Wiz Khalifa
Cameron Jibril Thomaz, known professionally as Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. Raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he signed with the local independent label Rostrum Records to release his debut studio album, Show and Prove. His contract entered a short-lived joint venture with Warner Bros. Records the following year. His Eurodance-influenced 2008 single "Say Yeah" received urban radio airplay and entered both the Rhythmic Top 40 and Hot Rap Songs charts, becoming his first minor hit.
Thomaz then parted ways with Warner Bros. and independently released his second album, Deal or No Deal. He released two further mixtapes until signing with Atlantic Records in July 2010. He adopted an urban hip-hop-influenced approach for his debut single for the label, "Black and Yellow". A tribute to his hometown of Pittsburgh, the song peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100 and received two Grammy Award nominations. Two of his follow-up singles, "Roll Up" and "No Sleep", peaked within the top 40 of the chart; all three preceded the release of his third album and major label debut, Rolling Papers. Despite mixed critical reception, the album peaked at number two on the Billboard 200.
His fourth album, O.N.I.F.C. was met with similar critical and commercial response, and supported by the singles "Work Hard, Play Hard" and "Remember You". His fifth album, Blacc Hollywood became his first to debut atop the Billboard 200, and was supported by the lead single "We Dem Boyz". His 2015 single, "See You Again" was released for the soundtrack to the film Furious 7, in tribute to late actor Paul Walker. The song peaked the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 non-consecutive weeks, received diamond certification by the Recording Industry Association of America, earned three Grammy Award nominations, and yielded Thomaz's furthest commercial success. His sixth album, Rolling Papers 2 matched its titular predecessor in chart position, and was supported by the sleeper hit single "Something New".
Outside of music, Thomaz has acted on television in Dickinson and The Eric Andre Show, starred alongside Snoop Dogg in the 2012 stoner comedy film Mac & Devin Go to High School, and had voice roles in the animated shows American Dad!, Duncanville, and Big City Greens. Thomaz founded the record label Taylor Gang Entertainment in 2008, through which he has signed artists including Juicy J, Ty Dolla Sign, and Berner. Known for his abundant usage of cannabis, Thomaz launched his own cannabis brand, Khalifa Kush, in 2016, which expanded to release in nationwide dispensaries in 2022.
Early life
Cameron Jibril Thomaz was born on September 8, 1987, in Minot, North Dakota, to parents serving in the Air Force. His parents divorced when Khalifa was about three years old. He was a military brat, frequently moving around with his parents' military service. Khalifa lived in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan before settling in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with his mother around 1996, where he attended Taylor Allderdice High School. Soon after moving to Pittsburgh, Khalifa began to write and perform his own lyrics before he was a teenager.His stage name is derived from Khalifa, an Arabic word meaning "successor", and wisdom, which was shortened to Wiz when Khalifa was a young boy. Khalifa stated to Spinner.com that the name also came from being called "young Wiz 'cause I was good at everything I did, and my granddad is Muslim, so he gave me that name; he felt like that's what I was doing with my music." He got a tattoo of his stage name on his 17th birthday.
By the age of 15, he was regularly recording his music at a local studio called I.D. Labs. Impressed by the young teen's talent, E. Dan, the owner of the studio offered Khalifa an intern job at the studio in exchange for free recording time. Dan, being a veteran of the Pittsburgh hip-hop scene, would help develop and mentor the young artist early on in his career.
Career
2005–2008: Early mixtapes and ''Show and Prove''
Rostrum Records president Benjy Grinberg first heard about Wiz Khalifa in 2004 when the rapper's contribution to a mixtape of various new Pittsburgh artists attracted his interest. When Grinberg finally met the 16-year-old artist, he immediately decided he wanted to work with him, later telling HitQuarters: "Even though he wasn't all the way developed you could just tell that he was a diamond in the rough, and that with some polishing, guidance and backing he could become something special." Khalifa signed to the label shortly after and began a seven-year period of artist development. Khalifa released his first mixtape, Prince of the City: Welcome to Pistolvania, in early 2006. The mixtape paved the way for his first full-length album entitled Show and Prove later that year. Khalifa was declared an "artist to watch" that year in Rolling Stone magazine.In 2007, Khalifa signed to Warner Bros. Records and released two mixtapes through Rostrum Records: Grow Season, hosted by DJ Green Lantern and released on July 4, 2007, and Prince of the City 2, released on November 20, 2007. His debut Warner Bros. single "Say Yeah" reached number 25 on the Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 music chart and number 20 on Billboard's Hot Rap Tracks. The song samples "Better Off Alone" by Alice Deejay. Khalifa's vocals from "Say Yeah" appear near the end of Pittsburgh mashup producer Girl Talk's 2008 album, Feed the Animals, over music from Underworld's "Born Slippy", Usher's "Love in This Club", and the Cure's "In Between Days". Khalifa appeared with The Game, David Banner, and Play-n-Skillz at U92's Summer Jam at the USANA Amphitheatre in West Valley City, Utah on August 2, 2008. Khalifa released the mixtapes Star Power in September 2008, and Flight School in April 2009 on Rostrum Records.
