Delmar Drew Arnaud, born May 25, 1973, in Long Beach, is a cousin of Snoop Dogg. He learned production from Dr. Dre, earning early credits on The Chronic (1992) and Snoop’s Doggystyle (1993). With Kurupt he formed Tha Dogg Pound, whose album Dogg Food came out in 1995.
Beats for “All Eyez on Me”
By the time Tupac joined Death Row in October 1995, Dr. Dre was already pulling back from the studio. All Eyez on Me has only three Dre productions but five by Daz, among them Ambitionz Az a Ridah, 2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted and Got My Mind Made Up, where Daz and Kurupt trade verses with Method Man and Redman. Daz was one of the people who shaped the sound of Tupac’s best-selling album.
It is said that Tupac gave him the name “Dillinger”; no source for that could be found. After Tupac’s death in 1996 and Suge Knight’s sentencing in 1997, Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, Nate Dogg and others left the label. Daz stayed on as its last platinum-selling artist but left as well at the end of 1998. His solo album Retaliation, Revenge and Get Back (1998) was his only Death Row project and includes Initiated, featuring Tupac and the Outlawz. In 2001 his own label released Don’t Go 2 Sleep, an EP of joint recordings by Daz and Makaveli from 1995/96.
Breaking with Death Row
After leaving, Daz founded D.P.G. Recordz and fell out badly with Suge Knight. In August 2001 he sued Death Row and Knight, alleging, as the Los Angeles Times reported, that he had been deprived of more than $1 million in royalties and other payments. The outcome of the case could not be established. Because Death Row owned the name “Tha Dogg Pound,” he and Kurupt recorded as DPG for a while.
An uncomfortable look back
In a 2003 interview with ThaFormula.com, Daz told stories that do not fit a heroic picture. He claimed that the rapper Sam Sneed was beaten up at a meeting in the Death Row camp, with Tupac involved; Sam Sneed has since talked about that meeting in interviews himself. Daz also recalled a confrontation in Cancún, where Tupac wanted to fight a drunk Kurupt after he knocked over a bottle of Hennessy in the studio, with Daz and Nate Dogg stepping in.
These are one participant’s accounts, given years later and after a bitter split from the label. They still show how tense things were at Death Row in 1996. The interview is summarised here. The note that Daz also “dissed” Ja Rule has nothing to do with Tupac.