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Now back on a major label after an independent stint, this long-developing hip-hop star releases a surprisingly cohesive full-length. [Sean Fennessey]

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Is the album from hip hop's newbie a hit or a miss?

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"Black and Yellow" turned Wiz into a bona fide star, but this twerpy stoner's first album since that megahit embraces the doggedly one-note approach of the numerous mixtapes that built his substantial following. He raps about weed and girls, the guests are low-key, unpretentious, like-minded hedonists (Too $hort, Chevy Woods, Curren$y), and he stumbles upon potential hits instead of forcing them: "Roll Up" is a dude's version of Rihanna's "Umbrella," while "The Race" is a swagged-out boast about superstardom that's tempered by an endearing, slack-jawed shock at his own success.

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It kind of makes sense that the best/worst song on Wiz Khalifa's third studio (first major label) release, Rolling Papers, is Rebecca Black dead ringer "No Sleep." The weird, tables-turned success of Black's "Friday" is due to its sordid catchiness, and if "No Sleep" (and Rolling Papers, in general) has anything going for it, it's that same cheesy magnetism. Fresh off the obscenely wild success of "Black and Yellow," a record packed with hummable pop tracks about girls and weed is a move that has Wiz floating happily on the lazy river of pop rap marketing genius. There's not...Read More

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03/29/2011
$12.99

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Skatewear-clad and eternally sporting a smoked-out permasmile, Wiz Khalifa might not look like your average rap superstar, but after last year's smash "Black and Yellow", he's on the verge of becoming one. While his recent Cabin Fever mixtape found him sacrificing some of his laconic stoner appeal for grimier arrangements that didn't always fit, "The Race"-- a single from his anticipated new album, Rolling Papers-- finds the Pittsburgh rapper riding a lush, gorgeously arranged beat with an indelible pop hook. It's pretty much exactly what you want out of a Wiz track.

Pittsburgh beat team I.D. Labs, who worked on last year's Kush and Orange Juice, lay down a breezy, top-down sound packed with twinkling piano and skittering bass drums. It's a perfect match for Khalifa, who knows how to casually ride a slow beat and turn a simple chorus earworm-sticky. The kind of lonely-at-the-top ennui Wiz talks is pretty standard rap fare lately ("Some smile in your face but then hate on the low, now I just stunt on my own"), but his low-key charisma keeps him approachable, never leading into the kind of self-pitying narcissism that often comes with that territory. Still, that I.D. Labs beat is what cinches it-- the smooth, summery soundtrack to a thousand future barbecues.

[from Rolling Papers; out on 03/29/2011 on Atlantic]

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The Pittsburgh rapper delivers the much anticipated follow-up to "Black and Yellow."

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Wiz Khalifa's high-school guidance counselor must be mighty proud of him these days. After parting ways with Warner Brothers in 2009, Wiz took the hustle into his own hands, self-releasing mixtapes, living on Twitter and growing his own grassroots (emphasis on the grass) fan-base from the blogs on up. These days, all his bootstrap-tugging has been paying serious dividends—Rick Ross wanted to sign him, Drake offered a support slot on tour—but Wiz wasn't having it, and he diplomatically declined both offers to pursue his own agenda and build his own brand. Good for you, Wiz, all that self-made man stuff must make the release of your latest single, "Black & Yellow," all the sweeter.

Wiz Khalifa - Black & Yellow

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Wiz Khalifa concerns himself with three things: weed, girls, and smoking weed with girls, in that order. You'd think that track after track of the same subject matter would grow tired, but Khalifa's playful swagger, blunted wordplay, and blasé blasé, can't-be-bothered cadence really digs its hooks in something fierce. His latest mixtape, Kush & Orange Juice, is an easy listen, perfect for a Friday afternoon spent staring at the clock, waiting til it ticks past five when one can start to take Wiz's suggestions a bit more seriously.

Wiz Khalifa - Never Been

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