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 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 website 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.”
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.”
