ATLANTA (AP) — With a blond streak running up his uncombed Afro, rapper Wiz Khalifa leans back in his chair seemingly without a care in the world, as the aroma of marijuana rises from his gray sweater.
This is a snapshot of rap's newest sensation.
"Weed is just my thing," says the
23-year-old, whose latest album, "Rolling Papers," debuted this week
at No. 2 on the album charts with more than 198,000 copies sold, putting him
right behind Britney Spears.
"I smoke because that's where my mind belongs.
It's better for me. I hear music clearer and differently. It makes my writing
much more enjoyable. At the end of the day, I don't depend on it. I'm just one
of those people who like to be high all the time."
Some say the 6-foot-4 Khalifa, who skyrocketed up
the charts with his omnipresent hit "Black and Yellow," reminds them
of a younger version of Snoop Dogg, a rapper who he idolizes. They're both tall
and lanky; they also have a fondness for marijuana with carefree attitudes. The
older rapper has taken Khalifa under his wing, and they've even recorded
together.
"He's sort of taken some inspiration from
Snoop as this lovable pothead kind of dude," says Elliott Wilson, founder
of the hip-hop Web site RapRadar.com. "He gives off good energy. He laughs
a lot and cackles on the track. He seems like a personable dude. He's already
built his core audience and now he's trying to reach a different audience too —
and bring them into the party."
Khalifa was born in North Dakota and grew up as a
military kid, living in different countries from Japan to Germany before laying
his roots down in the blue-collar city of Pittsburgh.
Khalifa's says living in different countries as a
kid gave him a broader perspective of the world's various cultures.
"It helped me how to deal with different
people, being able to interact with other kids," he says. "Just
having those different walks of life, from living on base then in the city and
real world. It gives you a better understanding of how people's minds work."
Pittsburgh is where Khalifa honed his creativity as
a songwriter, realizing his ability to soundly mesh rap and singing together.
"I feel like the best way to stay in
somebody's head is singing," he says. "Music is instruments. I just
really pulled from what's inside the music and (that's' how I) find my
melodies."
Khalifa built a strong grass-roots fan base through
a series of mixtapes, earning him a deal with Warner Bros. in 2007, with his
debut "Say Yeah," which reached No. 20 on Billboard's Hot Rap Tracks.
But he and the label parted ways two years later after his album was delayed on
several occasions.
"He was one of the early people to take
advantage of that wave," says DJ Drama, who's known for his compilation of
mixtapes. "I came up in an era where you sent boatloads of CDs to stores.
But for him, Wiz made his own campaign going that direction."
With a major label backing him, Khalifa knew how to
handle his business this time around. He figured it would only be a matter of
time before his career would take off, but he didn't anticipate it would be
because of "Black and Yellow," which paid homage to hometown team —
the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers.
He wasn't the only one surprised by the outcome.
"We all felt good about the record. But I've
got to be honest, I don't think anybody thought it wasn't going to be the No. 1
record," says Tor Erik Hermansen of the hit-making Norwegian production
duo Stargate, who produced the song. "We were all pleasantly surprised."
The song thrived with its catchy hook, becoming
last year's phenomenon that influenced some of rap's elite, from Lil Wayne to
Snoop Dogg, to remix the song and salute their favorite team.
For Khalifa, the release of "Black and
Yellow" came at a perfect time when the Steelers made a run toward the
Super Bowl XLV. Even though his favorite team lost in the championship game to
the Green Bay Packers, the success of the song still made him fell like a
winner.
"People are really paying attention to it,"
he says. "There's this version and that version. It helped out a lot to
catch people up really fast who were like, 'Who is Wiz Khalifa?'"
If there's any doubt whether Khalifa can surpass
the one-hit wonder status, look no further than his futuristic pop-sounding,
"No Sleep." It's has already soared to No. 1 on the iTunes top 10
list. And his single "Roll Up" reached No. 6 on Billboard's Hot Rap
Songs.
"From the moment he walks in, you know he's a
star," says Erik Hermansen, who also produced "Roll Up." "That's
the X-factor you can't really teach somebody. It comes from the artist. He's
got that."
Khalifa doesn't expect the hits to stop anytime
soon.
"It's like motivation to do more and just like
stay level-headed," he says, "stay chillin'. ... But at the same time
let people know how good I am."
Copyright
2011 The Associated Press.
(AP
Photo/Atlantic Records, Darren Ankenman)
