Wiz Khalifa - Khalifa

Wiz Khalifa
Khalifa
2016
Spotify

Khalifa is the newest album from Wiz Khalifa and as expected it is filled with his usual motivational stoner anthems. The one thing that comes across in most of Khalifa's music is that He is quite happy to be doing what He is doing. There is no way you would ever call his music aggressive because in the end it is so uplifting. Tracks like "Call Waiting" might even be considered bubbly by some and they would not be wrong. There is a light touch to this album perhaps from becoming a dad or having some real piece of mind, or maybe it is just the weed. There is more than enough blunts crackling, bowls sparking or joints being rolled sounds on this album to be a record of their own. If you weren't aware that Khalifa is a fan of the herb you will be completely convinced of the fact after listening to this record. This record is technically hip hop but Khalifa does a fair bit of singing and sort of just spilling words out of his mouth rather than just spit. "Make a Play" featuring J.R. Donato is the out and out drug anthem with Wiz and J.R. listing off some of their daily routines when it comes to the illicit substances.

One thing missing from this record however is any sense of urgency. Most of the record is spent letting the music sort of spill from him in a very lethargic way. "Most of Us" takes so long to actually get going that by the time you are actually grooving to it the song is almost done. Wiz's skills as a rapper are not on display here, this is a record meant for pop success and thus much of the edge has been ground down minus drug references which at this point are so common they might as well be mainstream. Khalifa gives flashes of his emotional state on tracks like "Zoney" which features his son in a conversation that is so sweet you can't help but smile listening to it, The pacing is so lethargic however that by the time you reach the end of the record you are so ready for something with a bit of energy or anything to change it up a little. Khalifa is not a bad record at all, but it resides somewhere in the middle, not great but not bad either.

6.2 out of 10