Retaliation, Revenge and Get Back

by Leo StanleyCome the spring of 1998, Death Row was a mighty lonely place. Dr. Dre had been gone for nearly two years, Snoop Dogg enlisted in the No Limit army, 2pac was dead, Suge was in jail. Only Dat Nigga Daz -- now known as Daz Dillinger -- remained, and he was determined to keep the Death Row torch burning with his first solo album, Retaliation, Revenge and Get Back. It's a bit better than tha Dogg Pound's disappointing 1995 effort Dogg Food, but it finds Daz in an awkward position. He does what he does -- namely, G-funk -- well, but in 1998 G-funk is an anachronism. True, Master P built upon the G-funk sound (no matter how much he would like to deny it), but his stripped-down, cheap productions are the sound of the late '90s -- the loping beats and whiny synths of G-funk belong to the early '90s. And that's where Daz is stuck, no matter how you look at it. If you look past that, however, Retaliation, Revenge and Get Back is a solid record that delivers exactly what it promises -- straight-up gangsta rap, nothing more and nothing less. There are no surprises, but few albums since Doggystyle have given the G-funk audience exactly what they want as Retaliation does. By that standard, Daz's debut is a success.