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Alvin Nathaniel Joiner (born September 18, 1974) better known by his stage name Xzibit, is an American rapper, actor, and television personality, who was born in Detroit, Michigan and was raised in Los Angeles, California by his father and stepmother. 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. Xzibit, born into a tough life living in Detroit, also had to grow up without his mother by his side. She sadly passed away when he was only 9. He was then living with his dad. Without any entertainment to occupy himself he started writing rhymes at age 10, he didn't even have a radio to listen to. His Father and step-mom moved the family to New Mexico. Xzibit was then taken out of home at 14 after constantly getting into trouble. When he turned 17 he was released from the state as he was now considered an adult. Xzibit then made his way to California looking to start his music career. At a very young age he was taught to write by his mother Trena who passed away when Xzibit was nine years old. His father re-married and the family moved to Los Angeles where Xzibit spent his adolescence. At the age of 13, Xzibit began listening to rap and writing lyrics. But it didn't go over well with his retired Marine father and strict stepmother, who were both Jehovah's Witnesses. From 14 to 17, Xzibit spent much of his time on the streets of Los Angeles and began to get into trouble. His misfortunes followed him to school and he was expelled from the high schools in L.A. In the song "Carry the Weight" Xzibit tell's the story about the crazy driven life he has had during the childhood. Xzibit started off as a member of the Likwit Crew, a loose collective of West Coast rappers including Tha Alkaholiks and King T. 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". 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. 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, 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. Xzibit also guest starred in the song Stand Up on the 2005 Alice Cooper album Dirty Diamonds. Xzibit used to be a part of a group called Strong Arm Steady with Mitchy Slick, Phil The Agony and Krondon, a group he practically founded. Xzibit actually left the group recently when they signed to Talib Kweli's Blacksmith Records. They are expected to release their first album, "Arms And Hammers" in the fall of 2006 under Blacksmith Music Corporation. On July 7, 2007, Xzibit performed at the Japanese leg of Live Earth in Tokyo. In the 2005 video, 'Twisted Transistor' By KoRn, Xzibit portrayed the bassist Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu. 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. 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 also appeared in an episode of The Weakest Link with other rappers like Rev Run, Nate Dogg, B-Real and Jermaine Dupri. 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. He also played Zeke in XXX: State of the Union in 2005. He also had a cameo role as a freestyling co-worker of Eminem's at New Detroit Stamping in 8 Mile. In 2006, he starred in Hoodwinked, as the voice of Chief Grizzly, and co-starred with former pro wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in the movie Gridiron Gang. He will play an FBI agent in 2008's Untitled X-Files Sequel. 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, Pimp My Ride. Xzibit is the main player's "guide" in NFL Street 2, and is also the narrator of the tutorial mode. Record producer Jermaine Dupri stated in an interview that his production skills were on par, if not better than Dr. Dre's and Timbaland's. The two named producers discussed Dupri's claims over the telephone, and Dr. Dre's camp would be the first to respond. The first response to Dupri was Say What You Say which appeared on Eminem's The Eminem Show album and the song featured Dre with Timbaland on the outro. Xzibit affiliated with Aftermath and in the response of Dupri, he did even diss Xzibit. He responded in his album Man vs. Machine in the track "Say My Name" with assists from Eminem and the chorus sang by Nate Dogg. Xzibit also dissed Dupri on the mixtape track entitled "Short People". Since then Dupri has not yet responded. 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. 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. In June 2007, Xzibit left the Rove Live studios in Australia before an appearance. Media out-lets 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 offence 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. In the Gumball 3000 2007 rally, Xzibit took part driving a black Lamborghini Gallardo. During the first day of the rally, Dutch police seized his driver's license for doing 160 km/h where only 100 km/h allowed. After the penalty, his co-driver, producer Fredwreck Nassar, took over the wheel and they were allowed to continue. In an interview with Dutch radiopersonality Reinout 'Q-Bah' van Gendt, Xzibit says that he mistook the kilometers for miles. Ultimately he never got his license back from the Dutch Police. Therefore he applied for a new one in the United States. |
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