Wiz Khalifa

Pittsburgh rapper Wiz Khalifa blends pop hooks, effortless charm, and stoner rap swagger into a signature sound. Throughout the 2010s he ranked among mainstream hip-hop’s quickest risers, issuing four albums that landed at either number one or number two on the Billboard 200. Hits anchored by polished rhymes and even smoother beats carried him from early mixtapes to arena-scale anthems and a major film soundtrack team-up with pop star Charlie Puth on the blockbuster single “See You Again.” From the 2011 major-label bow Rolling Papers through the more seasoned Multiverse in 2022, Khalifa’s charisma, persona, and cannabis-laced humor have stayed sharply defined. He has kept releasing mixtapes, among them 2024’s Wiz Owens.

A military brat born Cameron Thomaz in 1987 in Minot, North Dakota, Khalifa watched his parents split when he was three and subsequently moved through assorted cities and bases worldwide. He first tried writing lyrics around age nine and, by twelve, was already tracking and producing his own material inside his father’s Oklahoma studio. During high school he put down roots in Pittsburgh, laying the foundation for a solo career while regularly recording at the local facility I.D. Labs. His presence quickly distinguished him from other regulars, leading the studio team to grant him complimentary beats and sessions and eventually bringing him to the notice of Benjy Grinberg, once an executive assistant to L.A. Reid at Arista and founder of the fledgling independent Rostrum Records. After signing with Rostrum, Khalifa stirred local excitement in Pittsburgh through several singles and drew wider notice during his senior year when the 2006 mixtape Prince of the City: Welcome to Pistolvania surfaced; later that same year his independent debut album Show and Prove prompted feature coverage in major outlets.

In summer 2007 Khalifa and Rostrum partnered with Warner Bros., yielding the first major-label single “Young’n on His Grind.” The follow-up “Say Yeah” reached the Top 20 of Billboard’s Hot Rap Tracks that year, yet relations with the label soured. Unable to settle on terms for a debut album, the rapper declared his departure from Warner in 2009 and returned to Rostrum to release Deal or No Deal.

The following year opened with Khalifa on the cover of XXL as one of its Top Ten Freshmen and with The Source crowning him Rookie of the Year. In April the mixtape Kush & Orange Juice generated sufficient attention for Atlantic to sign him; that September the first Atlantic single, the Pittsburgh Steelers tribute “Black and Yellow” produced by Stargate, arrived. As the team advanced through the playoffs the track became its unofficial anthem, prompting Lil Wayne to answer with “Green and Yellow” ahead of the Super Bowl matchup against the Green Bay Packers. Khalifa’s song hit number one in February 2011, and his first Atlantic project, Rolling Papers, entered the Billboard 200 at number two the next month. Also that year came the feature film Mac and Devin Go to High School with Snoop Dogg and its accompanying soundtrack.

Two mixtapes, Taylor Allderdice and Still Blazin’, surfaced in 2012; early December brought the fourth album O.N.I.F.C., which reunited Khalifa with Stargate, now joined by Benny Blanco on the lead single “Work Hard, Play Hard.” In interviews Khalifa clarified that the title O.N.I.F.C. stood for “Only Nigga in First Class,” nodding to Prodigy of Mobb Deep’s H.N.I.C., while clean editions rendered it “One Night in First Class.” April 2013 saw the collaborative EP Live in Concert with Curren$y, containing seven new tracks. Shortly afterward he detailed a fifth studio album, Blacc Hollywood, issued in August 2014. The accompanying mixtape 28 Grams, intended as a primer, nearly faced postponement after Khalifa’s marijuana-possession arrest the day before its May release, yet he was released within hours and the stream proceeded on schedule.

During 2015 Khalifa’s contribution to the Furious 7 soundtrack, the Paul Walker tribute “See You Again,” ranked among the year’s biggest smashes, holding number one for more than ten nonconsecutive weeks. The hit did not appear on the 2016 album Khalifa, but it shaped the project’s calmer, more relaxed vibe, including the lead single “Bake Sale” featuring Travis Scott. That album debuted at number six on the Billboard 200, while later in the year Khalifa entered at number 26 with the collaborative mixtape TGOD Mafia: Rude Awakening alongside Juicy J and TM88 on Atlantic. He added notable soundtrack cuts in 2016 with “Sucker for Pain” from Suicide Squad and in 2017 with “Gang Up” from The Fate of the Furious. Also in 2017 he issued the single “Something New” featuring Ty Dolla $ign. The mixtape Laugh Now, Fly Later closed the year.

In 2018 Khalifa dropped the double-sided single “Hopeless Romantic” with Swae Lee backed by “Real Rich” with Gucci Mane; both cuts landed on the summer sequel Rolling Papers 2. February 2019 brought the Trippie Redd and Preme collaboration “Alright,” followed by further joint work with Curren$y on the nostalgic mixtape 2009 and the hazy, old-school-leaning Fly Times, Vol. 1: The Good Fly Young. These loose mixtape efforts preceded the tightly produced seven-song EP The Saga of Wiz Khalifa in 2020, which carried high-profile guest spots from Logic, Quavo, Tyga, Megan Thee Stallion, and others.

After focusing on collaborations and quick mixtape drops such as the Juicy J joint Stoner’s Night and the four-way Full Court Press with Smoke DZA, Girl Talk, and Big K.R.I.T., Wiz returned in July 2022 with his seventh solo studio album, Multiverse. Cut largely in his Los Angeles home studio, the set presented a more mature perspective, exploring themes of self-acceptance, fatherhood, and emotional development. Khalifa opened 2023 with an array of singles including “#NeverDrinkingAgain” and the Ty Dolla $ign-produced “Don’t Text Don’t Call” featuring Snoop Dogg, alongside the mixtapes See Ya, Khali Sober, and Decisions. Another mixtape, Wiz Owens, followed in 2024.