Daz Dillinger Calls Out Dr. Dre Over "The Chronic" Royalties

Dr. Dre’s seminal solo debut, The Chronic, celebrated its 31st anniversary on Friday (December 15). The iconic West Coast gangsta rap album not only ushered in the G-Funk era but also helped launch the careers of Snoop Dogg, Lady of Rage, Daz Dillinger, Nate Dogg, Kurput and many more.

But not everybody is necessarily celebrating. Taking to Instagram, Daz Dillinger—who contributed to “B####es Ain’t S###,” “The Day The N##### Took Over,” “The Roach (Outro)” and “Deeez Nuuuts”—called out Dr. Dre and Interscope Records over an alleged lack of payment.

He wrote, “HAPPY 31st C DAY TO THE CHRONIC @drdre BUT WHEN CAN WE RECEIVE OUR ROYALITIES ARE YOU OR @interscope GONE ROBB US LIKE @deathrowrecords 2024 & THE N##### FROM THE PAST WHO RAN IT str8 Bitchez FUCEM REMEMBER DAZ COPYRIGHT REVERSIONS LAW IZ FILED I WANT % not points SO YALL ON A TIME LIMIT 4MORE YRS TIL IT REVERTS BAC THEN ITS REALLY LIKE FUCCEM I AINT CLEARING S### up IM COMIN.”

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A post shared by Dazzel Dillinger (@dazdillinger)

Former Death Row Records artist RBX contributed to six songs on The Chronic, including “High Powered,” “Stranded On Death Row” and “Lyrical Gangbang.” But contract disputes and issues with ex-Death Row CEO Suge Knight proved too much to tolerate, and he left in 1994. Speaking to AllHipHop in May, he suggested he’s moved past the royalties dispute.

I don’t cry over spilled milk though ’cause I believe in a higher power and everything that was done was done for a reason,” he said at the time. “That’s why we still here. And at the end of the day, they might have run out and did this and that, but they can’t take my name and they can’t take my voice. And I still got these pens and pads to write these rhymes and they didn’t write s### for me—I wrote for them.”

He continued, “It feels good ’cause we did work hard on it. It wasn’t like it was a cake walk. Even though Dre didn’t make us walk to Harlem to get him no cheesecake or some balloons, we were out there because we had that Death Row on our back. At that time we was pushing the line, it wasn’t a nice thing. It was real Death Row. It got a lot of respect from some people and got a lot of hate from others.

“You walked the fine line any day you went anywhere. Dre was my loved one. We have grown apart or whatnot, but me and Dre never had no problems. My problems always came from Suge. And then Suge would put pressure on them. Knowing that, I thought it would be best for me to fall back.”

In January, it was reported Dr. Dre was selling a number of his music assets and other sources of income in deals with Universal Music Group (UMG) and investment firm Shamrock Capital. The combined sale price of all the assets, which include the master recordings for The Chronic, was $200 million.