It’s time to ride! Tha Dogg Pound reunited after a series of beefs, disses, going separate ways and new affiliations with adversaries, the original Doggfather Snoop Doggy Dogg, lyrical assassin Kurupt a.k.a. Young Gotti and the multi-talented beatsmith/verbalizer Daz Dillinger are ready to shake up the industry once again. Ever since the infamous “New York, New York” video back in ’95, HipHopDX.com had to get an exclusive interview and see what buildings Tha Dogg Pound are going to kick down next with their new album Cali Iz Active," that drops June 27 on Snoop’s label, Doggy Style Records and distributor Koch. With one of the craziest line-ups in a long time, including Busta Rhymes, RBX, Soopafly, Bad Azz, B-Real, David Banner, and Paul Wall along with producers Battlecat, Fredwreck, The Alchemist, Jazzy Fay, Diddy and Swizz Beats, the Dogg Pound’s not playing.

Catching up with the original duo that created the classic debut album Dogg Food before going solo and recording numerous independent projects, Daz and Kurupt mutually sounded ecstatic about banging out Dogg Pound heat once again and reestablishing their West Coast reign.

HHDX: Off the bat, I want to thank you both for contributing to my future hearing loss from my constant blasting of especially Dogg Food (Tha Dogg Pound, 1995), Retaliation, Revenge & Get Back (Daz, 1998) and Streetz Iz a Mutha (Kurupt, 1999).

Daz: Ha! Fa sho, man. I appreciate it.

Kurupt: Ya know! What’s crackalakin’?

HHDX: After all the beef and everything that went down throughout the years, Kurupt’s affiliation with Suge, etc., I heard you both squashed everything at an amusement park by fate?

Daz: Yeah. I was taking my daughter out on her birthday and Kurupt was up there. We had talked a few days before but we didn’t know we were going to be up there. We were like, let’s cut the bullshit and lay it down. It’s moving forward with DPG. What we had back then is what we can have greater this time.

HHDX: Talk about getting back with Snoop.

Kurupt: Snoop is the forefather. He’s the one that made it all happen for everybody. Being back with Snoop is like being back with your commander-in-chief. The commander-in-chief is going to set the pace for everybody and put you into position. Everyone gets their position and does their part and the focus is in everybody’s benefit. It’s great to be back under that leadership because it brings positivity, growth for the families, the children - the whole bowl of wax. Continued on page 2 »