The legendary rapper/producer is having a chill day. He's laid-back in his home studio in College Park, GA, enjoying something smokable; and he's laughing about the California weed that was made famous in the 1990s by the music he'd helped create. As one half of Tha Dogg Pound, Daz was one of the breakout stars of Death Row Records during its heyday, and his work on albums like The Chronic and Dogg Found helped broadcast the pleasures of California marijuana to the rest of the world. He chuckles as he thinks about transplants to Cali coming into contact with richer, stronger strains than they'd been exposed to back home. Cali set the standard. Now, he laughs as the legal weed industry booms.

"California, everybody growin' out there!" he says with a Cheshire cat grin. "That's what made it legal!"

Daz was barely out of high school when he started rapping as "Dat Nigga Daz" and trying to make a name for himself around Long Beach in the early 1990s. After he linked up with Death Row, Daz made the most of every moment he got with the legendary Dr. Dre, soaking up production techniques and learning how to set a standard for quality. He also peeped a partner in a Philadelphia-born transplant named Kurupt.

"[We came together] during making The Chronic," Daz clarifies. "If you look at The Chronic, we was solo artists: 'Dat Nigga Daz,' 'Kurupt the Kingpin,' Snoop Dogg, Rage..." he explains. "Then we became 'Tha Dogg Pound' around Poetic Justice. That was around the end of 1992. We became Tha Dogg Pound around Doggy Style."

Kurupt and Daz had instant chemistry, and they stole the show on a few Death Row tracks before officially becoming a group. But Daz saw the potential in their pairing.

"I'm a producer, so I peeped it out myself. Me and Kurupt [was] gettin' high in Beverly Hills—smokin' a good blunt of something, looking at the moon an' shit, high as a muthafucka," Daz recalls. "And I'm like 'damn, we should become Tha Dogg Pound.' Because that's where we lived at, that's what we called our home: 'Tha Dogg Pound.' Then we had the gang 'Tha Dogg Pound.' And we said we was gonna represent and start calling ourselves 'Tha Dogg Pound.' And our first song was 'Niggaz Don't Give a Fuck.'"

Daz explains how much of that project was a group effort; with Dr. Dre serving as ringmaster and rap veteran The D.O.C. helping to shape the lyrics coming from these brash kids. The D.O.C. was a mentor figure to the young emcees who were all working to be heard on Dre's new album. Daz fondly recalls how the crew became "one big family, putting the album together."

"We moved to Tha Dogg Pound, which was in Hollywood off Whitley and Franklin, off Sunset," Daz shares. "So we moved all in there, DOC brought all the big color TVs and shit that he had in his house that he got evicted out of! He came and lived with us! And then we became one big family, putting this album together. When the album was finished, everybody that was living there had one big fight and we got evicted."

"We was still broke when The Chronic came out," Daz adds. "They just knew our voices. [The public] didn't know our faces. From the first two albums. There wasn't no social media."

With The Chronic's 30th anniversary this past December, and last year's epic Dr. Dre-led Super Bowl Halftime Show, the legacy of Daz's Death Row years is once again front-and-center. But Daz Dillinger has never been known for resting on his laurels or his legacy; the man remains hard at work. He's dropped collaborative music with Lil Eazy E, confirming for anyone still stuck in the 1990s that there is no lingering bad will between Death Row alums and Ruthless Records family. The two are prepping their joint album The Legacy.

And he just dropped the gospel-tinged "Thank You, Jesus." The track may seem unexpected for some casual fans, but Daz throws himself whole heartedly into the spiritual themes, complete with a gospel choir. It's the kind of tune that would make Kirk Franklin proud.

Growth isn't something that intimidates Daz Dillinger. He's paid attention to the industry shifts; from CDs to streaming and the benefits and pitfalls that have come along with those shifts. Snoop Dogg made headlines with his purchase of Death Row in 2022, and Daz understands that the system isn't designed for artists to get rich.

"CDs. Tapes. That's what really made the record business—making some money off that," he says. "It was like selling bricks: unit for unit. $20 times a million! But now, you get a fraction of that with a stream, a subscription. See how they broke it all the way down?"

Despite his criticisms of streaming, Daz embraces the way that artists are more empowered. And he's made sure to plant his flag in a way that his legacy will generate revenue for him going forward.

"But it's good how the tables turned," Daz continues. "Shit has reversed to where we get those albums back. Snoop got the catalog back. He owns Death Row. But they also got the artists retrieving their publishing rights. The Copyright Reversion Law. But some people don't get to see 35 years to retrieve their music back. I just thank the Lord we here, y'know?"

He's adamant about not relinquishing anything until you can maximize fully off of your work. For Daz, ownership means everything. They can't control you if you own your own art.

"I'm talking about fully in control, where I'm running the shit," Daz says defiantly. "Everybody selling their publishing for $100 million, $75 million—fuck that. It's called patience. it's a virtue, patience. You can make that money in due time. But you can still own it, make all the money in the world, and when a new deal comes, you can make that deal. Because you own it."