Interview with former Death Row artist Daz. His album So So Gangsta is coming this September. In addition to his new album Daz and Holloway House Publishing have team up for a unique promotion. Read more.

Your album last year "Samplin To The Beat of A Drum," what made you decide to do a concept album like that?
Daz-You know I'm a producer and I grew up in the record store and I used to go up in the record store and they used to have drum records. Live drum records. I used to buy them and go sample them. I don't see them anymore. So my home boy Deon we put one together.

You signed to So So Def a minute ago are you ever frustrated with the time it has taken your major label debut with them to come out?
Daz-Yeah I'm frustrated right now waiting to do my video.

What can you tell me about the album?
Daz-I ain't heard it yet. I record a song and I don't hear it no more.

Is that because you like it like that?
Daz-No, because J.D. do it like that because I do a lot of independent stuff so they think "Daz is going to come out with it before," you know?

Someone you always end up working back with is Kurrupt. What is your working relationship with Kurrupt like?
Daz-Alright. Real quick. We know what we gon' do when we get in there. He gon' look at me, give me they eye I'm going to tell him what to do and we gon' handle it.

Do you think the West Coast hip-hop legacy is solidified or does the West have a lot more to add to hip-hop?
Daz-I think we have a lot to offer. We have new groups. We have War Zone, MC, Cam and Goldiloc their group. We have Western Union featuring Damani, Bad Luck and Soopafly and we hooked up with Brother Lynch Hung. It's a whole new West Coast thing together.

I enjoyed the last Dogg Pound album last year. Will there be another Dogg Pound album?
Daz-Yeah. You got the Dogg Pound and you got DPG.

Oh it's a different name DPG.
Daz-I try to keep the money separate. DPG is me and Kurrupt. DPGC is me and Kurrupt, Snoop and Nate. Then you got the Dogg Pound which is me Kurrupt and Snoop.

I didn't know it was that technical. So will there be another DPG album?
Daz-Yeah it's gonna be another DPG album. We're working on it right now. We gon call it The Dogg Pound and the name of the album is going to be called DPG. So six months from now we going to come out with the next Dogg Pound album. We have to wait six month for Koch to finish what they are doing. So soon as they six months is up at the time limit…

Daz breaks down DPG

I've seen a lot of documentaries. Was the working environment at Death Row as wild as the documentaries make it seem?
Daz-Yeah it was wild just like a neighborhood. Death Row was like a neighborhood. You had Bloods, Crips, all kind of shit. Just depends on how you are going to play your part.

Speaking of Crips with all the bandanas and artwork on the last DPG album did anyone have any concerns with it being too gang related?
Daz-Nah because it's independent. I sold like 100,000 of them because that's all I pressed up. I could have sold more. But I just pressed that up to get us some cheese in our pocket. Everybody knows we're Crips. I got a lot of Blood homies we do business, everything.

Daz on life at Death Row

So what have you been doing this summer basically?
Daz-Promoting. Working with new acts.

What kind of new acts are you working with? Mainly rappers? Any R&B singers?
Daz-I put the Kurrupt album "Same Day, Different Shit," album out. I have a label deal through Universal/Fontana a new deal besides the Sony/Red so I have like 5 deals right now. I got a solo album, the Koch album. The Universal deal and I have another independent deal.

I know you have so many deals I didn't even know what I was supposed to be interviewing you about but I was like "Well it's Daz I'm just gonna ask some questions." So is the Virgin album something that's coming out soon?
Daz-Yeah the Virgin album comes outs September the 12th. That's my main focus right now. I got Rick Ross, Snoop Dogg, Kurrupt, Jagged Edge, got my boy Kid Playa and production by me, J.D., Scott Storch and Soopafly.

What can fans expect from this new album?
Daz-Some hardcore street, party, get em' up, new Daz.

Are you based out of Atlanta still or are you back out West?
Daz-I'm based a couple of places. I'm based in Atlanta, Miami, California, Mississippi. Will the album still have that West Coast sound or will it be influenced by all of these places? It got that Daz vibe to it. Anytime I'm in the studio it's going to have my vibe to it.

What's it like working with J.D. in the studio.
Daz-Cool. I might go to the right he might go to the left but when we come together we make it happen and I listen to what he has to say.

Do you ever get a chance to get on the Internet and see what the fans are saying about you because you have a hardcore fan base?
Daz-I got a lot of hardcore people on there. I get hate mail and everything. I just take it all into consideration.

I can't imagine you getting hate mail. What do the people say?
Daz-They like the Dogg Pound fell off. I be thinking its some Death Row motherfucka's involved.

What would you consider to be the high point of your career?
Daz-Just being free being able to do what I'm doing. That's it right there. To be where I'm at right now.

Have you been doing any touring this summer?
Daz-I just got off the tour with Ice Cube.

How did you and Snoop and Kurrupt and Ice Cube all of you all manage to maintain friendships or at least working relationships despite all of the drama that came with Death Row falling apart?
Daz-Keeping away from that bullshit, that negativity and all that other stuff and just keeping to yourself. Making your own mark, making noise on your own.

Listen to the new Daz song "On Some Real Shit" with Rick Ross.

Daz interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, and Thabiz.com 2006
Dorrie Williams-Wheeler is the author of Be My Sorority Sister Under Pressure and the Unplanned Pregnancy Book for Teens and College Students. She is the founder of Thabiz.com and Imissthe80s.com and writes for the Rap, Teen, and 1980s section at Bellaonline.com. She is an ASCAP member as a writer and a publisher. Please contact Dorrie for advertising inquiries, lyric writing inquiries, reprint rights, paying entertainment jobs, or general comments.
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Daz interview may not be reprinted, copied or distribute without permission. You may link to this interview.Interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, thabiz.com July 2006.