Xzibit is a member of the West Coast Crew, a loose collective of West Coast rappers including Tha Alkaholiks and King Tee. After touring with them in 1995, Loud Records released the young rapper's debut album, At the Speed of Life in 1996. He expanded his following with a series of albums beginning in the late 1990s, ultimately aligning himself with hip hop kingpin Dr. Dre. Xzibit's big breakthrough came when he joined Snoop Doggfor the Dr. Dre-produced hit, "Bitch Please." What followed were some high profile guest appearances on Dr. Dre's 6x platinum album 2001, on songs like "What's the Difference?" and "Some L.A. Niggaz". By this time, Dre had invited the young rapper to cross America during summer 2000 with the "Up in Smoke" tour which featured Snoop, Eminem, and Ice Cube, among many others. That winter, Loud released Xzibit's Restless with Dr. Dre as executive producer, which boasted the single X. The song became the rapper's biggest hit yet since "What U See Is What U Get".

Xzibit returned with another album, Man vs. Machine, yet again he fell a bit short of mainstream success, although he did manage to go gold. He continued to collaborate with his closest West Coast colleagues, primarily Ras Kass and Saafir with whom he formed The Golden State Project rap collective, and Tha Liks, along with bigger names like Snoop Doggand Eminem. His allegiance to the West Coast and former colleagues continued to win him much respect from his fans. Weapons of Mass Destruction followed two years later which also managed to go gold.

Xzibit further established his international fame as the host of MTV's Pimp My Ride. Together with West Coast Customs (and after season four, with Galpin Auto Sports) they refurbish and upgrade young people's old beat-up cars with detailed paint jobs, hi-tech audio entertainment, and a variety of extravagant custom, installations. Xzibit was also featured in a guest role as a rapper on the U.S. crime drama CSI: Miami. In 2006, Xzibit was featured in a parody of Pimp My Ride on the Adult Swim cartoon, The Boondocks. Xzibit has appeared in an episode of The Weakest Link with other rappers like Rev Run, Nate Dogg, B-Real and Jermaine Dupri. He also appeared in the video for the song "Twisted Transistor" by KoЯn.

Xzibit has appeared in several acting roles on the big screen. He portrayed Duncan in Full Clip in 2004 and Dexter in Derailed in 2005, and he played Chief Grizzly in the animated movie Hoodwinked that year. He also played Zeke in XXX: State of the Union in 2005, and in 2007 he co-starred along with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in the movie Gridiron Gang. He also had a cameo role as a freestyling co-worker of Eminem's at New Detroit Stamping in 8 Mile. He played an FBI agent in 2008's The X-Files: I Want to Believe.