Khalifa parted ways with Warner Bros. Records in July 2009 after numerous delays in releasing his planned debut album for the label, First Flight. Khalifa stated to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that, "I learned a lot during my time there and matured as an artist during the process. I'm happy to be moving on with all of my material and having the chance to be in control of my next moves". Khalifa appeared with Girl Talk, Modey Lemon, Donora, Grand Buffet, and Don Caballero at the Amphitheatre at Station Square in Pittsburgh on July 31, 2009, where he announced that his relationship with Warner Bros. was over.
2009–2010: ''Deal or No Deal'' and signing with Atlantic Records
Continuing his association with Rostrum Records, Khalifa released the single "Teach U to Fly", and the mixtape How Fly, a collaboration with New Orleans rapper Curren$y, on August 9, 2009. Khalifa introduced a more melodic style on the mixtape, alternating between singing and rapping. He opened for Wu-Tang Clan member U-God at the 2009 CMJ Music Marathon in New York City. Khalifa released the mixtape Burn After Rolling on November 2, 2009, where he raps over familiar beats from other artists, including the songs "If I Were a Boy" and "Diva" by Beyoncé, "Walking on a Dream" by Empire of the Sun, "Luchini AKA This Is It" by Camp Lo, and "Best I Ever Had" by Drake. Khalifa released his second album, Deal or No Deal, on November 24, 2009.Khalifa performed at Emo's in Austin, Texas in March 2010, as part of the 2010 South by Southwest Music Festival. He appeared on the cover of XXL magazine that same month, for the magazine's annual list of Top 10 Freshman, which included Donnis, J. Cole, Pill, Freddie Gibbs, and Fashawn. Wiz Khalifa was named 2010 "Rookie Of The Year" by "The Source", with alongside Rick Ross, "The Man Of The Year". He toured with rapper Yelawolf on a 20-date tour, the Deal Or No Deal Tour. Khalifa released the free mixtape Kush and Orange Juice for download on April 14, 2010. Due to Khalifa's devoted grassroots fan base, the mixtape became the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter with the hash tag #kushandorangejuice, and "Kush and Orange Juice download" ranked No. 1 on Google's hot search trends.
Citing music industry insiders, New York magazine wrote that Khalifa signed with Atlantic Records in April 2010, although the rapper did not confirm it. He stated to AllHipHop in June 2010 that he was working on a new album, but was weighing his options and had not yet decided on a label to distribute it. Khalifa confirmed to MTV on July 30 that he was signing an Atlantic Records deal.
Khalifa was featured in a remix and video for the 2010 Rick Ross single "Super High", alongside Curren$y. He guested on the mixtape Grey Goose, Head Phones, and Thirsty Women by St. Louis rapper M.C., and was featured on the track "The Breeze " on rapper Wale's August 2010 mixtape More About Nothing. Khalifa was named MTV's Hottest Breakthrough MC of 2010, winning with nearly 70,000 votes, and beating out finalists Nicki Minaj, J. Cole, Travis Porter, and Diggy Simmons.
Khalifa appeared at the Soundset 2010 festival in May 2010 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, alongside Method Man & Redman, Del the Funky Homosapien, Hieroglyphics, Atmosphere, Murs, Cage, and others. He performed at the 2010 Rock the Bells festival, along with hip-hop veterans Wu-Tang Clan, Snoop Dogg, Lauryn Hill, A Tribe Called Quest, Rakim, KRS-One, Jedi Mind Tricks, and Slick Rick. Khalifa declined an invitation to tour with rapper Drake and launched his own Waken Baken Tour, a 50-city national tour with rapper Yelawolf. His official DJ on the tour was DJ Bonics.
The tour, scheduled to last from September to November 2010, sold out every venue. In November 2010, during his "Waken Baken" tour at East Carolina University, Khalifa was arrested for possession and trafficking of marijuana. He was released the next morning after a $300K bail, and resumed his tour. Khalifa performed in a cypher during the 2010 BET Hip-Hop Awards.