KEY POINTS:
Xzibit is proof that hip-hop isn't just a gangsta's paradise. In his more than 10-year career, he has postured, cussed and preached the bitches' and hos' mantra with the best of them, including Dr Dre, Eminem and Snoop. And while there's no absence of attitude on his new
album, Full Circle, it's a more mature and sensitive "X to the Z" (real name Alvin Joiner) that comes through nowadays.
"I'm not a kid any more," he laughs. "I'm in my early 30s. The man I was when I was 18 and 19, when I really wasn't a man, is not the man I am now. Once you mature you start wanting different things out of life and wanting different things for yourself."
He might be grimacing like a bulldog on the cover of Full Circle, but during our interview at a hotel in the posh London suburb of Kensington his "girl" calls and he's like a bashful teenager as they negotiate which restaurant to go to for dinner.
The West Coast hip-hop artist, who plays at the Studio on K Rd next Thursday, is a committed family man, too. And when you have an 11-year-old son to set an example for you have to be on your game.
Although, he cracks up when he reveals his son, Tre - short for Tremayne - likes Dad's "aggressive stuff" best. However, he points out Tre is not a fan of the bitch and ho lyrics.
"He says, 'Ah, whatever'. He gravitates to the cool type of stuff. He loves Invade My Space [from Full Circle]," laughs Xzibit.
"But he's a reincarnation of me at that age. There's something macabre about my son, even from the material he reads in his books.
"But he's a good kid. He's influenced by what I do and not what I say. So he sees me treat his mother with the utmost respect, and the way I am around the house, and the way everything is taken care of, not just financially but mentally and emotionally.
"Everybody is healthy. And I have a good rapport with the fans that he sees come up to me. So there's a good example being set."
Full Circle reveals a more well-rounded and worldly Xzibit. He raps about everything from Metallica's 1983 debut album Kill 'Em All - "I was in line with the rest of them to get it and listen to it," he laughs - to a plea for unity between blacks and hispanics on Black & Brown.
And it's the reflective tracks like Thank You and Family Values that stand out, not only because they are different from the rest of his muscular hip-hop, but because of the sentiment.
"With a song like Thank You, it's important for me to put that out there because so often we forget to thank the people who made it possible for us to be here. A lot of people are self absorbed, like, 'Oh yeah, I'm writing hit records and the people love it, son'.
"But it's important for me to put the real out there. It may not be the most popular thing to say but I'm man enough to do it.
"And it's easy for me to hide behind Xzibit. But there's something to be said about someone who can take the vulnerability that we all have and put it front and centre and still wear it like a badge of honour and I feel like I'm strong enough to do that."
To be honest, Xzibit has never broken fully into the mainstream - he's no Eminem, Nelly, or Lupe Fiasco. But he prides himself on making the music he wants, like Paparazzi, from his 1996 debut At the Speed of Life, a song that was considered ahead of its time, and the excellent Restless album from 2000. That album was executive-produced by pioneering hip-hop producer Dr Dre, and Xzibit also appears on Dre's classic 2001 album. Xzibit looks up to Dre more than any other in the music business.
"Dr Dre has never told me a lie," he says. "I look up to him, not only as a business man, but just as someone who has become his own man in this business. He's always recognised the hard-working ethic that I have and given me opportunities based on that."
Xzibit is a busy man. He's probably known best in New Zealand for his TV show Pimp My Ride, and as well as his music he's an actor and runs his own record label, Open Bar Entertainment.
Before the interview I was told not to talk about Pimp My Ride, a car show hosted by Xzibit, but since he's in Britain for a car rally then why not?
"With the television show," he smiles, "that's not even acting at all. That's just, like, how I talk to my friends and family around the house."
For him, Pimp My Ride is fun, but music and writing rhymes will always be number one.
"Music is the best way I can express myself, meaning that why I write and how I came to love music comes out through Xzibit. Who I am, who Alvin Joiner is, comes out when I pick up that pen and write."
Lowdown
Who: Xzibit
What: West Coast hip-hop star
Where and when: The Studio, K Rd, Thursday June 21
New album: Full Circle, out now.
See also: At the Speed of Life (1996); Restless (2000); Weapons of Mass Destruction (2004)
