Xzibit to Open "Open Bar" Label

Xzibit, whose forthcoming Restless Records album is set for release on Dec. 12, is on the brink of finalizing a partnership with Loud Records for his own record label, Open Bar Entertainment.

"We're closing the deal in the next two or three weeks," says Loud Records founder Steve Rifkind, who signed Xzibit after hearing only "eight bars" of "Killin' It" off Tha Alkaholiks ' 1994 album, Likwidation. "It's a joint venture. He sees fifty percent; we see fifty percent."

Rifkind says the model for the Loud/Open Bar partnership is along the lines of Island Def Jam Music and Roc-a-Fella or Arista Records and Bad Boy Entertainment. Loud itself is a joint venture with Sony Music Entertainment.

Xzibit, whose real name is Alvin Nathaniel Joiner, said he formed the independent label six months ago to help out his fellow MCs, just as Eminem has done with D12 and Shady Records. "I just think that the connections and the associations that I've made in the last two years is enough to fuel my own career and also the careers that I'm trying to build with my other artists," Xzibit explains. "Steve Rifkind once again has got my back 100 percent."

Loud will not only finance the overhead, including recording and video, but its national staff of eighty-six will take care of marketing, sales and promotion for Open Bar acts. "We're not Sony, so we don't need fifteen million employees," Xzibit says. "We do hip-hop music. We only got two acts, very small, very tight, very compact -- Golden State, which is myself, Ras Kass and Saafir, and then we got Defari, and we're just gonna run with that. Even though it sounds pretty tight, it's still a lot of work."

Xzibit has some tracks in the can for Open Bar's first release, expected next summer, by Golden State. He is using a "small team" of producers such as Rick Rock, Thayod (Xzibit's "Paparazzi") and Hobo Junction's Jayzee.

In the meantime, Xzibit will finish up the Anger Management Tour with Limp Bizkit, Eminem and Papa Roach, spend Christmas with his son, then head out on the road again. "I can't record my album and their album at the same time," he says, "but part of making that whole thing happen was to make Xzibit happen -- and it happened."

KAREN BLISS
(November 3, 2000)