Judging by Xzibit’s gruff, authoritative and infrequently sinister voice, you wouldn’t essentially suppose he has a pointy humorousness, however he does. When as soon as requested to call his High 5 favourite rappers, he cheekily replied, “Dylan, Dylan, Dylan, Dylan, Dylan,” a reference to Dave Chappelle’s 2004 parody of Puff Daddy’s MTV actuality present Making the Band 2.
In particular person, Xzibit is charismatic, participating and, sure, humorous. We first turned acquainted with his singular voice along with his 1996 solo debut, On the Velocity of Life. However 12 years have handed because the West Coast rap luminary, additionally identified for internet hosting MTV’s Pimp My Trip and his 1999 collaboration with Dr. Dre, “What’s the Distinction”, that includes Eminem, from 2001, has launched his personal file.
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That may change in 2025, when the X to the Z roars again along with his new challenge, Kingmaker, the (very) long-awaited follow-up to 2012’s Napalm. Thus far, he’s launched three singles and movies from the challenge: “Play This at My Funeral,” “Been a Lengthy Time (Pt. 2)” and “All over the place I Go” that includes Dem Jointz.
Now 50, Xzibit is making a few of his most introspective music. There are nonetheless moments of self-aggrandizement, however his arduous life experiences, together with the 2008 loss of life of his toddler son and his 2021 divorce, have given him a deeper perspective.
“There’s been a variety of progress,” he tells me. “I’ve quite a bit to say, and I imagine that I discovered my voice. Once I say I discovered my voice, it’s not using it, sound of it, tone of it, or inflection, I believe I discovered what I’m presupposed to be saying and what I have to be saying. I really feel empowered with the music that we’ve been in a position to make”
Kingmaker will mark one of many first releases on Dollar Data, an Irish file label co-founded by UFC ex-champion Conor McGregor and enterprise companions Richard Buck and Julian O’Brien.
“I believe we’ve got a bonus of the unknown,” Xzibit says of the brand new enterprise. “I don’t suppose individuals know what to anticipate, and I like that. I like these odds.”
Regardless of its grandiose title, Kingmaker, he says, actually “has nothing to do with royalty or having energy or superiority over anybody.”
To him, it means he’s lastly at some extent in his life the place he’s comfy in his personal pores and skin.
“I’m talking from a spot of expertise, empowerment, positivity, and a few actually harsh life classes that hopefully I’ve defined and lived by and set an instance for those that can relate,” he says. “I believe that’s the place I’m. I believe this file is a couple of switch of knowledge, issues, habits, mindsets and consistencies which have made me profitable. And in order that’s type of what I’ve been attempting to painting, not solely by motion however in my artwork.”
Xzibit admits it took him approach too lengthy to get to a spot the place he’s comfy with being so weak.
“Wins, losses, , attracts, you title it, I’ve been by it,” he says. “I want I might have had this a very long time in the past. I believe we lock ourselves up within the prisons of our minds much more than we must always and must.
“We give individuals and circumstances a variety of energy over our existence, and once I cease giving a fuck about what individuals suppose or say, it helps quite a bit with that journey,” he says. “However finally, you must make the selection to be like, ‘Look, regardless of who this impacts, a very powerful factor is my peace.’”
And possibly attaining that peace meant stepping away from making solo albums for some time so he might concentrate on different ventures. After dropping Napalm, he pivoted to doing extra tv, showing in reveals like Hawaii 5-0, American Dad!, and Empire. In April, he expanded his enterprise portfolio by opening Xzibit West Coast Hashish, the first-ever hashish and supply service in Bel Air, California.
That’s to not say he fully deserted music. In 2018, he launched one other Serial Killers album with Cypress Hill’s B-Actual, known as Day of the Useless and adopted up with Summer season of Sam in 2020. He additionally seems on Ice Dice’s new album, Man Down, on the tune “Break the Mirror.” In the meantime, he’s been chipping away at Kingmaker within the studio, making certain it lives as much as his expectations.
Whereas the record of who options on Kingmaker are nonetheless below embargo, Xzibit rattled off a few names that would probably pop up—a simple conclusion merely on account of his admiration for his or her ability ranges.
“I actually imagine that Royce Da 5’9 is bigger than the props he receives, regardless that he receives an amazing quantity of accolades,” he hints. “I imagine that that brother needs to be in everyone’s High 5. I believe Killer Mike has a supply and a ardour that makes him excel at MCing. He connects like a preacher; he connects to your soul. I might go on and on, however these two brothers proper there so far as the way in which that they make me really feel about hip-hop is excellent.”
And it’s clear with every new tune that trickles out that Xzibit nonetheless has a fireplace for his craft, too. His rhymes are properly written, properly executed, and spit with intention. Concurrently, he appears to be in a superb place.
As he raps in “Play This at My Funeral,” “Rattling it feels good to be alive.” However he’s additionally aware of the ticking clock and is engaged on changing into the most effective model of himself. “I believe I must train,” he raps within the first verse. “I gained somewhat weight/However my pockets are nonetheless straight.”
When requested in regards to the staggering variety of hip-hop artists who’ve died of their 30s, 40s, and 50s this 12 months—together with DJ Clark Kent, Wealthy Homie Quan, and Organized Noize co-founder Rico Wade—he takes be aware of his personal shortcomings.
“I can’t say that I’m Mr. Olympia over right here,” he says with a chuckle. “However, I undoubtedly don’t do the issues I used to do. All people might use some enchancment, however I’m simply in a spot now the place issues have type of balanced themselves out and I do know the place I’m presupposed to be. When you understand your individual mortality, you have a look at life much more critically.”
Xzibit, who spent a few of his adolescence in Albuquerque, New Mexico—a typically harmful Southwestern metropolis also known as the “Wild Wild West”—was pressured to confront his mortality as a child.
“I needed to make some actually grownup selections once I was very younger, so I’ve at all times type of moved in that course and it’s been helpful,” he says. “However now the main focus that I’ve turning 50 and into an album cycle and hip-hop itself being 50 years previous—it’s a reasonably new style—we’re the primary of our technology going into, ‘What does hip-hop appear to be now?’
“There’s a variety of ageism. There’s a variety of discernment round who needs to be doing what in hip-hop. There’s no path that’s been laid in entrance of us, so we’re the primary. I’m glad to have the ability to pioneer what that appears like and what it’s. So far as ageism and what individuals say about hip-hop and their sharp criticism about who needs to be rapping and who shouldn’t, no one tells Mick Jagger when he ought to get off stage.”
Judging by the variety of hip-hop elders who’ve dropped a challenge this 12 months—Eminem, Ice Dice, Snoop Dogg, and Dr. Dre, to call a couple of—Xzibit gained’t be getting off stage anytime quickly both.
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