With a series of hits that bundled gangster rhymes, weed talk, pop hooks, and slick production, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania rapper Wiz Khalifa went from breakthrough single ("Black and Yellow") to feature film star (Mac and Devin Go to High School) in the short span of two years. Along the way there were revered mixtapes, sports anthems, a friendship with West Coast legend Snoop Dogg, and the proliferation of his crew referencing Taylor Gang or Die T-shirts.
A military brat, Khalifa, whose real name is Cameron Thomaz, was born in 1987 in Minot, North Dakota. After his parents divorced when he was three, he lived in various places and military bases around the world. His first attempt at committing lyrics to paper was around age nine, and at 12 he was already recording and producing his own records in his father's Oklahoma studio. Settling in Pittsburgh during his high school years, Khalifa laid down the groundwork for a solo career and kept busy recording music in a local studio, I.D. Labs. He stood out among the studio's regulars, prompting the I.D. Labs' staff to offer him free beats and recording time, plus bringing him to the attention of Benjy Grinberg, a former executive assistant to L.A. Reid at Arista Records who had started up a new independent label, Rostrum Records. Signed to Rostrum, Khalifa built a buzz in Pittsburgh with a few singles, but he began to draw ears nationally during his senior year in high school when his first mixtape, Prince of the City: Welcome to Pistolvania, dropped in early 2006. With the release of his independent full-length debut, Show and Prove, later that year, major publications, including Vibe, XXL, and Rolling Stone, featured profiles on the young rapper.
In summer 2007, Khalifa and Rostrum hopped on board with Warner and he cut his first major-label single, "Young'n on His Grind." The follow-up, "Say Yeah," climbed into the Top 20 of Billboard's Hot Rap Tracks that same year, but the relationship between Warner Bros. and Khalifa was taking a turn for the worse. Unable to come to an agreement on his debut album for the label, the rapper announced he was leaving Warner in 2009 and returning to Rostrum for the album Deal or No Deal.
The next year began with Khalifa appearing on the cover of XXL as one of the magazine’s Top Ten Freshmen, while The Source named him Rookie of the Year. In April his Kush & Orange Juice mixtape had received enough press that Atlantic took notice, signing the artist that same month, and in September, his first single for the label, the Pittsburgh Steelers tribute and Stargate production "Black and Yellow," appeared. As the NFL team progressed toward the playoffs, Khalifa's track became their unofficial anthem, and when the Green Bay Packers emerged as the team's opponent for the Super Bowl, Lil Wayne responded with the answer song "Green and Yellow." Khalifa's song topped the charts in February of 2011, while his debut Atlantic set, Rolling Papers, debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart a month later. Also arriving that same year was a feature film with Snoop Dogg, Mac and Devin Go to High School, along with its accompanying soundtrack.
Two mixtapes, Taylor Allderdice and Still Blazin', landed in 2012, and in early December his fourth album, O.N.I.F.C., was released, featuring a return appearance by production team Stargate, this time working with Benny Blanco on the album's first single, "Work Hard, Play Hard." Khalifa explained in interviews that the acronym title O.N.I.F.C. stood for "Only Nigga in First Class," inspired by by the album H.N.I.C. by Prodigy of Mobb Deep. Clean copies saw the abbreviation standing for "One Night in First Class." In April 2013, he released his collaboration EP Live in Concert with Curren$y, which featured seven new songs. Shortly afterward, he announced details of a fifth studio album, entitled Blacc Hollywood, which was released in August of 2014. The mixtape 28 Gramms -- designed to act as a primer for the album -- almost saw a delay when Khalifa was arrested for marijuana possession the day before its release that May. However, he was freed within a matter of hours and the mixtape's online stream went ahead as planned. During 2015, his contribution to the soundtrack for Furious 7 became one of the biggest hits of the year; a tribute to the actor Paul Walker, "See You Again," reigned at number one for more than ten weeks (although not consecutively). ~ Cyril Cordor, Rovi
Some things about Wiz Khalifa
Posted in Argentina, Blacc Hollywood, Nicki Minaj, Rolling Papers, The Cruz Show, Whz Kalifa, Wiz Khalifa
It’s hard not to love an original: the first of many to follow. This notion lends attribution to the world’s adoration with Wiz Khalifa. Born Cameron Jibril Thomaz, Wiz Khalifa is more than a mere M.C. He is a movement and maverick. Four years ago, he simultaneously gave blue collar Americans, as well as his native town of Pittsburgh, a Hip-Hop champion with his #1 mega-hit “Black & Yellow,” a nod to his city’s colors. When rap marketing was primarily focused on street and nightclub promotions, an unsigned yet clairvoyant Wiz decided to share his sinsemilla-scented indie music with an overlooked demo of suburban and collegiate youth. Rap touring mined newer soil and conceived was the soundtrack for a new generation of free-spirited young hippies––fans as well as up-and-coming MCs. “No matter what changes, you’re always gonna want that original feeling,” says Wiz. “Nothing really comes in the way of that. You can’t really fight it.”
“NO MATTER WHAT CHANGES, YOU’RE ALWAYS GONNA WANT THAT ORIGINAL FEELING,” SAYS WIZ. “NOTHING REALLY COMES IN THE WAY OF THAT. YOU CAN’T REALLY FIGHT IT.”
