Albums : Wiz Khalifa : O.N.I.F.C
Albums : Wiz Khalifa : O.N.I.F.C
Listen To Wiz Khalifa : O.N.I.F.C
Listen To Wiz Khalifa : O.N.I.F.C
The Wiz Receives An Award
Wiz Khalifa will receive the Static Major Award for Music Entrepreneurship at the 1st Annual Block Starz Awards, www.blockstarz.tv, presented by IndiePower during the 2013 Kentucky Derby Festival weekend in May.
Wiz Khalifa (b. Cameron Jibril Thomaz), who is known for his Atlantic Records debut single, "Black and Yellow", which peaked at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and his major label albums Rolling Papers and O.N.I.F.C., generated $20 million over the past two years, twice landing on FORBES’ Hip-Hop Cash Kings list; as well as, the magazine's “30 Under 30” music list alongside the likes of Lady Gaga. The 25-year-old Pittsburgh rapper achieved this by supplementing his income from record sales with an aggressive tour schedule, movies, apparel, and twice the merchandise sales of typical rappers.
“Wiz is a movement in himself, with incredibly loyal fans,” says Cameron Strang, CEO of Warner/Chappell Music and head of West Coast operations for WMG, Atlantic’s parent company, in an exclusive profile of Wiz Khalifa featured in the January 21 issue of FORBES. “He has a complete creative vision for all the different aspects of his career, central to which is his incredible music.”
The Static Major Music Entrepreneurship Award is named after Grammy Award-winning Louisville, Kentucky rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer Stephen Ellis Garrett, also known as Static Major, who gained posthumous fame after appearing on Lil Wayne's 2008 album Tha Carter III on the song "Lollipop". Static produced and/or wrote hit songs for Aaliyah, Ginuwine, and Pretty Ricky, and was a member of the R&B trio Playa. Garrett died unexpectedly on February 25, 2008 and there are plans to release his debut album on the fifth anniversary of his passing this year.
"The Static Major Music Entrepreneurship Award honors recording artists who are CEOs of their own successful careers, by exploring new career paths, income streams, and business models," says Tia Brown, co-founder and executive director of the Block Starz Foundation Inc., a non-profit based in Louisville, KY, which promotes literacy through arts and entertainment and is hosting the event that will feature performances by artists Mac Miller and Chevy Woods of Khalifa's TaylorGang imprint.
"Static took an entrepenurial approach to the music industry and Wiz Khalifa carries on that spirit,” says Block Starz Music LLC president and chief executive Bayer Mack, whose independent label featured Khalifa on its 2009 East Coast Block Starz compilation before the rapper achieved international fame.
“The things Wiz, Will [Dzombak], and the team over at TaylorGang have accomplished in the past few years are amazing, but they have remained incredibly humble. It's not all about the money with them.”
The 139th Kentucky Derby Festival weekend, which attracts over 1.5 million people from around the world who take part in more than 70 special events, takes place May 3-5 in Louisville, Kentucky. Block Starz Award organizers will be releasing more details, including categories, and honorees, over the coming weeks and months leading up to the event, which is being co-promoted by IndiePower, www.indiepower.com, a global entertainment marketing and distribution company run by industry veteran Jay Warsinske.
O.N.I.F.C Review
Wiz Khalifa smokes weed by the acre, but his career thus far has been driven by his own shrewd vision for himself. He is not a rapper's rapper, but he helped push rap into its current fixation with doing drugs instead of selling them and has rightfully reaped the rewards of an entire genre following his lead. He also became a pop star with ease in 2010, sliding into the studio with pop titans like Stargate and Benny Blanco and emerging with a No. 1 single ("Black and Yellow") that was a pure rap banger and another pop smash ("Roll Up") that applied his airy, breezy aesthetic to the radio. O.N.I.F.C., his second major label album, is a resounding misstep, and it's the first sign that Khalifa's unwavering focus may be getting swallowed up by the haze.
Or maybe he couldn't bring himself to care about the fragile nature of crossover success any longer. O.N.I.F.C. will quickly be swept under the rug by anyone but his true diehards, yet Khalifa still had a successful year by displaying his malleability. His Taylor Allderdice mixtape from March was a nice stopgap release, steeped in the same foggy, washed out beats that helped elevate him to fame. Cabin Fever 2, from October, saw Khalifa dipping into L.A.'s ratchet scene to show just how much artists like Iamsu! owe to his own mix of nonsense rapping and soft, blissed-out singing. Both mixtapes were right in his lane, and they predicted the direction Khalifa would take with the album proper.
Khalifa has already more or less disowned his debut, telling his fans that "creatively [it] wasn't my best work." That regret is evident on O.N.I.F.C. which tosses a Blanco produced single to the dogs but then retracts further into his vaporized aesthetic. The album kicks off with a suite of tracks that are meant to wash over you, and they are undoubtedly effective-- "Paperbond" is steeped in the comforting draft of chillwave while "Bluffin'", produced by Drumma Boy no less, borders on balearic. The problem, though, is that both songs would work best as zone-out instrumentals. Khalifa doesn't say anything of note-- "riding in my ride" is crushingly emblematic -- and doesn't sound particular good from a technical standpoint. He is there because he has to be, not because he should be.
Everything from there on is just an unending succession of diminishing returns that questions the relevancy of Khalifa's artistic existence. He could-- and just may-- pump music out for the indefinite future that coasts on sound design and little else. Wiz has never exactly spit quotable 16s but his rapping on O.N.I.F.C. suggests ignorance regarding his own distance instead of a conscious desire to roll with the vibes. The album's acronym stands for "Only Nigga in First Class" and sports a dour looking photo of Khalifa on the cover, but it's difficult to find any significance in either-- he hints at fatigue, but doesn't illuminate the flipside of stardom in any way.
Maybe the album's most indicative track is "No Limit", which is nearly nine and a half minutes long thanks to a three-minute instrumental interlude. It sounds pointless except that the interlude is easily the most enjoyable moment of the record. After a verse from Wiz, the song slips into beachside ambience, ice-rattle drums, and plaintive pianos. It is legitimately as good as anything Air France ever did. Then Wiz starts rapping again.
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