You can’t talk about West Coast hip-hop and not mention Daz Dillinger. For years he has been instrumental, as both a producer and a rapper, as a solo artists and as a member of the Dogg Pound with partner in rhyme Kurupt. A force to be reckoned with since the Death Row days, Daz epitomizes what a West Coast artist should be and his talent has always been undeniable.

As well as being a talented artist Daz is also a savvy businessman and one of the first artists of his caliber to release albums on an independent level. The bottom line is this, you think West Coast then you think Daz Dillinger.

Sixshot.com recently caught up with Daz to discuss his longevity in hip-hop, the Dogg Pound reunion, and his new album Only On the Left Side.

Sixshot.Com: All right Daz, the first thing I wanted to address is your history of being an independent artist. You started taking the independent route long before it was the thing to do. How did you know so long ago that it would be a format that worked?

Daz Dillinger: Honestly man, I was getting money, point blank, period. Whatever they needed they came and got from me. I just knew it would work. I would talk to a lot of my friends in the industry whether they were from th e East Coast or the West Coast and they didn’t even think it worked but eventually people saw the end results.

Sixshot.Com: That took foresight. Daz, you’re a West Coast legend who played an instrumental role in the most successful periods of time in Cali in terms of hip-hop. As a dude who has seen so much, how are you feeling about the music coming out of the West Coast today?

Daz Dillinger: West Coast hip-hop is what it is man. We’re still out here doing our thing. We’re still out here grinding. The music comes in cycles and everybody get a chance to be hot. People talk about the South but the South is putting out consistently good music. Right now it’s all about digital. If you ain’t doing digital then you’re falling behind. Digital is what it’s all about.

Sixshot.Com: Yeah man that’s how it seems right now. How do you feel about the digital sales taking over and the physical sales kind of slumping?

Daz Dillinger: Yeah I definitely like the digital and the Itunes and all that. Even if I didn’t like it I wouldn’t have much of a choice in the matter. That’s the direction the industry is headed in. 

Sixshot.Com: You have a new project our right now. What can we expect from this?

Daz Dillinger: This right here is that gangbang music, that party music, that straight up G music. We keepin’ it G on this man. Only on the left side homey, this is that gangsta music. This project shows the world we livin’ in and we gotta represent.

Sixshot.Com: So you and Kurupt are officially back as the Dogg Pound right?

Daz Dillinger: We ain't never left man. It is what it is. There may have been little issues here and there but it’s always been Dogg Pound homey, you know? We still workin’. We still doin’ projects and we getting’ better all the time. We’re better than ever.

Sixshot.Com: Will you, Snoop, and Kurupt be working together a lot in the future?

Daz Dillinger: Oh hell yeah man, we got stuff coming out. You gonna see the Dogg Pound. You gonna see Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg. It’s gonna be hot so everybody should keep their eyes open for that.

Sixshot.Com: Now Daz you’re known as both a super producer and an MC. You’re responsible for a lot of hit records and you’re also known as one of the West’s most prominent rappers. Have you ever enjoyed one more than the other?

Daz Dillinger: I mean I always have a good time in the studio man. Whether it’s me rhyming or it’s me behind the boards I’m having a good time with it. I appreciate seeing what other rappers do so I love the production side and at the same time I love being on the mic as well. I love making tracks.

Sixshot.Com: Like I said before you’ve seen a lot of different stages of the game. How much would you say it has changed from your days at Death Row until today?

Daz Dillinger: It has changed. The business side has changed. The economic side in terms of how the money is made has definitely changed, you know what I’m sayin’? The money is funny right now, you know what I’m sayin’? But I’m gonna always get it and that’s why I keep putting these albums out, you know what I’m sayin’? If there’s money to be made then I’m on it. The funny thing is how everybody is trying to the independent thing right now, you know?

I don’t blame the DJ’s. I feel like they doin’ what they supposed to be doin’. The artists ain’t really workin’ it right though because they kind of over saturating the market. Why are people gonna want to buy an album if you already put out twenty mixtapes? By the time the album drops the fans already had enough of you so they ain’t gonna run out to cop that.

Sixshot.Com: So you feel like that’s one of the main reasons why albums aren’t selling?

Daz Dillinger: I mean I don’t know if I would say that but I definitely feel like those mixtapes getting thrown out there like that ain’t a good look. It’s like these dude will throw five mixtapes for free on the internet and they ain’t making no money off of them and that doesn’t make any sense to me, you know what I’m sayin’? I’ve always put myself in a position to get money and that ain’t the route to take so I don’t understand why so many people are doing it. If all your shit is out there for free then that just ain’t poppin’ because it costs money to put records out. If five hundred thousand people are looking at it online but you ain’t making a dollar off of that then what good is it?

Sixshot.Com: How did you feel when the Death Row catalog got sold?

Daz Dillinger: I thought it was great man and when I heard that I knew that they would need the original artists to revamp the product so I had my lawyer call them and set that up. We can revamp all of those projects. That’s what the fans want. We are Death Row, you know what I’m sayin’? We were gonna do it with Koch but then we kinda thought fuck that. They give you a 100 g’s for an album and that’s it. I got a deal with their distribution. I got so many deals it’s ridiculous.

Sixshot.Com: So you guys are going to be revamping the Death Row stuff then?

Daz Dillinger: Yeah Kurupt and me are gonna be doing videos for all the songs off the Dogg Food album like "Bomb Ass Pussy" and all that. We got a lot coming up.

Sixshot.Com: You think you’ll be able to introduce some new fans to the Dogg Pound?

Daz Dillinger: Yeah and I think that’ll be because of the videos because that’s what really catches the audience, you know what I mean?

Sixshot.Com: All right Daz, so tell us what you have coming up.

Daz Dillinger: I got the 100 Ways album produced by me. I got a movie coming up called Make it Rain with Alfamega and Kuntry King. You could see the trailer on Youtube. Only On The Left Side is out right now. We’re messin’ with the digital distribution because that’s where the whole world is going right now.

Sixshot.Com: Anything you’d like to say to all your fans out there?

Daz Dillinger: First off I wanna thank Sixshot.Com for having me, I appreciate the love. I wanna thank all my fans that have been down with me for all these years. I’m gonna continue to give ya’ll that great music and make sure you cop Only On The Left Side.