Tag: 2012

Xzibit Explains Getting Dr. Dre, Tha Alkaholiks & King Tee On “King Louis XIII”

Xzibit brought two forces integral to his music career together on "Napalm": Dr. Dre and The Likwit Crew. He tells DubCNN how and why he did it. On his recently-released album, Napalm, Xzibit attracted a lot of attention for his song "King Louis XIII." The Dr. Dre-produced record features early Xzibit mentors Tha Alkaholiks and King Tee, who joined him in the Likwit Crew.

Xzibit With Dr. Dre

X explained to DubCNN.com how the song came together, especially since it was independently released on X's EMI-distributed Open Bar imprint. "First, you gotta get the track and I ain’t talking about him just giving you the beat! Dr. Dre gotta give you the beat and the paperwork with his signature on it and he’s got to give you the files. Once I saw Rob come in the studio with the hard drives, I knew I was in there!," said the rapper with a laugh.

Xzibit, who worked extensively with Dr. Dre on his  Restless and Man Versus Machine albums years ago, continued, "First of all, he’s one of my mentors, someone I look up to and someone I always confided in when it comes to this music shit – and the personal shit too, I consider him a friend. So when it came to doing this record, he gave me the beat and said if I can do something with it [to go ahead]. I brought the beat up in the studio and we got down with King Tee and Tha Alkaholiks. I told them we’ve got to do this and submit it to Dre and see if we can make this happen. So all the things fell into place, Dr. Dre blessed the track and it was good to get Alkaholiks and King Tee in the studio one time. I don’t think we’ve ever done a whole record like that! So for everybody to be on the same track under the banner of my album, it’s like coming home!"

Napalm is in stores now.

Read the full interview at DubCNN.com.

AllHipHop.com Xzibit Album Review Gives Napalm 8.5 out of 10

AllHipHop.com, one of the internets most respected Hip Hop websites has just posted a review of Xzibit's 2012 album release Napalm. Here is part of what the review of the album said:

With an album being in development and delayed as long as this one seemed to be, you would think some of the music would be dated. Aside from the title track, “Napalm” (which was spotted earlier on Travis Barker’s Let The Drummer Get Wicked mixtape), it sounds like vintage X all over again. His aggressive flow easily powers through the already-dominant, West Coast influenced production, and he even tailors his flow to glide over the mellow tracks in the play-through, such as “Forever A G”, which features Wiz Khalifa.

The bottom line is that Xzibit’s had time to sit on this project and refine it, and it’s come out as incredible as the tracklisting reads. Napalm is a dope album, and even though it is at times a little too feature-heavy and includes a couple of filler tracks (“Dos Equis” and “Something More” come to mind, with the latter due to an uninspired verse from Prodigy), it contains some singles that’s sure to remind people why Xzibit was an Aftermath flagpole in the first place. There’s indeed some incredible music out right now, but you’d be robbing yourself of quality if you overlooked this one.

Don’t sleep.

AllHipHop Rating: 8.5 / 10

Napalm is available on iTunes and in all good music stores.

Read the full Napalm album review at AllHipHop.com

Xzibit Interview: Xzibit Talks to DubCNN on Napalm, Family, Live Shows, Dr. Dre and Internet Memes

Xzibit sat down with DubCNN.com to talk about “Napalm“, the creative process behind it, picking the features as well as some of his personal highlights, such as the Dr. Dre-produced and Likwit Crew-assisted “Louis XIII” or the heartfelt “1983“. We also talk about his being a veteran now, nostalgia, and the energy he puts behind his live show. X also gives us some insight on balancing family life vs his music career, and how he feels about the immensely popular “Yo Dawg…” meme that was created about him on the internet.

Here is a section of the interview:

Dubcnn: Your live show has always been an important part of your career. You’ve toured constantly, overseas and back and I’ve seen you bring a lot of artists on tour with you over the years, from Defari to Krondon and now you’ve been riding with Demrick (Young De) for the past few years. What made you keep him as a part of your live show?

X: I mean I like rocking with people that are likeminded and as dedicated as I am. People that really want to come in. Like you said, the live show is really important and I made it hard for people with #1 records that come on after me, you know? I made it difficult. So you level the playing field when you get out on the stage.

If you can do a live show, you can kick anybody’s ass and that’s where we get down. We don’t play man, we get in and we know that the crowd wants to come see a Hip-Hop show and that’s what we do! I’m never to cool or too swaged out to fucking do a great show. *laughs* That’s what it’s about.

Dubcnn: You’ve got a lot of great collaborations on this album, and I noticed that you have a couple of people on there twice, like Game, B-Real or Wiz Khalifa. What was the process behind putting those records together?

X: It was created organically. The music spoke for the features. Once I started the records, I would bring the people that I felt like they need to be on the record, that sounded like they need to be on the record. I kept the features really creative, it’s not just because they’re on the song – they might not be doing no rapping whatsoever. Like WIz sung some shit and then he did a verse on some shit, Game did a hook something and then did a verse on something. It’s different, it’s structured very uniquely and I’m glad that the circle of people that I got on the record sound consistent and sounds like one body of work.

Watch or Read the full interview at DubCNN Exclusive: Xzibit talks Napalm, Family, Live Shows, Dr. Dre and Internet Memes

Xzibit Features In ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Cast Replaced In Season 8 Premiere

The first episodes of Season 8 of FX's highly successful 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' will see an all new cast for one episode only.

The cast, which is comprised of Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson and creator Rob McEhenney will not be kicking the season off with their usual hijinks. Instead they have been replaced with child actor Haley Joel Osment, Chael Sonnen, Candice Cameron from Full House fame, rapper Xzibit and Andrew Dice Clay in Danny DeVito’s role. Now for those of you who are wondering if you’ve been punked, it looks like you have been as this arrangement is only temporary for the season opener.

In promotion of the upcoming season FX has decided to air a short spot titled 'Has The Sun Finally Set In Philly?' featuring the 'new crew' of Osment, Sonnen, Cameron, and Xzibit discussing the pros of a 'Baby Tan':

The All New Season of 'It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia' airs Thursday October 11.

Xzibit Announces Napalm Album Release USA Tour In October 2012 With 9 Shows Confirmed & More Shows To Be Added

Xzibit will be touring USA starting a few days before his new album 'Napalm' is officially released on October 9. The first 9 shows have been announced with more shows to be be locked in. Here are the dates, cities and venues of the first 9 shows:

DateCityCountryVenue
Thu, October 4th 2012Oakland, CAUnited StatesNew Parish
Sat, October 6th 2012Los AngelesUnited StatesKey Club
Sun, October 7th 2012Pozo, CAUnited StatesPozo Salon
Mon, October 8th 2012Santa Ana, CAUnited StatesThe Observatory
Tue, October 9th 2012San Diego, CAUnited StatesPorter’s Pub
Wed, October 10th 2012Phoenix, AZUnited StatesClub Red
Thu, October 11th 2012Tucson, AZUnited StatesRialto Theatre
Sat, October 13th 2012Aspen, COUnited StatesBelly Up
Mon, October 15th 2012Denver, COUnited StatesMarquis

As Xzibit announces more dates we will announce them to fans via this website on the Xzibit Concert, Tour and Show Dates page on XzibitCentral.com page and follow us on Facebook or Twitter to be notified when more dates are locked in.