From the beginning, Khalifa seemed indifferent to genre, mixing hip-hop with hints of club music and the anthemic quality of great pop-a flexibility that made him as likely to show up on a Maroon 5 track as a Chief Keef one. He started releasing mixtapes around 2005, racking up an increasingly high-profile set of features before breaking through with 2011’s Rolling Papers.
Or, as he put it on “Black and Yellow,” “Get fly and take trips and that’s that-real rap.”Ī military kid, Khalifa (born Cameron Thomaz in 1987) spent most of his childhood bouncing around before settling in Pittsburgh. From the beginning, there was something low-key and effortless about him, a joie de vivre that made his music-“No Sleep,” “Work Hard, Play Hard,” “Mezmorized”-feel like a party. Peep the interview below.Some rappers want to take over the world Wiz Khalifa just wants to meet girls, get money, and smoke as much weed as his constitution will allow. With his new project, Multiverse, out now, and a co-headlining tour with Logic currently on the road, Wiz checks in with XXL to discuss feeding the streets with new music, the current era of his career, his growth as an entrepreneur and more. I look up to those dudes and how serious they take their business.” Produced entirely by Girl Talk, the project is lead by the boastful single Put You On, Wiz and K.R.I.T’s collab How The Story Goes, and the Snoop Dogg-influenced jam Ain’t No Fun.
"These are people who do what the fuck they want to do," he rationalizes. Wiz Khalifa, Big K.R.I.T., and Smoke DZA reunite on their collaborative album, Full Court Press. When asked about who inspires him in that regard, he names nothing but entertainment G.O.A.T.s such as Jay-Z, Master P, Kevin Hart, Dave Chappelle, 50 Cent and more. Later on in the conversation, the respected rhymer speaks about becoming a businessman who has endeavors in the cannabis (Khalifa Kush), mushroom (Mistercaps) and food businesses (Packed Bowls by Wiz Khalifa), among many others. And I had so much faith in him just being such a huge superstar." That was just a big moment for me," Wiz reflects. He also highlights Ty Dolla $ign, one-half of their 2015 collab, Talk About It In The Morning, and his respective rise to becoming a sleeping giant over the years. "That’s my OG and I just felt so proud for him to be able to rep the gang and call us gang. Earlier this year, the two worked together for an early 2022 project of bangers called Stoner’s Night, which has yet to leave the rotation of many fans. Wiz also gives respect to his frequent collaborator Juicy J. So, there’s a lot of key points that happened back then and just made everything what it is." And to really be gang like that, you gotta live that shit.
Speaking on his storied collective, the Pittsburgh-bred rapper salutes everyone who contributed to their sound at the time, adding, "It’s a lifestyle.
That’s not to say that anything is right or wrong or better or worse, but it’s just to give you that experience and involve you into it, and to give you a chance to get that on a heightened level."Įlsewhere in the interview, Wiz reflects on having one of the best rap imprints of the 2010s in Taylor Gang, among others he grew to appreciate like Rick Ross’ Maybach Music Group and the Joey Bada$$-led Pro Era. "Right now, we’re kind of in a box just because the younger generation, they haven’t really experienced the things that we went through, you know what I mean? So, it's like, to give them that option so they can feel it and know what it feels like. "It just reminds people of different musical experiences," he says. Wiz reveals that those strategies were intentional for a younger crop of listeners. Take for example, the heavy presence of instruments like the saxophone that run through multiple tracks or the soulful harmonies that provide a big sense of warmth as Wiz dabbles between both rapping and singing. The production, which is also brought to life by notable beat maestros like Hitmaka and Bankroll Got It, is groovy and lush. To emphasize that idea, Wiz utilized the firepower of a live band for a majority of the project.