Guest Blogger: Dylan 2

Wiz Khalifa is one of the world’s newest rappers. His style is very different from many of the rappers of his era. Other big-name rappers of this period are Eminem and Lil Wayne. Eminem commonly raps about his past experiences, and Lil Wayne is known for rapping about money and women. Both rappers usually have very upbeat songs with fast beats and lyrics. Wiz Khalifa has a style almost the opposite of both Lil Wayne and Eminem. A lot of Wiz Khalifa’s songs are a slower beat and slower lyrics. They are usually dealing with drugs, one of his favorite topics to rap about. In fact, Wiz Khalifa was arrested in North Carolina and charged with possession of marijuana, where he was then sent to jail. One of his newer songs is “Roll Up,” is surprisingly about something other than marijuana: his “significant other.” As Mariel Concepcion wrote in her article “Wiz Khalifa, ‘Roll UP,’” “Khalifa confesses over synths and drums to his love interest, who finds herself cheating on her significant other with the MC” (Concepcion). Concepcion is right, in the fact he is talking about his significant other. Khalifa shows a softer, more gentle and friendly side to him in “Roll Up,” a song very different than most of his other songs. Overall, Wiz Khalifa’s song “Roll Up” is an upbeat, joyful song, and should definitely be listened to. Another of Wiz Khalifa’s more recent and probably most well-known songs is called “Black and Yellow.” Khalifa says that “Black and Yellow” is a tribute to the Pittsburgh Steelers, a professional football team. Jesse Serwer wrote in his article that the song “makes up for the song’s pedestrian theme (‘I put it down from the whip to my diamonds’) with a winning deliver and undeniable charisma” (Serwer). Serwer’s comment about the “undeniable charisma” of “Black and Yellow” is about the best way to describe the song, as it is very upbeat and creates emotions of excitement when you listen to it. As stated above, Wiz Khalifa is at the forefront of the rapping world, and his two songs “Roll Up” and “Black and Yellow” are a new, different style from the rapper’s typical songs. He is definitely someone you would want to listen to, and I rate him as a 9 out of 10.