by Chris Douglas
I use to really enjoy Wiz Khalifa’s mixtapes. Certain tracks on Kush & OJ, Taylor Allerdice and even Cabin Fever are some of my favorite hip-hop songs. At first, I felt enticed by Khalifa’s seemingly effortless stoner bravado. I use to enjoy listening to Wiz rap about getting with plenty of girls (primarily my own), smoking more weed than I have seen in my life, and drinking excessive amounts of Bombay Sapphire. However, in more recent years I have grown out of this type of music, or at least Wiz’s brand of said music.
Wiz Khalifa’s new mixtape 28 Grams is a lyrically uninspiring ode to “trap music.” Over the lengthy 28 song tape, I found my self being constantly underwhelmed by Wiz’s vocal performances. His kind of new shouting flow and the abundant amount of corny autotune singing are things that in fact disinterest me, and even distract me from the excellent production on the project. If you can make it all they way through Wiz’s remixes of “Up Down” by T-Pain and “Man of The Year” by ScHoolboy Q, I take my hat off to you; I find them to be almost unlistenable. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I want and deserve better from Wiz. Over the course of the past 4 years, Wiz has gotten married, and had a child, but we hear no mention of this in his music. He has not progressed lyrical, nor conceptually. It is simply more of the same, just at a lower level. As a fan, I want to grow and change with an artist. I’m no longer the high-schooler wearing Chuck Taylor sneakers and camo cargo shorts that I was once was when I loved Wiz Khalifa’s music. In short, I have changed but he has not.
Now, I don’t want this article to come off as some condescending review claiming that if there is no substance to music it is therefore terrible. I feel there is a time and place for music that one can simply turn their brain off to. However, to be blunt, I don’t think there is every a place for most of the songs off 28 Grams. I find them to be forced imitations of genre that Wiz is trying to recreate.
Rating: 2.0/10
