Xzibit Says Loud Records’ Steve Rifkind Blocked Dr. Dre Deal

May 19, 2025

Xzibit has worked closely with Dr. Dre for years, and the rap veteran actually came very close to officially joining the roster of Dre’s label, Aftermath. X-to-the-Z was speaking to Red Bull ahead of the release of his latest album, Kingmaker, and revealed that his former label boss, Steve Rifkind of Loud Records, kept it from happening by demanding an astronomical amount of money from Dr. Dre to buy out Xzibit’s contract.

“[Rifkind] asked for an $11 million buyout,” Xzibit said. “He just didn’t want to let me go.” In lieu of actually signing Xzibit, Dr. Dre agreed to serve as executive producer of two of X’s Loud albums: 2000s Restless and 2002s Man vs. Machine.

X also revealed that the executive producer role was Dr. Dre’s way of looking out for him.

“He told me that no matter what he was doing or where I landed, he was gonna make sure he was there for me,” said Xzibit.

Xzibit smoking a blunt on a rocky outcrop overlooking the sea.

Photo by Estevan Oriol.

Elsewhere in the interview, Xzibit discusses being affiliated with West Coast hip-hop and Los Angeles despite being born in Detroit and spending part of his youth in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “When I talk about the West, I talk about the establishment of me. I found my voice,” Xzibit explained. “I feel like I was made in L.A.” It was in Los Angeles that he connected with many of the artists who would shape his career, including Dr. Dre.

Dre makes an appearance on Xzibit’s new album Kingmaker on the track “Leave Me Alone” with Ty Dolla $ign. Notables like Busta Rhymes and Ice Cube are also featured on Kingmaker. His history with Dre is well-documented: in addition to their work together on his albums, Xzibit also worked with Dr. Dre on Dre’s blockbuster 1999 album 2001 and toured alongside Dre, Cube, Snoop Dogg and Eminem on their legendary Up In Smoke Tour back in 2000. In January, Xzibit talked to AllHipHop about what he’d learned creatively from working with Dre, including Dre’s mantra of mastering “the 13th note.”

“Dre put the beat on and told us to stay in the pocket of the ‘13th note’ — which is silence,” Xzibit recalled. “If you get it right, it changes the whole feel of the track.”