Daz Dillinger Files Lawsuit Against Company Managing 2Pac’s Estate

Daz Dillinger is suing the estate of the late Tupac Shakur. The Dogg Pound member and former producer for Death Row Records claims that he’s owed unpaid royalties from over a dozen songs that he either co-wrote and/or co-produced with the late 2Pac. Billboard reports that five of the over a dozen songs listed are tracks from 2Pac’s diamond-selling 1996 Death Row-released album, All Eyez On Me. 

The filing includes the following songs from the album, which was the last Shakur released during his lifetime: “Ambitionz Az a Ridah,” “Skandalouz,” “Got My Mind Made Up,” “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted,” and “I Ain’t Mad at Cha.” The complaint states that Daz (born Delmar Arnaud) claims he was paid $91,000, after he requested royalties from Amaru Entertainment in 2024. Amaru Entertainment is the company that manages Shakur’s music assets. However, Arnaud says he wasn’t given any royalty statements to validate the amount.

“At a minimum, Amaru has failed to render statements and/or pay sums due within the applicable limitations periods and continuing to the present,” said Arnaud’s attorney Bret Lewis, in a statement to Billboard. “The precise amount owed will be shown according to proof after an accounting and discovery.”

As a rapper, Daz was one of the original stars of Death Row Records, alongside his partner Kurupt as Tha Dogg Pound. He would also become one of the label’s go-to producers: in addition to his work on All Eyez On Me, Daz contributed production to platinum-selling soundtracks and albums by Snoop Dogg, Tha Dogg Pound and others for the label. 

“Amaru’s payment confirms that monies were due,” the lawsuit says, while also stating that Amaru’s alleged failure to disclose the basis for the payment prevented Arnaud from determining whether that payment was “complete, accurate, timely, and inclusive of all exploitations.”

Since Afeni Shakur’s 2016 death, Amaru has been managed by former Warner Bros head Tom Whalley chairman, who signed 2Pac to Interscope in 1991, and who has been battling for estate control with the late rapper’s sister Sekyiwa Shakur, president of the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation.

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