Tha Eastsidaz have gotten a taste of what it feels like to be on the wrong side of the game. The group claims that the man who brought them to West Coast prominence, Snoop Dogg, duped the them of over $1 million each. With platinum and gold albums on their resume, Tha Eastsidaz say they have received about $240,000 and a platinum chain as payment for their success.
Obviously, Snoop Dogg’s alleged reciprocity practices do not bode well with Tha Eastsidaz. The situation has reportedly gotten heated to the point of violence. Alongside a reputable accounting firm, they have decided to take their fight to the legal arena to get what is due them. AllHipHop.com talked to Tha Eastsidaz’s Tray Dee hours before an alleged and well-publicized shooting incident. The rapper was arrested in his home after a witness stated he was involved with the felony.
Still, regardless of the case, the group just wants justice – by any means. Read the shocking interview.
Allhiphop.com: We received a press release with a statement saying some disparaging things about Snoop Dogg. Is any of what I read true?
Tray Deee: That’s as real as it gets, brother. They are a bunch of bustas, man. A bunch of opportunists who saw what was really going on and was hiding behind closed doors and really wasn’t participating in it. They got their stories together and created a character, man. They are like those “Peanuts” characters from Charlie Brown. They are a bunch of fabricated images without a foundation under them. One day, they kickin’ “187 on an undercover cop,” but deep down inside, he wanted to be a little pimp. I guess when the fame caught him, he got caught up in all the glitz and glamour. What he aspired to be when he looked out of his window, he wanted to be me.
Allhiphop.com: The first Eastsidaz album went platinum, right?
Tray Deee: The first one went platinum. The second one was headed to platinum, but they sabotaged it after we found out what the situation really was as far as how they did us on points and royalties.
Allhiphop.com: Did they pay you and Goldie Loc the amount of money you were due from the first album?
Tray Deee: We actually received $40,000.
Allhiphop.com: You only got $40,000 from a platinum album? Who in the hell received the gist of that money?
Tray Deee: Snoop and TVT.
Allhiphop.com: What kind of numbers did the second album hit?
Tray Deee: It went gold. It sold about 700,000 copies.
Allhiphop.com: How was the money divvied up on that album?
Tray Deee: We got a $200,000 advance and that was it. They raked in all the spoils and didn’t divide it. Snoop was all in it with that Steve Gottlieb dude. He tried to play all innocent and all that. He’s still smoking blunts and coaching kids, man. He’s the biggest sucker of them all. He ran. I tried to address the situation with him as a man. We’ve been going at it for the past two years. I’ve been trying to resolve with him diplomatically, not going to court, because I want him to say, “yeah man, I did wrong, but let me make it right.” He ain’t man enough to even do that. He would rather hire a bunch of security to protect me from getting to him. I’ve been checking him, man. He’s been living off of my “G” reputation since 1995.
Allhiphop.com: On the outside, Snoop seems cool. But you know him – how is he outside of the cameras and paparazzi?
Tray Deee: He’s a family man, wants to do right by his children. His wife runs the household. He just wants his little space to act like he’s pimpin’, but in actuality he’s paying. He’s paying Don (Magic) Juan and the hoes. He’s Don Juan’s main hoe! He don’t walk around Long Beach or nothing like that. He sends scouts out to look around to see who’s where so he knows which places to avoid. So when he shows up, everything’s cool. He has 20 bodyguards surrounding him with a bunch of blunt rollers and yes men.
Allhiphop.com: I was reading a story about he gave you and Goldie Loc a chain as payment for the album. Is there any truth to that?
Tray Deee: Yeah, a little platinum chain. He tried to say it cost $71,000, but then he turned around and said that’s what he paid for 10 of them. The first ones he gave us were cubic zirconias and silver. Then, he went to the jeweler and had them do up about 10 real pieces. I went and finished getting mine flooded out on my own expense. He’ll give you $5,000 to write a verse for him, or $5,000-$10,000 to do a song with him. He’ll turn around and make a million, or two or three.
Allhiphop.com: Snoop has to be a multi-millionaire with all of that going on.
Tray Deee: If you tell him you’re doing bad, he’ll give you $50 or something, then tell the bodyguards to show you the door.
Allhiphop.com: What was the situation when you went to his house and tried to collect the money he owes you?
Tray Deee: I went on peace to tell him to come clean with what he owes me. He ran out of his house and hopped in his truck. His bodyguard tried to tell him to come back. I told him to go ahead, add it up and chip mines off. I came back the next day to collect, and his people fired on me.
Allhiphop.com: They shot at you?
Tray Deee: Yeah, they unleashed some shots at me.
Allhiphop.com: Well, the word on the street was you were shaking Snoop down. He was actually paying you.
Tray Deee: No, we weren’t shaking him down. He was paying the homeboys to keep the rest of the homeboys off of him. He’s a b#### boy. He don’t take care of his people, man. He don’t got no businesses in the city, none of that.
Allhiphop.com: Do you have any sort of legal leg to stand on in all of this?
Tray Deee: Fa sho, fa sho! I got Fred Moutrie from an accounting firm (Moss Adams LLP) who says they owe us $1,000,000 a piece.
Allhiphop.com: You and Goldie Loc are owed in excess of $1,000,000 each?
Tray Deee: Yep. Me and Goldie. But now, I’m the talent coordinator for the Xtreme Fighting Championships.
Allhiphop.com: Really?
Tray Deee: Yeah, I’m on the Board of Directors; I’m a shareholder. Tito Ortiz is my business partner.
Allhiphop.com: Tito Ortiz is the truth. He will split your wig in four or five places in a second.
Tray Deee: I want to tell to Snoop to go to the Staples Center and meet me in the Octagon. No holds barred for $1,000,000 a piece. I’ll give him 90 days to train for it, too. Him and his security detail. We’ll match off weight classes. We’ll do it on pay per view. Him and his security against me and my homeboys. Tell him he can even get G-Unit since he’s on their nuts. He can name his squad the DPG Unit, since he’s on 50 Cent’s and Chingy’s nuts. Get 50 Cent and his boys, too! He can get G-Unit and the Chingy posse against Tray Deee and the Eastside Crips. He wants P-Diddy to produce his next album. How is he going to be a West Coast artist and his last two singles was “From The Chuuch To Da Palace” and “Beautiful?”