WIZ KID

Budding hip-hop superstar Wiz Khalifa joins the elite circle of music’s most famous potheads with a little help from Snoop Dogg

The hip-hop collaboration that got the most attention in 2011 was Watch the Throne -- the tandem album from megastars Jay-Z and Kanye West.

But while Jigga and ‘Ye postured and bragged about how rich and famous they were, another hip-hop twosome was -- metaphorically speaking -- sitting in the back row, blazed out of their minds, too high to even care. Heck, maybe that’s not a metaphor. It’s Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa we’re talking about.

You’d never want to bet against either of them being stoned.

Instead of watching the throne, this duo was actually passing the torch. Emphasis in “passing.”
On “Mac and Devin Go to High School,” the joint album released by Snoop and Wiz, you could almost hear hip-hop’s most esteemed pothead welcoming his younger counterpart into the inner circle.

The pair is like a hip-hop version of Cheech & Chong, a comparison that might hold even more weight once the accompanying “Mac and Devin” movie -- a stoner flick, no doubt -- see its release. That’s expected in February.

“It's a buddy film and we're just playing on our relationship,”

Khalifa recently told Spin magazine, 

“giving people something fun to get high to. That's the mission of the film.”

Something to get high to? This kid learn quick.

MOUNT KUSHMORE
If someone were to erect a Mount Rushmore of music’s pothead -- perhaps Mount Kushmore, in this case -- you could make a good case for Khalifa’s mug to be up there with Snoop and fellow pot icons Bob Marley and Willie Nelson.
This new project signals the latest in what’s been a rapid rise to the top of Khalifa -- a 24-year-old from Pittsburg who bubbled in rap’s underground and mixtape scene before finding major label success in 2011 with singles such as “Black & Yellow” and “Roll Up.”
You’d only need to listen to one Khalifa verse to hear how devoted he is to weed. It’s inescapable really. While it’s common to hear rappers brag about how much money they have or how gangster they are, Wiz simply brags about how much weed he smokes.
It goes beyond bragging really. He knows his stuff. Check his mixtape cut “Flickin’ Ashes” for an end-song diatribe shouting out various weed strands from around the country and then letting everyone know: “I’m rollin’ me a whole week's worth, in one blunt, you know? And that's just to get a little high.”

Fun fact: Wiz has said in interviews that he spends $10,000 per month on Mary Jane.

His breakthrough mixtape, 2010’s “Kush & Orange Juice,” was essentially a whole album of weed songs. Just check the titles: “Still Blazin’,” “Up” and “Good Dank.”
Not since Snoop Dogg had hip-hop seen such a devoted pothead. Nor has there been a single artist so explicitly attached to a stoner persona.
Like any good stoner celeb, Wiz had a much-publicized arrest under his belt. He got caught up with 30 pounds of weed before a show in North California in 2010.
Yep, 30 pounds. That’s gotta be worth some kind of merit badge, right?

YOUNG, WILD & FREE
On the “Mac and Devin” album with Snoop, the lead single is titled “Young, Wild & Free,” a youthful anthem about independence, partying and, of course, smoking weed.

In this case, Khalifa brags about smoking joints “as big as King Kong’s fingers” before the catchy sing-songy chorus hits: “So what we get drunk? / So what we smoke weed?/ We’re just having fun / We don’t care who cares who sees.”

In many ways, that sums up the appeal of Wiz Khalifa quite concisely. He’s young, doesn’t take himself too seriously, doesn’t care a whole heck of a lot society’s norms -- and his young fans love him for it.

He appeals to a demographic that, largely, was too young to remember when Snoop Dogg dropped “Doggystyle,” a demographic that probably isn’t searching YouTube for Willie Nelson songs, a demographic whose parents are Bob Marley fans.

There is a diversity to what Wiz is doing, though. His songs have sampled indie rock songs and even video game theme music. Some songs have a reggae flair, some are total pop anthems.

It fits in with a younger generation that’s less and less bound by music genre -- but totally entrenched in the lifestyle of it all. Twenty-somethings enamored with the pot culture? They’re the ones in the front row of Wiz shows, rapping along to every word.

There’s probably many a young person who smoked their first joint listening to a Wiz Khalifa song these past couple years.

If that’s not the sign of a young icon in the weed-meets-music world, then we don’t know what is.