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Xzibit
Xzibit performing live in Berlin, 2007
Background information
Birth name	Alvin Nathaniel Joiner
Born	Detroit, Michigan, United States
Genre(s)	Hip hop
Occupation(s)	Rapper, actor, TV host
Years active	1995 – present
Label(s)	Loud, Sony, Open Bar, Koch
Associated acts	Likwit Crew, Tha Alkaholiks, Ras Kass, Kurupt, Saafir, Jellyroll, X-Ecutioners, Eminem
Website	www.xzibit.com

Alvin Nathaniel Joiner, better known by his stage name Xzibit (pronounced as "exhibit"), is an American rapper, actor, and television personality. He is also known for hosting MTV's Pimp My Ride. He has released a new album once every two years since his 1996 debut At the Speed of Life until his most recent Full Circle, which was released in October 2006.

Rise to fame

Xzibit is a member of the West Coast Crew, a loose collective of West Coast rappers including Tha Alkaholiks and King Tee. After touring with them in 1995, Loud Records released the young rapper's debut album, At the Speed of Life in 1996. He expanded his following with a series of albums beginning in the late 1990s, ultimately aligning himself with hip hop kingpin Dr. Dre. Xzibit's big breakthrough came when he joined Snoop Dogg for the Dr. Dre-produced hit, "Bitch Please." What followed were some high profile guest appearances on Dr. Dre's 6x platinum album 2001, on songs like "What's the Difference?" and "Some L.A. Niggaz". By this time, Dre had invited the young rapper to criss-cross America during summer 2000 with the "Up in Smoke" tour which featured Snoop, Eminem, and Ice Cube, among many others. That winter, Loud released Xzibit's Restless with Dr. Dre as executive producer, which boasted the single X. The song became the rapper's biggest hit yet since "What U See Is What U Get".¹

Xzibit in Miami at the MTV Music Awards 2004.

Xzibit returned with another album, Man vs. Machine, yet again he fell a bit short of mainstream success, although he did manage to go gold.² He continued to collaborate with his closest West Coast colleagues, primarily Ras Kass and Saafir with whom he formed The Golden State Project rap collective,³ and Tha Liks, along with bigger names like Snoop Dogg and Eminem. His allegiance to the West Coast and former colleagues continued to win him much respect from his fans. Weapons of Mass Destruction followed two years later which also managed to go gold.⁴

Ventures

Television

Xzibit further established his international fame as the host of MTV's Pimp My Ride. Together with West Coast Customs (and after season four with Galpin Auto Sports) they refurbish and upgrade young people's old beat-up cars with detailed paint jobs, hi-tech audio entertainment, and a variety of extravagant custom, installations.⁵ Xzibit was also featured in a guest role as a rapper on the U.S. crime drama CSI: Miami. In 2006, Xzibit was featured in a parody of Pimp My Ride on the Adult Swim cartoon, The Boondocks. Xzibit has appeared in an episode of The Weakest Link with other rappers like Rev Run, Nate Dogg, B-Real and Jermaine Dupri. He also appeared in the video for the song "Twisted Transistor" by KoЯn.

Xzibit performing in Adelaide, 2007.

Feature films

Xzibit has appeared in several acting roles on the big screen. He portrayed Duncan in Full Clip in 2004 and Dexter in Derailed in 2005, and he played Chief Grizzly in the animated movie Hoodwinked that year. He also played Zeke in XXX: State of the Union in 2005, and in 2007 he co-starred along with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in the movie Gridiron Gang. He also had a cameo role as a freestyling co-worker of Eminem's at New Detroit Stamping in 8 Mile. He played an FBI agent in 2008's The X-Files: I Want to Believe.⁶

Video games

Xzibit provided the voice for Abbott in the critically acclaimed 2004 video game, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. Xzibit is featured in the fighting game, Def Jam: Fight For NY, being aligned to Snoop Dogg's (who lends his likeness and voice to the character Crow) group and fights with kickboxing-like attacks. Xzibit is also in the video game for Pimp My Ride. Xzibit is the main player's "guide" in NFL Street 2 and appears as a quarterback, and is also the narrator of the tutorial mode. His song "The Mad In Game" was in Madden NFL 2001 and he was an unlockable character on Team ECKO.His song "klack" appeared in the racing game Jucied.

Controversy

J-Ro and the Likwit Crew

Xzibit had started his career with the Likwit Crew, but after being "co-signed" by Dr. Dre and associating with his camp in the late 90s, Xzibit began to distance himself from his former crew. Xzibit later claimed that he could have gained fame without Tha Alkaholiks, the flagship group of the Likwit Crew, and criticized the crew's founder King Tee. J-Ro would respond on "Look Out (Tha X Homie)", a simmering criticism of Xzibit which, among other claims, dismisses his gangsta posturing as a supposed Crip, and criticizes his previous attacks on Jermaine Dupri while ignoring Snoop Dogg's criticisms.⁷ Xzibit did not respond to J-Ro, and things have calmed down since then. Xzibit has since resumed collaborations with The Alkaholiks, King Tee and Defari. His latest collaboration with Tha Alkaholiks was in 2008 performing in L.A which was recorded and is to be released on DVD in July 2008.

Rove McManus

In June 2007, Xzibit left the Rove Live studios in Australia before an appearance. Media outlets reported that it was due to Xzibit not being given stand alone billing on the program despite not being booked in advance. According to Xzibit he walked off the set after taking offense to comments made by a Rove employee, who after informing Xzibit that his performance time would not be to his liking allegedly said: "you know we came a long way just having you on the program." Xzibit took this to be a racist remark, staff allege they were referring to him being a late booking.⁸

Gumball 3000

Xzibit at the Gumball 3000 Rally, London 2007.

In the Gumball 3000 2007 rally, Xzibit drove a black Jaguar XJ220. During the first day of the rally, Dutch police seized his driver's license for doing 160 km/h where only 100 km/h was allowed. After the penalty, his co-driver, producer Fredwreck Nassar took over the wheel and they were allowed to continue.⁹ In an interview with Dutch radio personality Reinout 'Q-Bah' van Gendt,¹⁰ Xzibit says that he mistook the kilometers for miles. Ultimately he never got his license back from the Dutch Police and had to apply for a new one in the United States.

Discography

Main article: Xzibit discography

• At the Speed of Life (1996)
• 40 Dayz & 40 Nightz (1998)
• Restless (2000)
• Man vs. Machine (2002)
• Weapons of Mass Destruction (2004)
• Full Circle (2006)

Filmography

• The Breaks (1999), Jamal
• Tha Eastsidaz (2000), Blue
• The Slim Shady Show (2001), Knuckles
• The Wash (2001), Wayne
• 8 Mile (2002), Mike
• Full Clip (2004), Duncan
• The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (2004), Abbott – voice
• xXx: State of the Union (2005), Zeke
• Derailed (2005), Dexter
• Hoodwinked (2005), Chief Grizzly – voice
• The Boondocks (2006), himself – voice
• Gridiron Gang (2006), Malcolm Moore
• The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008), Agent Mosley Drummy
• Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009), Big Fade
• Fast and Furious (2009), Danny
• Fencewalker (2009)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Xzibit

• Official Xzibit website
• Sony Music's Official Xzibit website
• Official Xzibit Fansite
• Xzibit at the Internet Movie Database
• Xzibit at MySpace