Wiz Khalifa falls prey to pop star conventions

Long-time fans’ first mistake was allowing their expectations for Rolling Papers to increase by the greatness of Wiz Khalifa’s latest mixtape, Cabin Fever, which was released in mid-February. Rolling Papers

Wiz Khalifa

Atlantic Records

Rocks like: the newest soundtrack at the under-18 club

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Long-time fans’ first mistake was allowing their expectations for Rolling Papers to increase by the greatness of Wiz Khalifa’s latest mixtape, Cabin Fever, which was released in mid-February.

Their second mistake was assuming that the album would be at least as good as Khalifa’s first album, Show and Prove. This was understandable, all things considered, but a mistake nonetheless.

Wiz Khalifa opens the album with a nod to his detractors, who note that all he raps about is money, women and weed. He then proceeds to rap about money, women and weed. This formula is almost foolproof, as the rapper has proven over the years — provided it’s done in a cohesive, engrossing manner.

One of Wiz Khalifa’s calling cards has been his impeccable beat selection. From 2006’s Prince of the City: Welcome to Pistolvania all the way to last summer’s Kush and Orange Juice, each album featured dope beats from producers like Sledgren and Pittsburgh’s own Big Jerm.

Originally a rapper who picked his “own lane,” Wiz Khalifa has, over the last two years, gradually drifted toward the abyss of rappers-turned-pop stars that has ruined many a career. On Rolling Papers, he again turns to shallow, poppy beats from the likes of Benny Blanco to drive his tracks. In the end, the production is simply lacking, as is the lyrical content.

Although Wiz Khalifa has never been a wordsmith — nor has he ever strived to be one — his formula of sticking to basic metaphors and relying on incredible hooks to carry his tracks has worked for more than five years. Why he decided to continue his journey toward Bieber-town on his first major release is a mystery. Given an opportunity to do anything he wanted, to change the game in any number of ways, Wiz Khalifa unfortunately caved to the label and completed his transformation into a pop star.

In the end, Rolling Papers doesn’t sound like an album. Instead it sounds like a collection of B-sides that were thrown together in an attempt to continue the popular success enjoyed by the rapper’s No. 1 single “Black and Yellow.”

Unfortunately for a lot of the die-hard fans who have been members of Wiz Khalifa’s crew, Taylor Gang, for years, this isn’t the artist whom they fell in love with. Even worse is the fact that the casual rap fan will eat this album up.