody], that’s all they had! Dre took that muthaf*cka to the next level! Warren G brought in the Donny Hathaway [interpolation], ‘Little ghetto boy, playing in the ghetto streets.‘ Dre flipped it like ‘Hold on, give me that!’ [He] took that muthaf*cka and made it straight hit.”

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Suge Knight, who executive produced both albums, has sided with Daz (a person who has been an enemy of Knight’s for almost 20 years). In 2013, he remembered Doggystyle with Rolling Stone‘s Paul Cantor. “Everybody thought [Dr. Dre] would be doing the records, but Daz pretty much did the whole album. And at the end of the day, once Daz finished it, everybody wanted Andre to get the credit. Next thing I know Daz is having a meeting with Andre and them and came back and said, ‘It’s okay, give me a few bucks and I’ll sign anything over that says produced by Andre instead of me.'” Of “Ain’t No Fun,” Knight had a different memory. “Ain’t No Fun”… one of the homies from [Blood gang] The Swans named Pooh, all them dudes already had a record done. And they came and played it for us in the studio. They played us the demo. Everybody looked at it like it was alright. And then after they left, sh*t, everybody was chopping that same beat.” That claim spawned a lawsuit by Antonio White and Craig White. That suit was later dismissed.

Last month, Kurupt explained how Tha Dogg Pound’s “New York, New York” was a beat that Biggie Smalls used first.

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Daz has released Dazamataz and Smoke Me Out in 2018. The former album, which he promoted while at DX, features Kurupt, Snoop Dogg, Freddie Gibbs, C-Bo, Jayo Felony, and B-Legit.