Wiz Khalifa - Taylor Allderdice Review

Before releasing this mixtape, Wiz Khalifa sent something of an apology letter to his fans. "When I made Kush and Orange Juice, I listened to it and knew I had created a genre that would change music," he wrote. "The mistake I made on Rolling Papers was thinking it was time to move on from that genre and not knowing that it had impacted people so much…creatively [it] wasn't my best work."

The gist was that Khalifa had gone too far into pop-rap with his major label debut and sacrificed the kicked-back stoner vibe that first got him wide attention. Concurrent with this were other artists-- from psychedelic producers like Spaceghostpurpp to au courant rap crews like A$AP and Main Attraktionz, basically the whole "cloud rap" or "trillwave" movement, whatever you want to call it-- who had since ran with a similar style. Taylor Allderdice, named for Khalifa's high school, is the rapper attempting to reclaim what he sees as his....full text Since he blew up and crossed over in 2010 with his Kush & OJ mixtape and subsequent smash “Black and Yellow,” Wiz Khalifa has been accumulating a chip on his shoulder that seems to weigh bigger than the days when we wasn’t yet on. His follow up single, “Roll Up,” was deemed too pop by many hip-hop circles. His follow up mixtape, Cabin Fever, with its heavy Lex Luger touch, was a sonic deviation from previous work—and unwelcomed by some (though celebrated by others). His debut Atlantic Records album, Rolling Papers, was deemed a disappointment by many, potentally stunted by major label pandering. Now, with Taylor Allderdice, his first solo body of work in a year (he teamed with Snoop Dogg for Mac & Devin Go To High School), Wiz overlooks the haters and reverts to his signature sound.

The tape is hosted by MTV’s Rob Markman—which means that there are brief clips of a conversation between Markman and Wiz at the end of each song. During the chat on “O.N.I.F.C.,” nearing the tape’s midpoint, Wiz claims that, “what inspired me back then is the same shit that inspires me now.” Throughout, he proceeds to prove this.

Like he has been for years, the Rostrum rapper is still all about his weed, his women, and his homies. His insistence on sticking to this small scope of subjects surely limits the diversity of content within the project. But it’s hard to fault him for riding with this method for a couple of reasons: first, he seems to truly be talking about how he lives and what he knows, and isn’t that what we ask from our rappers—to just spit what is real to them from their experiences, rather than something contrived? Plus, he’s damn good at it....full text After a tumultuous release of his first major album debut, Wiz Khalifa has taken his career from Cloud 9 to Cloud 10 with the release of his new mixtape Taylor Allderdice. The Rolling Papers album wasn’t much of a fan favorite, but if you mix the 14 songs from Rolling Papers with the songs from the Cabin Fever mixtape, then you pretty much get a well-done album.

With the latest addition, Wiz puts on his team, his city, and last but definitely not least – his fiancé. This ruffles my feathers a bit because MTV ranked Wiz as this year’s 9th hottest rapper. I guess money doesn’t make you hot because Wiz raked in over 11 million dollars this past year.

Maybe if the Steelers won the Superbowl, Wiz would’ve been hotter. Maybe if he would have entered into a beef over his lady with Kanye, Wiz would’ve been hotter. Maybe if he had a co-sign like Jay-Z, Kanye, Eminem, or the MMG thugs, Wiz would’ve been hotter. But the closest thing Wiz has to a co-sign is his relationship with other weed rappers/spokespersons Snoop Dogg & Curren$y who has helped fuel Wiz’s career with the release of the How Fly mixtape which gave Wiz his appeal after his release of Kush & Orange Juice....full text