Why Xzibit's History With MTV Has Been Rocky
Many would agree that rapper Xzibit owes a lot of his successful career to his hosting stint on MTV's hit reality show Pimp My Ride. Though he first gained fame in the '90s as part of the West Coast hip hop scene, it was his appearance on the series that catapulted the "Get Your Walk On" hitmaker to mainstream success, having been the face of the show which ran for three years and spanned a total of six seasons.
However, it might surprise you that Xzibit, now 47, doesn't look back on his time on Pimp My Ride with great fondness. In fact, he has had a lot of pretty controversial things to say about MTV and its parent company ViacomCBS since the show's conclusion in 2007.
8 Who Is Xzibit?
Alvin Nathaniel Joiner, better known by his stage name Xzibit, is a rapper and television presenter who first gained popularity with his debut album At The Speed Of Life in 1996. He broke into the mainstream as host of MTV’s hit reality show Pimp My Ride in the early 2000s. He has also delved into acting; as an actor, Xzibit is best known for his role as Shyne Johnson in the Fox series Empire. He has also appeared in feature films, such as Gridiron Gang, The X-Files: I Want To Believe, and, more recently, Sun Dogs.
Though he previously declared bankruptcy, Xzibit is now valued at approximately $2 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
7 What Is Pimp My Ride?
Pimp My Ride is one of the most popular shows to ever air on MTV. It follows Xzibit as he takes a ruined car to the West Coast Customs (and, beginning Season 5, to the Galpin Auto Sports) for a major renovation. The show premiered in March 2004 and ran for six seasons until December 2007. Its success paved the way for several international adaptations, including Pimp My Ride International and others based in the UK, Brazil, Indonesia and France. It likewise inspired some spin-offs, most notably Trick My Truck which aired on CMT in 2006.
6 How Xzibit Truly Felt About His Pimp My Ride Stint
Appearing on the Breakfast Club Power 105.1 FM in 2018, Xzibit talked about his stint hosting Pimp My Ride and how this has affected his rapping career and legacy. “In the beginning, I felt like it hurt my career. I wasn’t able to tour, I wasn’t able to continue building Xzibit as an MC," he said. “All of a sudden, it became almost bigger than the music. It was worldwide, it was on MTV, it was on these networks that were pushing it around the world, more than they were pushing my music.”
The Detroit-born rapper, however, acknowledged the impact Pimp My Ride has had on his career; specifically how the show helped catapult him to stardom and become a huge thing even for non-rap fans. He said: “I love Hip-Hop, I love being here, I love creating it, I love being a part of it. So, when it came to Pimp My Ride, it became soccer moms and sh*t like that coming up and really recognizing me.
"Now, as I look back at it, whether people know me from music or film or TV, I’m just glad to be recognized.”
5 Is Xzibit Willing To Do A Pimp My Ride Reboot?
Despite the show's huge success, the "Mr. X-to-the-Z" rapper admitted that he is not very big on the idea of doing a Pimp My Ride reboot. Speaking with HipHopDX back in 2018, he said, “I don’t think I would be available for that. God bless ’em man, you know what I’m sayin’. I know they probably will with another host or whatever.”
Xzibit said that people would constantly talk to him about the possibility of a reboot, but insisted that he is not interested, saying he is happy where is now. "I’m glad it had such a dope impact across the board with so many different people, you know. I think it’s dope man," he said. "But, it’s like ‘eh, I don’t know. I like what I’m doin’ now.”
4 How Things Fell Apart Between Xzibit And MTV
Xzibit would go on to tell the world the real reason why he refuses to even consider re-launching the series. On the Breakfast Club Power 105.1 FM, the "Get Your Walk On" rapper got real about his time on Pimp My Ride and how things were not all what they seemed to be. In one of his claims, Xzibit said that he did not profit off Pimp My Ride the same way everyone on the show had. “I feel like the show was built on my back, my credibility in Hip-Hop. I feel as though it became profitable for everyone else except me,” he said. “When it was over, everybody couldn’t believe that I didn’t want to continue.”
He then proceeded to tell a story about how producers of Pimp My Ride somehow forgot to tell him that he needed to film one more episode for the show. Already working on the X-Files movie at the time, Xzibit said that the production company offered to fly him back to shoot the said episode. “[But] I knew how much they paid for that episode. It wasn’t a regular episode,” he added. “And so I was like, ‘Okay, just give me $1 million.” They refused his offer, however, and instead replaced him with “Ridin’” rapper Chamillionaire in that special episode.
3 Xzibit Regrets Falling Out With MTV
“The show fell apart from there,” said Xzibit, before admitting that he regrets how things ended between him and the show’s creators. “It’s sad, because it was a really dope show. And it was one of the only shows that dealt with wish-fulfillment. It wasn’t about me, it wasn’t about the car, it wasn’t about the kid. It was about wish-fulfillment and people at home watching it feeling like, ‘This could happen to me.’”
Although, the rapper did insist that he isn't interested in a re-boot. “I’ve been asked before. I’ve always turned it down,” he said, adding, “You know, I’m into ownership. The people that have the rights to Pimp My Ride, have done whatever they’ve done with it, [and they] let me know early on that I’m not part of that. So until they’re ready to have that conversation, there will be no Pimp My Ride with my participation.”
2 Xzibit Claims He Was Cut Out From Pimp My Ride
In June 2022, Xzibit finally aired his grievances against MTV’s parent company ViacomCBS, as he accused the outfit of cutting him out of the profit they made during Pimp My Ride’s successful three-year run. “Hey @viacom_intl why is it you’ve made millions off the show #PimpMyRide I carried on my back and found ways to cut me out?” he wrote on Instagram. “Like saying I would get percentages of all merch sold let alone streaming (which wasn’t even in the contract) and putting in the fine print ‘with my name and likeness’ then proceed to take my ‘name and likeness’ off of ALL the merchandise including DVD sales after Season 1?”
“To top that you guys went back and EDITED all of my music out of ALL entire seasons in order to avoid paying me for my publishing. Let’s talk about worldwide syndication!!!! Wow,” he added. “Hey, guys, my number is still the same. Hit me up. Or… Can anybody hit me with a law firm who isn’t afraid of Viacom to get me right?” He also tagged MTV on his post before adding the hashtags #IveBeenQuietLongEnough and #ItsNeverTooLateToDoTheRightThing.
1 Xzibit Willing To Discuss With ViacomCBS
Speaking to TMZ about his lengthy rant against ViacomCBS, the Pimp My Ride host reiterated that he was not paid enough money by the network despite the fact that it built the whole show off his back. He also accused the firm of cutting his music out of the entire Pimp series for its syndicated episodes and DVD's box-sets despite a previous agreement.
"I knew that I wasn't going, that I wasn't going to be able to participate in advertising dollars. So the compromise was 'We're going to use your music in every episode. We're going to get you a percentage of everything going forward when syndication starts.' But after season one, the fine print read 'With my name and likeness,'" he said. "I never in a million years thought that they would go back and be as petty as editing my music out of every episode that went into syndication."
Though he initially threatened a lawsuit, Xzibit told TMZ that he is willing to have a conversation with Viacom about the issue. He also stressed that he respects the company and is willing to work with them again in the future. "Pimp My Ride changed my life. It really put me into the stratosphere as for people that didn't know my music before, or people before I started doing film and TV. Pimp My Ride was a catalyst for all of that," he said. "So I really take pride in what that is, but it's also a sore spot because I know I was systematically cut out of a lot of things that should have been rightfully mine."
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