I'm going to give some feedback and nitpicks here but don't forget that this is a great start and I'm doing this just to make you a better writer in the future (: Honestly a very solid and well-thought-out review. Not just overall, but when talking about the west coast style of hip hop in the 2000’s, people will always just think of The Documentary by The Game or even My Ghetto Report Card by E-40, but never Tha Dogg Pound Gangsta LP by Daz Dillinger. Tha Dogg Pound Gangsta LP will unfortunately go down as another classic lost to time. It’s so upsetting because of how passionate he sounds on songs like the previously mentioned “Nothing Can Stop Us Now,” “My Ambitionz As A Ridah,” and the title track “Tha Dogg Pound Gangsta.” It’s like he wants so bad to be heard but just can’t.
Daz is known for producing songs on 2Pac’s All Eyez On Me and creating Dogg Food and that’s basically it. The contrast between the light bassline and the upbeat drums juxtapose to make an utterly blissful experience that unfortunately has received very little attention since it came out and is something I honestly feel terrible about. Possibly the best of these throwbacks, and possibly even the highlight of the entire album, is the Nate Dogg collaboration “Come Close,” where Nate performs the hook in probably the most relaxed way of his entire career.
Songs such as the opener “That’s The Way We Ride” and “Nothing Can Stop Us Now” are excellent throwbacks to the 90s west coast style of hip hop Daz helped bring to popularity in the first place. It’s something I wish was more common in hip hop as often times an album will have so many features and producers that it can hardly feel like one single person’s album.ĭespite coming out in 2005, multiple songs sound like they could have been recorded 10 years prior and no one would bat an eye. There’s a certain level of intimacy I can’t help but feel when I listen to this album as it is completely written, recorded, and produced by Daz himself with no featured rappers. This didn’t matter much to Daz though as he chose to go underground and independent with further releases and in 2005, he released Tha Dogg Pound Gangsta LP. Both released albums consistently throughout the years but reached only a fraction of the success of Dogg Food. Kurupt’s album didn’t exactly do well on the charts, but Daz’ actually went on to sell over a million copies. Neither of the members even released their debut solo albums until 1998 Kurupt with Kuruption!, and Daz Dillinger with Retaliation, Revenge, & Get Back. However, after Dogg Food, the duo didn’t release another album until 2001 with Dillinger & Young Gotti. Dre’s The Chronic and Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle, it was inevitable. How could it not have been? After both members were extensively featured on Dr. In 1995, the rap duo “Tha Dogg Pound” released their debut album Dogg Food to strong commercial success.