Khalifa Seizes Opportunity in Wayne’s Absence

While Lil Wayne was in jail from March to early November, rap didn’t exactly have a direction or a leader. Wayne had once led the pack by releasing his album “Rebirth,” which topped the charts for weeks.

However, Wayne would not be releasing any more songs until his November 4^th discharge from prison, which was simultaneous with release date of his album, “I Am Not A Human Being.” The interim period gave new artists a chance to step up and grab the spotlight. Wiz Khalifa did just that.

Based in Pittsburgh, Khalifa’s rap career began in 2006, when he released his first album “Show and Prove.” The album sold only a little over 10,000 copies, but Wiz was still named Rolling Stone’s Artist to Watch.

Khalifa then signed a deal with Rostrum and Warner Bro. Records in 2007, when he began releasing various mix tapes. Two years and three mix tapes later, Khalifa released his next album, “Deal or no Deal”, in November of 2009. The album flew to the top of the iTunes Store Hip Hop chart and sold 55,000 copies to date. This led to Wiz starting a tour during the summer of 2010.

Shortly after the beginning of the 2010 NFL season, Khalifa released his most famous song, “Black and Yellow,” which topped the Billboard Top 100 charts and was used as an anthem for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ playoff run. Currently, Khalifa plans to release his next album on March 29^th; he has already released a single from the album, which currently sits at #14 on the iTunes Top 200.

What separates Khalifa from the pack are his unique and catchy beats as well as his “Young Gun” personality and new voice. His best music so far has come from the period when he was a fairly unknown artist because it truly encompassed everything that Khalifa wanted to express.

Now that he is becoming more mainstream, it will be interesting to see whether Khalifa’s creative spark in his music will become restricted to fit the pop-media culture that floods the radios today.

One thing is for sure: Wiz Khalifa is on the rise and is bumpin’ through the headphones of people everywhere.