After sleeping through listening to Wiz Khalifa’s incredibly-innovative Atlantic records debut Rolling Papers (Yes, that’s sarcasm) I realized, yet again, that I’m Too.Damn.OLD for the tat-scribbled ‘rookie of the year’s’ (Rolling Stones‘ words, not mine) Based God-blessed brand of mainstream Hip(ster)-Pop.
Made for swag-diseased ’90s babies (with dreams of one day having random symbols tatted on their face), Rolling Papers wants so badly to be the definitive weed smoker’s soundtrack of 2011 but fails to be anything other than 14 heartless lullabies about, well, absolutely nothing. And, by nothing, I mean Wiz’s exotical hoes, kush & cars.
Missing from Atlantic’s second anti-Hip-Hop album of the year (#1 Lupe’s Lasers) is any semblance of creativity or depth that made Kush & OJ so dope, to so many, making it nearly impossible for Hip-Hop heads to care about this tragically-unoriginal tribute to Snoop, Quik & Half Baked‘s ‘Thurgood.’
As an MC, Wiz puts the O in OK, and usually just bursts into laughter after spitting the illest Dr. Seussian bars you’ll ever hear. I mean, I’d laugh too if I knew I could spit: “no socks and some boat shoes/guess a nigga eatin good like Whole Foods” (“Rooftops”) and major music mags would still feature me on their cover.
Seriously, who raps about drinking champagne & lemonade…on a plane? Refuses to cut their smash hit-turnt-irrelevant Super Bowl anthem from the album despite their team’s Super Bowl loss? Or sings more hooks on their own ‘rap album’ than Drake? Wiz does, with a smile, on an album where most of the tracks sound like remixes of each other.
“Roll Up” + “Cameras” + “No Sleep” + “Wake Up” + “Get Your Shit” = Same song…that would’ve sounded better on a Flo Rida album.
To say Rolling Papers is an epic waste of hard drive space is completely unfair, well, not really, because it is (with the exception of the album’s only gem “The Race”), but it’s definitely a disappointment to anyone who expected Wiz to deliver a solid follow-up to Kush & OJ—his best work to date.
Yes, Wiz has an infectious energy that’s rarely enough to stay relevant in today’s here-today-gone-later industry. I get it. Wiz LOVES kush. And kush-scented hoes. He flies (imaginary) jet planes. He named his album Rolling Papers. Clever (Eh, not really).
But none of that matters when 30% of his (rap) album is produced by Pop specialist(s) StarGate (Katy Perry “Firework,” Beyonce “Irreplaceable” & Rihanna “What’s My Name” etc) as an obvious label-mandated strategy to reach Tweeny-Bopia via Top-40 radio.
Overall, Rolling Papers, like Lupe’s Lasers, is utterly forgettable audio junk food for infantile man-boys who’d rather wake & bake in mama’s basement, daily, than seek gainful employment. If that’s you, Cool. Cop 6 copies. If not, completely ignore it like Lil Kim’s $10 mixtape, and rock with (K.R.I.T’s) Returnof4eva until Spring turns to Fall.
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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Def Pen Radio.
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