Xzibit: Dr. Dre's Hit Man

He’s got his own label, Open Bar Entertainment, a spot on Eminem’s Anger Management Tour and his fourth and most powerful album to date, MAN VS. MACHINE is executive produced by Dr. Dre. X to the Z is bizack!

One of X’s most marketable qualities, besides his distinct, rugged vocals that make your soul rumble, is his accessibility: Everyone respects X. Left Coast, East Coast and every spot in between. He is the best of both worlds. “Don’t use no R. Kelly terms with me!” Xzibit replies defensively. “She said ‘The best of both worlds.’ No!” Sitting in his NYC hotel after a night of managing his anger on stage at the Continental Airlines Arena in New Jersey, Xzibit is quick to differentiate his cross-coast popularity from Kelly’s X-rated mingling with minors. But he does agree his appeal is universal. “I feel like I walk a fine line,” explains X. “I don’t pigeonhole myself as just a West Coast artist. I’ve grown to be international. My first gold record was from Germany. I represent the West but I feel like Hip Hop is international. I try to be global with my sh*t.” Besides, the once very obvious borders drawn between specific music styles are blurring. “The difference between NY and Cali as far as I’m concerned is the slang. We both still got bullshit and good sh*t and bad sh*t, just different things. It’s a lot faster out here in NY. Out West, we stick to our roots. I’m still wearing khakis and chucks.”

Maybe, though he lives the L.A. lifestyle and got put on by Dre, he gets extra respect from the East because his ex-label Loud birthed NYC’s hardcore underground hip-hop movement with artists like the Wu-Tang Clan and Mobb Deep. Or maybe it’s just that the stories he spits defy region. X’s past is grim. Growing up wasn’t all gravy. And on MAN VS. MACHINE, he chooses to reveal more than before. It’s his most personal album yet. “Missin’ U” is about his ma who died when he was very young and on “Release Date,” X speaks about his brother who has been in jail for ten years. “A lot of people have a f**ked up childhood and have had something wack happen to them and they use that as an excuse for why they’re still f**king up. But I just find that it’s something else. I’d rather use my bad and positive experiences to say and do something good.” X is proof-positive that hard work can pay off. “This is by no means easy. I got my priorities straight. A lot of rappers may have talent but they don’t have drive or discipline to do what they have to do. Because that’s what it takes. It takes a lot of self-discipline and focus on what you want to do and what you want out of this business. That’s what keeps me motivated and keeps my sh*t constantly going in an upward position, not just tragedy after tragedy. Some of that shit ni**as be doing to they goddamn self.”

Quite possibly, it was X’s extreme work ethic that attracted one of Hip Hop’s hottest producers to him. “Dr. Dre is a perfectionist,” X points out. “He knows what he wants and he brings the best out of the artist. I’m not the kind of artist that goes in with my hand out and has to be babysat all the time. So I go in there and do what I have to do and he appreciates that.” Dre appears on “Symphony In X Major,” an opera-influenced Hip Hop joint. X also worked with DJ Premier on “What A Mess,” Bink on the way too fonky and soulful “Gambler,” Ty Fyffe, Ric Rock and Rockwilder. “When I pick producers, I go by the vibe of the music. Everything’s on a feel basis. I only put things on my album that fit me and what I was trying to do. I do a lot of my records from scratch. I go in the studio and sit with the producer and boom.”

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Coming up with the Likwit Crew, X knows that success comes with support. And he plans to spread both. His current crew, the Golden State Warriors are putting out their debut, The Golden State Project on X’s label, Open Bar Entertainment. Similar to Nelly’s setup with the Lunatics, X’s career took off first, but the plan was always to push the group. “It’s just a matter of time. It’s like the movie theater theory when we were kids. There’s not enough money to get everybody up at the same time. So one person gets in and whoever gonna open the door, everybody else is gonna get in. If I have to be that person, so be it. But we all looking eye to eye. Ain’t nobody looking like nobody’s doing each other any favors. This is how it’s supposed to be from the beginning.”