Pittsburgh rapper Wiz Khalifa’s style is a perfect balance of pop hooks, effortless charm, and stoner rap swagger. He was one of the highest-rising stars of mainstream hip-hop in the 2010s, when he released four albums that reached number one or two on the Billboard 200. With a series of hits built around slick rhymes and slicker production, Khalifa moved from mixtapes to stadium anthems and even major motion-picture soundtrack collaborations with pop star Charlie Puth (the massive hit “See You Again”). His charm, persona, and weedy wit have been in peak form from the time of his major-label debut, 2011’s Rolling Papers, to 2022’s more mature Multiverse. He’s continued issuing mixtapes such as 2024’s Wiz Owens.
A military brat, Khalifa, whose real name is Cameron Thomaz, was born in 1987 in Minot, North Dakota. After his parents divorced when he was three, he lived in various places and military bases around the world. His first attempt at committing lyrics to paper was around age nine, and at 12 he was already recording and producing his own records in his father’s Oklahoma studio. Settling in Pittsburgh during his high school years, Khalifa laid down the groundwork for a solo career and kept busy recording music in a local studio, I.D. Labs. He stood out among the studio’s regulars, prompting the I.D. Labs’ staff to offer him free beats and recording time, and brought him to the attention of Benjy Grinberg, a former executive assistant to L.A. Reid at Arista who had started a new independent label, Rostrum Records. Signed to Rostrum, Khalifa built a buzz in Pittsburgh with a few singles, but drew attention nationally during his senior year in high school when his first mixtape, Prince of the City: Welcome to Pistolvania, appeared in early 2006.