Thug Life Army

West coast rapper/producer Daz Dillinger will be a busy man in 2005, when he plans to drop two new albums and join Snoop Dogg on the road for an extensive tour. "It's going to be a real big show," Dillinger tells Billboard.com of the outing, which will also feature Pharrell Williams and Soopafly. "It starts Jan. 20 and will run for about four months. We''ll be doing some overseas stuff, too."

Dillinger promises the shows will feature material from his earliest collaborations with Snoop as part of Tha Dogg Pound. "We''ll rock a lot of old school stuff from that," he says, adding with a laugh, "we''ve been around for a decade!"

As for his upcoming releases, the first, "Tha Dogg Pound Gangsta LP," will arrive Jan. 25 via Gangsta Advisory. The 19-track set features guest spots from George Clinton, Nate Dogg and Shorty B, among others.

Later in the year, the artist will release an album under the moniker Daz via Jermaine Dupri's So So Def label, his first as part of a deal signed in October 2003. Nate Dogg is set to appear on a track titled "Boyz in Da Hood."

Dillinger is also working on hip hop's teenage rapper Bow Wow's next So So Def release, due in the first half of 2005.