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The final episode of MTV's Pimp My Ride aired nearly 15 years ago, but apparently the host of the show Xzibit still feels some type of way about the way he was treated after the series ended.
In an interview TMZ published on Thursday, June 30, Xzibit explains why he called out ViacomCBS in an extensive Instagram post he uploaded earlier this week. The West Coast rapper served as the host of the series, in which he helped people transform run-down cars into pimped-out, customized rides, from 2004 to 2007. During that time, The "Hey Now" rapper was essentially the face of the show and his music was used in each episode.
"They didn't pay me a lot in order to host the show," Xzibit explained. "I didn't own the IP, right? But they did build the show off my back and when they would talk about Pimp My Ride they associated it with me. So it was in the contract, what I thought, was ironclad so that as the show grew and progressed and the money they weren't paying me for actually being on the program, which is a whole other thing. I also 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.'... but after season one, the fine print read 'with my name and likeness.' I never thought in a million years that they would go back and be as petty as editing my music out of every episode that went into syndication."
The television company allegedly edited his music out of the series completely for its syndicated episodes and DVD's box-sets. They even removed his face from the show's main imaging. TMZ provided an example of the rapper's photo on the cover of season two's DVD and the season three cover without him.
Xzibit threatened legal action but he's willing to put the entire drama behind if the company acknowledges their mistake and properly compensates him. So far, he hasn't received any response from ViacomCBS' legal team. See his original post below.