Alex Cline, Vinny Golia, Peter Erskine, and in 1994, as his extracurricular gigs became more time-consuming, he left CSUN to focus professionally on music full-time. Career 1990s Budahat, session work, The Firm, Poe At CSUN, Elizondo played bass and wrote songs for Budahat, a Rock/R&B band that he founded with a childhood friend, Trevor Lawrence, Jr. In 1995, the band was signed by Atlantic. Although their album was never released, the experience provided Elizondo with an education in publishing and the record industry, and introduced him as a songwriter and musician to prominent producers including T-Bone Burnett, Glen Ballard, Matthew Wilder, and Matt Wallace. As he became more in-demand as a session musician, he played on records by artists including Sheryl Crow, Ry Cooder, Fiona Apple, Perla Batalla. In 1996, Elizondo was booked as a session musician for the recording of The Album, by The Firm, a hip hop supergroup composed of Nas, Foxy Brown, AZ, and Nature. Produced by Dr. Dre and the Trackmasters, it was one of the first records released on Dre's then newly founded Aftermath label. The Firm sessions marked the start of Elizondo's relationship with Dre. Elizondo met Poe through Matt Wallace in 1997, and co-wrote four songs for her second Atlantic album, Haunted, including its title track. Following the release of the album, he was signed to a publishing deal with producer Steve Lindsey, who had a co-venture with Windswept Pacific. Elizondo later said: "Steve was the one early on, who truly believed in my potential as a songwriter." 2000s ==== Dr. Dre, Eminem, Get Rich or Die Tryin''' ==== Shortly after he signed his publishing deal, Elizondo began to work steadily on Aftermath projects as part of Dre's core creative team. He played on Dre's solo album 2001 in 1999, and continued to work closely with him for the next 11 years as a multi-instrumentalist (bass, keyboards, and guitars), songwriter, and producer. Elizondo—who was with Dre when he and Eminem met—scored his first co-writing credit with Dre for "The Real Slim Shady" from Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP. Also written with Tommy Coster, Jr., "The Real Slim Shady," the song "made Eminem a phenomenon,", with The Marshall Mathers LP selling more than 1.8 million albums in its first week. "The Real Slim Shady" won a Grammy, hit the US Top 10, and entered the UK chart at No. 1. As of 2019, with more