Over the last five years, many rappers have latched onto the Wiz Khalifa wave, but while they’ve mostly kept their head above water, Khalifa has soared on both indie and major plains. Before signing his second deal with Atlantic in 2010, Wiz had already amassed a respectable following, fortune and awareness. He was selling out his own 20-city tours, including the Deal Or No Deal tour and Khalifa was being crowned “Rookie of the Year” by top media brands, including The Source Magazine, XXL Magazine, BET and MTV. His mixtapes penetrated the culture not only musically, but also digitally, with 2010’s free download Kush and Orange Juice hashtag becoming #1 on Twitter and was #1 trend search on Google. In 2010, when the reincarnation of Snoop Dogg declined an offer to join the tour of a heralded rookie named Drake, the decision made as much sense as it did dollars. Instead, the PA product took his new Atlantic deal and the triple platinum Stargate produced “Black & Yellow” smash and commenced his own 50-city run entitled the Waken Baken Tour.
Wiz’s Rostrum/Atlantic Records debut Rolling Papers and follow-up ONIF both burned their way into the cultural conscience from atop the Billboard charts, reaching 197,000 and 148,000 in the first weeks, as well as producing street and commercial hits, including “On My Level” feat. Too Short and “Work Hard, Play Hard.” Each year that followed his debut release, Khalifa would appear on Forbes lists and in Grammy Award categories. Solo artist success allowed the lanky MC to spread his label owner wings. In 2011, he tapped Juicy J from the Academy Award winning legendary rap group Three Six Mafia, to be co-CEO of his Taylor Gang Records. The imprint would introduce audiences to new acts including Chevy Woods and Ty Dollar $ign. Though King Khalifa quickly became a pop darling, the music industry wasn’t alone in recognizing his enterprising mind and market magnetism, which is why the Taylor Gang boss’s recent collaboration with Converse’s Chuck Taylor line is symbiotic perfection (it’s hard not to love an original). “When I find that the other ways I express myself are as interesting as my music it opens up doors and makes things more interesting for me.”
“WHEN I FIND THAT THE OTHER WAYS I EXPRESS MYSELF ARE AS INTERESTING AS MY MUSIC IT OPENS UP DOORS AND MAKES THINGS MORE INTERESTING FOR ME.”
Wiz Khalifa is very much a brand. Within each relevant brand exists a community (or few), and within each community is a lifestyle. This lifestyle is what Wiz aims to articulate on his upcoming fourth studio album Blacc Hollywood. The 26-year-old millionaire has reaped gold and platinum fruit by being relentless and individualistic. As illustrated on the ONIFC cover, Wiz is inspired by rock star greatness. Khalifa says that the era that exhaled such ethos the most was the 1980’s, when leather-tight geniuses like Eddie Murphy and Ozzie Osbourne reigned supreme. Clarifying the misspelling of “Blacc,” Khalifa says: “It’s not a color, it’s a mind frame of early 80’s Rock & Roll when nobody gave a fuck and everybody was a star and everybody had a limo. The music was so good and there were so many stars born from that attitude that I just wanted to channel that and represent it with the album.”
“[BLACC HOLLYWOOD IS] NOT A COLOR, IT’S A MIND FRAME OF EARLY 80’S ROCK & ROLL WHEN NOBODY GAVE A FUCK AND EVERYBODY WAS A STAR AND EVERYBODY HAD A LIMO."
Every Wiz album must possess the production of the Taylor general’s go-to maestros Jim Jonsin and Stargate. While the track “Drop It Down On It” deliciously invites, premium seduction occurs when Jonsin teams up with decorated scribe Rico Love (Usher, Nelly, T.I.) and allows Khalifa to release the songbird within. Of course there’s a ton of exotic smoke in Blacc Hollywood, demonstrated in tracks “So High” and “KK” featuring Juicy J and Project Pat, and a succession of movies made with white women and white liquor, displayed in the track “Raw.” There are even epic DJ Mustard-produced after parties co-hosted by Snoop and Ty Dollar $ign, shown in the track “You And Your Friends”; and Blacc Hollywood’s grandest fiesta is shaping up to be the Dr. Luke turn-up “Staying Out All Night.” But none of this should be a surprise. The Blacc Hollywood extravaganza began months ago as its lead single “We Dem Boyz,” produced by Detail (Lil Wayne, Beyoncé), snatched the summer anthem of 2014 crown before the season began. Temperatures only got hotter when the remix dropped with the sizzling East/South/West lineup of Nas, Rick Ross and Schoolboy Q.
This is what Wiz Khalifa does: Create moments. This is who Wiz Khalifa is: The rock star with the sexiest wife and the luxurious life who works as hard as he plays, doing it all in jumbotron-sized peacock fashion.
“I’M A FULL-TIME HUSBAND AND FULL-TIME DAD BUT I LOVE TO HAVE FUN. THIS IS PURE SUPER STARDOM. CONSTANT PROGRESSION. I HAVE A GOOD TIME LIVING IT BUT I’M GONNA HAVE WAY MORE FUN RAPPING ABOUT IT.”
