Wiz Khalifa - Rolling Papers - 47/100

Pittsburgh based rapper Wiz Khalifa hit the scenes with his hit single “Black and Yellow”, paying homage to his hometown Steelers. The song quickly became the anthem for the team and was the source of many remixes for other teams around the league for better or worse.... I'll go with much worse. But for Khalifa the fame extended beyond NFL recognition “Black and Yellow” hit #1 on the Billboard top 100 as well as landing him on countless magazine covers and top up and comer lists. So with so much moment going into his first release under his new label Atlantic how did Wiz Khalifa fair with Rolling Papers?

Rolling Papers is a decent release and definitely showcases Khalifa as a talent but often times leaves you wanting more out of each song and the album as a whole. The album also suffers from run time issues and can occasionally drag on in a couple of tracks. Khalifa's delivery is mostly solid and enjoyable but one thing this young rapper needs to improve on is song content. As the title suggests the key focus of the album is Khalifa's love for weed, which is upfront from the start and never lets go proclaiming in “The Race” “Good weeds lit on this one” for example. Generally throughout the album the beats stand up well but often times feel a little distant from Khalifa and his verses, sometimes it seems they run parallel and only interacting with each other when the chorus hits. Rarely serious Rolling Papers manages to keep a fun and upbeat tone whether it be “Fly Solo” the track tailor made for college dorms, or “Cameras” which seems to be produced in the same vein of Lupe Fiasco's “The Show Goes On” or B.O.B's “Nothin' On You” as a fun pop hit in the waiting. Wiz does bring it hard on some tracks to give a reprieve from his normally floaty-fun song structure but these songs are few and front loaded on the album with “On my Level” and “Black and Yellow”.

For being his first main street album Wiz Khalifa does a good job of flexing his talent in the rap game but Rolling Papers falls short on staying power. Khalifa succeeds at being a much more accessible Kid Cudi, with more elementary content but a much more accessible delivery. Rolling Papers is definitely worth a listen, and Khalifa does a good job at keeping interest up in following his career and looking forward to future releases.