Since we have enough axes to grind with Pittsburgh already (What? The Steelers … again?), here’s some Steel City biz we can actually embrace. Rapper Wiz Khalifa may be a mere 23 years old, but he’s already been a major Hip Hop player for close to six years. Born Cameron Jibril Thomaz, the former military brat called Germany, England and Japan home before settling in Pittsburgh with his divorced mother. Khalifa — whose name combines his prodigy nickname, the Wiz, with the Arabic word for “successor” — started seriously rapping at age 12, heavily steered by the likes of Biggie Smalls and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. By 18, he had released his first mixtape, Prince of the City: Welcome to Pistolvania, and had secured a Warner Brothers contract for his major label debut, Show and Prove, spawning the Top 20 Rap Tracks single “Say Yeah.”
Four mixtapes later, Khalifa’s frustrations with the Bros Warner forced him to move on; he returned to Rostrum Records, his first label, releasing his brilliant sophomore full length Deal or No Deal in late 2009.
Last year proved to be Khalifa’s breakout year. He dropped his latest mixtape Kush and Orange Juice, featuring his big Top 10 hit “Black and Yellow” (which refers to the Steelers’ colors … OK, we’ll give him that), he created a huge stir at South by Southwest, Hip Hop bible The Source named him Rookie of the Year and he signed with Atlantic Records. His sold-out Waken Baken tour last fall was an obvious success, his momentum barely dinged by a mid-tour marijuana bust (Rappers smoke pot? Willie Nelson and I are shocked, I tell you).
Khalifa’s working on a new album slated for this year and his string of sell-outs is continuing into the new year. The Taylor Gang (Khalifa’s fan base named for his loyalty to Chuck Taylor All-Stars kicks) will be out in force at Bogart’s Tuesday, but if you don’t have tickets, scalpers are your only option — all tickets were snatched up about a week after they went on sale.
This article appears in Jan 5-11, 2011.