Wiz Khalifa recently sat down with HardKnockTV and opened up about how he no longer wants the stigma of being just a weed or stoner rapper. It’s going to be quite an ordeal for Wiz to change the image that he’s built since he hit the mainstream. If you are familiar with Wiz Khalifa you probably know at least one of these things:
1. Wiz Khalifa smokes a lot of weed
2. Taylor Gang or Die
3. He’s from Pittsburgh
Notice how the fact that Wiz Khalifa smokes is the first thing I listed. Honestly, the first word that comes to mind in association with Wiz Khalifa is “weed”. I’m not saying that Wiz can’t make a song not about weed, but it is going to be difficult for him to shake the stoner image. Here in 2014 Wiz Khalifa is one of the icons of mainstream stoner-ism. If you were to venture into a East Meets West or some other stoner/peace/hippie store you would find a few towels, posters and bracelets with Wiz Khalifa on it with some type of reference to bud. Wiz Khalifa has put his self up there with Bob Marley, Snoop Lion and Cheech & Chong purely on a popularity level amongst mainstream stoners and his brand seems to only be getting bigger.
If Wiz Khalifa is serious about not being a stoner rapper then he needs to make a few changes to what he puts out. Majority of Wiz’s music that I can think of has to do with the fact that he smokes and is properly titled to convey as much. Projects from his past such as Burn After Rolling, Kush and OJ, and his Rolling Papers are amongst his most popular from his discography. Wiz Khalifa even named his most recent mixtape release 28 Grams (approximately an ounce). If he’s serious about leaving the stoner image behind more power to him. I guess people will have to go somewhere else for the weed raps.