While the name of So So Def's newest signee has had multiple variations—Daz, Daz Dillinger, Dat Nigga Daz—his credo hasn't. Ever since his days with the historic Death Row Records and the Snoop Dogg-headed Dogg Pound crew, Daz has laced the same bassline-heavy beats and spewed the same West Coast gangsta flows that he helped originate. So, understandably, Daz's alignment with Jermaine Dupri's notably crossover-friendly So So Def Recordings had a few fans of the West Coast legend raising their eyebrows. But with his So So Def debut, So So Gangsta, Daz maintains his place in the West Coast gangsta scene while gaining new ground.

It's clear from the opening bars of “Thang On My Hip” that Daz hasn't lost a step in his California strut. “We can do whatever, nigga I been around...I rose from the underground,” a hungry Daz spews over an ominous No I.D. production. Daz is still gangsta, and he's still quick with the tongue. “Dangerous,” “Rat A Tat Tat” and “Dat's Dat Nigga” feature Daz going for dolo, energetically spitting the hardcore rhymes he built his career on with equally tough soundscapes. It's also fun to see Daz working with old friends: both the “Money On My Mind” and “DPG Fo' Life” reunions with Kurupt and Snoop Dogg, respectively, steams of old school G-Funk, while Daz competes with Ice Cube for best verse honors on the hard as nails “Strizap.”

The pleasant surprises on So So Gangsta appear through Daz's surprisingly natural chemistry with Jermaine Dupri. In return for Daz substituting the gangsterisms for light-hearted rhymes every once in a while, the producer/mogul deftly navigates various collaborations with mainstream-friendly artists to perfection. Daz and pusher-turned-emcee Rick Ross trade bars over infectious flutes and trombones on “On Some Real,” while Dupri's sultry strings on “The One” flawlessly back Jagged Edge's vocals and Daz's surprisingly potent ode to ups and downs with a significant other. Along with more high-scale collaborations, Dupri also offers tantalizing backdrops on “All I Need” and “Weekend,” each of which Daz easily adapts to the situation and spits appropriate rhymes and game.

So So Gangsta isn't perfect; minute-plus long intros before many of the tracks get annoying (separate interludes would've worked fine), and while “Badder Than A Mutha” is a decent track, it doesn't live up to the rest of the LP. Still, So So Gangsta swiftly delivers the best of both worlds: satisfying doses of both JD's trademark So So Def production and Daz's signature gangsta flow.