Wiz Khalifa - O.N.I.F.C. (Taylor Gang, 2012)

More “I Remember” rap, and a throwback of sorts to Wiz’s original hit “Say Yeah.” This is off of Wiz’s new Taylor Allderdice mixtape, which is probably infiltrating your dashboard and making you question why you still have a Tumblr. Despite the exhausting hype surrounding the mixtape, Allderdice is certainly a return to form for Wiz, who has been rapping excellently about nothing for the last half decade, but hadn’t quite realized that he sounds like garbage over top 40 acoustic guitar hits and Lex Luger instrumentals. With a revamped sound that covers everything from his Prince of the City tapes to the all-too referenced Kush & OJ, Taylor Allderdice is a solid project from my state’s only commercially relevant rapper (sorry, Meek, you’re getting there)

Wiz Khalifa (feat. Too $hort) - On My Level (Rostrum/Atlantic, 2011)

Wiz Khalifa has had a busy week, performing at the AFC Championship game (to a confused crowd of spectators who wondered why some kid who looks like the demon-spawn of James Avery and Calvin Broadus was singing their city’s colors in a repetitious manner), then performing Black & Yellow yet again on George Lopez’s show, debuting his new Cruella DeVille inspired blond-patched afro (luckly for Wiz, no one watches George Lopez - they just leave it on after Conan as a sleep aid). Following these two high-profile performances, Wiz announced the name of his upcoming album, Rolling Papers, and anyone wno rolls with OFWGKTA rightfully called for Wiz’s head, while Wiz ignored the outburst as much as he ignored the fact that Domo Genesis created an album with the same name six months prior.

Musically, Wiz tracks have been dumped on the internet in an overwhelming fashion as of late. Between Kush & OJ and Black & Yellow, there was hardly any new Wiz Khalifa tracks leaked to the public, just a slew of videos and some buzz-building steps taken to secure Wiz Khalifa’s brand of music, and the transition it’d make into the mainstream. In the past two weeks, we’ve gotten a couple unreleased songs (the epically-scaled autotuned banger Big Screen and unreleased Wiz-assisted version of Curren$y’s Pilot Talk II highlight, Silence), one track from Wiz’s upcoming Snoop Dogg collaboration (the formulaic That Good, which is essentially That Tree, only happier), one loose track (the boring Stoned), two tracks with The Game (did anyone listen to Purp and Patron? I sure didn’t), the second single (the predictable, but slightly catchy Roll Up), and On My Level, which I would say is the most essential of this uneven batch.

In typical Wiz fashion, he recruits another legend for this track, Too $hort, who comes in halfway with his pimp-hand strong, reciting a verse that includes far more drug references than marijuana and many broads getting put in their place. Wiz’s verses are standard-fair for him, but the real stars of this track are the beat and the hook. The beat is rather moody, at least for something from Young Khalifa; it’s very reminiscent of his Prince Of The City output, back when he was a baggy white-tee wearing Pittsburgh thug instead of a tatted up skinny-jean wearing weed-crumb crooner. It has very strong West Coast elements however; the synth line is quintessential G-Funk, harkening back to the early 90s West Coast wave, appropriate considering $hort Dog’s placement here. Wiz’s droopy-eyed chorus is fantastic; he even sings about sipping champagne for the first time since that was popular, letting us know that Wiz still gets inebriated from time to time. The final bridge that rides this song out is collosal; rarely has Wiz’s frail voice been used to such effect as it is here.

Wiz’s album title is certainly uninspired and unoriginal, and his recent output hasn’t been the most consisent - but I’m still looking forward to Rolling Papers. Maybe it’s my own Pennsylvania pride, but I want Wiz to succeed more than most based on state-bias alone. Plus, it’s always nice to have popular rappers on the radio who can actually produce a hit without the help of an R&B singer or an Alex da Kid beat. Though, I’m sure both of those elements’ll find their way onto the final product. Regardless, it’ll certainly be interesting to see how Wiz’s career plays out from here.

Wiz Khalifa & Snoop Dogg - “That Good” (internet, 2011)

So, Wiz traded in Curren$y for Snoop Dogg - not neccessarily the wisest decision from a critical or commercial standpoint, considering Snoop Dogg hasn’t done anything of real commercial significance since 2004 and he doesn’t appeal to this generation’s listeners beyond these boring cameos. Personally, I gave up on Snoop when he cut his Star Trak ties; Pharrell kept his career afloat when it should’ve went downstream, but once he struck out on his own with Boss Dogg Aspirations, he just fell further and further. This is essentially the same verse Snoop’s been spitting since he used up whatever little bit of creativity he had left on Ego Trippin’, and over a verse that sounds tailor(Taylor?)-made for Wiz and Curren$y, he sounds rather awkward. His verse is even further buried when Wiz finally gets his head out of his ass again, and drops a dope verse following Snoop’s lazy effort. Also, really, referring to themselves as Cheech and Chong? These dudes look more like George and Weezy Jefferson at this point, and Snoop’s just as old in Dogg years. Wiz needs to rethink this; an entire project full of Snoop collaborations isn’t going to be a good idea for his career. If you disagree, however, you can look forward to High School this June.

Wiz Khalifa (feat. Snoop Dogg, Juicy J & T-Pain) - Black & Yellow (G-Mix) (Atlantic, 2010)

So, show of hands, who isn’t tired of this song at this point? Like Waka’s hit single (GET IT?!), the decision is almost unanonymous; Black & Yellow has been remixed, freestyled, and played into the ground. At this point, that little rebounding synth line in this song loops in my mind everytime I see something remotely related to Pittsburgh, and that’s a terrible feeling when you’re in Steelers/Penguins territory. I believe I’m developing an anxiety disorder that this song is solely responsible for.

This G-Mix does little to help how stale, and stagnant this song is; however, the addition of Juicy J is welcome, as his “SHUTDAFUCCUPPPP!” describes my sentiments exactly whenever this song comes on. Juicy does his best to ride this beat, and sounds far better than anyone else has on this song, Wiz includes. Snoop and T-Pain deliver exactly what you’d expect; if you’re a fan of their modern-incarnations, then you’ll enjoy it. I’m moderately annoyed by their presense, Snoop more-so than T-Pain; at least T-Pain’s is enjoyable, while Snoop hasn’t done anything of value to me since Blue Carpet Treatment. Wiz’s new verse is honestly rather welcome; it’s better than any of his verses on the original, which isn’t saying much. Unfortunately (or fortunately, for the sake of my sanity) - it’s rather short.

Wiz needs a haircut. Why’s he wearing a Bulls beanie in this video? So inappropriate. Why are his eyes so large? What the FUCK is T-Pain wearing? This isn’t a steam-punk fantasy, Teddy.

sidenote: Shoutout to the 20+ new followers I’ve gotten in the last couple days, as well as the homie Adam Grandmaison for shilling my tumblr in his blog, Left Brain for the follow/re-blogs, Joshton Peas for the follow even though I’ve never written about Casey Veggies, and noz for re-blogging that Lil B video and for being noz.