Review Summary: Wiz Khalifa's new album doesn't live up to expectations
To be honest I was kind of excited for new music by Wiz Khalifa. For a while now, I had been under the impression that Wiz Khalifa had fallen off. But then “King of Everything” changed that presumption. That song showcased the best qualities of a Wiz Khalifa turn-up song: a hard, twisting beat while he spits lyrics of lavish living the listener can live vicariously through. Then there was the equally impressive “No Permission” months earlier.
So when this project was announced on the heels of those releases, it pushed one question up front: is Wiz Khalifa going to release an incredibly exceptional album?
Ok, if not incredibly exceptional than decent maybe?
However, it seems not. His new album,
Khalifa, is only slightly better than
Cabin Fever III, which isn’t saying much. Unfortunately “King of Everything” was left off the album. In all honesty, this album is nothing remarkable.
Starting off the record is the track opener, “BTS,” which is pretty good and makes you a little hopeful that this is not some musical distraction from more viable projects or activities. Yet after that track, the album takes a long dive to the bottom end of quality. It is hard to differentiate one song from the other. The majority of the tracks follow the same structure of mediocre raps followed by singing, which in my opinion has been the least exciting aspect of Wiz Khalifa’s musical persona. And what makes these songs appear to blur into one giant blob of noise is that even beat wise it’s all familiar territory.
Not that it’s all bad though. “Make A Play” has its own charm and “No Permission” and “Most of Us” are definitely the highlights of the album but these don’t have the weight to provide the incentive to really care what’s going on the rest of the project. Even “Bake Sale,” which sadly did not have a verse from La Flame, fails to meet the expectations for a Wiz and Travis Scott collaboration.
What Wiz Khalifa fails to do, even in his own sub-category of rap, is to make those same repetitive musings on weed, liquor, and “don’t give a ***” view of life new or exciting. Compared to his trippy, Taylor Gang cohort Juicy J, Wiz Khalifa lacks the abundance of witty one-liners and sheer hedonistic vibe to make you want to make into anthems or experience voyeuristically. Although the track with both Wiz and Juicy J was also lackluster.
Even for a stoner rap album, this album is boring; I doubt even Wiz Khaifa die-hards will classify this album as anything special. At best
Khalifa is the kind of album that you feel okay hearing in the background at a friend’s party when you’re already a few cups deep and will mindlessly listen to anything that happens to flow out the speakers.
