Thug Life Army

West coast hip-hop rap artist Xzibit did get a chance to spend some quality time with Jennifer Aniston in foreign lands. Yes, Xzibit was trying to leave a lasting impression on her. But nooooooo! He had no part in her marriage breakup.

When asked about it in Los Angeles X said with a big laugh "I had nothing to do with it, I like ''em a little thicker”. X-to-da-Z and Jenny-from-the-apartment were not up to any monkey business; the two were filming the thriller "Derailed" in London.

"It was all work for me," X said. "Being around seasoned actors was an incredible environment to work in. Mikael Håfström was the director. He's a really big established director in Sweden. This is his big drama. It's a twisted plot, it's dangerous, it has all the makings of a classic."

Xzibit was cast as a guy named Dexter. "Yeah, Dexter," X laughed. "I play an important part of the plot twist. Just when you think it is, it ain''t."

If you think the Cali king of pimped-out rides has a character name that doesn''t match his look or demeanor, wait till you get a load of his "Derailed" co-star, hip-hop rap artist and producer the RZA.

"My character is Winston," RZA said recently in New York at the Shaolin Temple. "He's a mailroom clerk, but he's an ex-con also. Nobody knows he's an ex-con. I''ve been a messenger in Manhattan before, so I kinda reflected on that messenger mentality to play the role. One thing I did with the character that I think was unique was every time I came onscreen, I would whistle. When the movie is over, I want the people to go away and remember that whistle. I think he was put over as a funny guy in a way, but he had a serious past. That's not how they wrote it, but that's how I did it.

"I''m not a great actor yet," he added. "I took some classes to respect the art. In the movie ''Derailed,'' you''ll see me trying to show my first character. I''ve been in a few movies before as myself, but you''ll see me as a character. We''ll see how that goes across."

While Xzibit has some jokes about his dealings with Jennifer Aniston, RZA has some real talk about another star of "Derailed," Clive Owen.

"Clive really helped me a lot," RZA said. "He made me feel really comfortable on the set. He paced very well with me when I was delivering the lines. He took time to hang out with me and put me on the right path. I think Clive is about to crack it open with this movie."

Xzibit and RZA are keeping their feet planted in Hollywood. On April 29, X will appear in "XXX: State of the Union" with another west coast rap artist turned actor Ice Cube, as a weapons specialist ("I get to shoot a hole in the side of the Capitol building with a tank, it's crazy," he said with a smile). And RZA is trying to direct his first movie later this year.

"I hope that's all right for everybody," RZA said about directing. "I been studying movies for seven years. The [movie is called] ''The Man With the Iron Fist,'' and I wrote it myself. I''m a kung-fu head. The kung-fu genre hasn''t been explored since the ''70s and ''80s. I think it''ll be nice now that here in America we''re not babies at it anymore. There's students at our Shaolin Temple that's as good as some of the students from Asia. Now that America has embraced it and absorbed it, we can produce those kinda things over here."

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