Xzibit Far From Done With Music

HOLLYWOOD — Xzibit wants to make something very real clear about the future of his music career: mainly, that there will be one.

“I’m not done. I’m far from done,” the rapper said on the set of Korn’s “Twisted Transistor” video, in which he impersonates the band’s bassist, Fieldy (see “Lil Jon, Snoop, Xzibit, David Banner Star In New Korn Video”). “I’m taking [the film roles] as they come, but I’m still focused on my music,” X said.

In fact, the West Coast rap star and his clique, Strong Arm Steady, just released an album last week, an independent venture titled Strong Arm Steady Presents: The Collectors Edition Vol. I. The LP features the best freestyles and mixtape cuts from X and his band of MCs: Mitchy Slick, Phil the Agony and Krondon. Talib Kweli, Planet Asia and Chace Infanet also make appearances on the album.

“We been bubblin’ in the Los Angeles underground for years,” X said. “So now we’re out here just making the music we want to make and this is our first step forward with that.”

The West Coast rapper, who recently parted ways with Columbia Records, insists that despite the setback, he will eventually be releasing a follow-up to 2004’s Weapons of Mass Destruction, which had some harsh commentary about President George W. Bush (see “Xzibit Joins The Anti-Bush Fray With New LP, Compares Iraq To Detroit”).

“We’ve been workin’ on that right now. I haven’t come to a place where I can say where I’m gonna put it through yet, but still, we constantly workin’ on the music,” X said. “And you never know who’s in there with us. I won’t let any cats out of any bags, but we’re always in the studio workin’.”

Meanwhile, you can get your Xzibit fix when the first of his two films on deck hits theaters on November 11. The rapper has a small role in “Derailed,” which tracks two business executives, played by Jennifer Aniston and Clive Owen, who are blackmailed by a violent criminal. X will play a man named Dexter, who is part of an elaborate scheme. Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA is also featured in the flick, starring as a mailroom clerk who turns out to be an ex-con (see “Xzibit Insists He Had Nothing To Do With Brad and Jennifer’s Split”).

Then there’s “The Gridiron Gang,” featuring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Sean Porter, a probation officer who forms a football team in hopes of reforming a group of troubled youth by teaching them the value of teamwork.

“It’s not about football. It’s more or less about kids in troubled backgrounds in this group-home facility and instead of rehabilitating them the regular state way, we give them the option to play football instead,” explained X, who will play the team’s assistant coach.

The film was shot on location in Los Angeles and at Camp Kilpatrick, a real juvenile detention facility, in Malibu, California. It is slated for a November 2006 release.

And of course, X is also busy filming the third and fourth seasons of his MTV wheels-makeover show, “Pimp My Ride.”

— Brandee J. Tecson, with reporting by Corey Moss

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