Born to a military family, Wiz Khalifa’s early years were spent moving from country to country, never truly able to call one place home. This international upbringing has been reflected in the rapper’s music and found him success with his 2008 single “Say Yeah”, which featured Wiz Khalifa’s rap lyrics over a Eurodance track.
Taking inspiration from a variety of artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and Notorious B.I.G., Wiz Khalifa plays with a range of musical styles within his tracks, but all are equally melodic.
Known for cultivating a strong fan following from a grassroots level, Wiz Khalifa found his popularity continue to increase after the release of his free mix tape “Kush and Orange Juice”. The mix tape generated so much excitement from fans that it ended up being the number one trending topic on Twitter shortly after its release, and led the rapper to sell out every gig in his 2010 “Waken Baken” tour.
Moving away from Warner Brothers due to delays in releasing his material, Wiz Khalifa switched to Atlantic Records in 2010 and released single “Black and Yellow” shortly after. The single hit the number one spot in the US charts and earned him a Grammy and MTV VMA Award nomination.
The success of this single bolstered anticipation for Wiz Khalifa’s 2011 studio album “Rolling Papers”, which debuted at number 2 on the US Billboard charts. It wasn’t long before this success was repeated when Wiz Khalifa’s 2012 album “O.N.I.F.C” once again debuted in the US number 2 spot with single “Work Hard, Play Hard” reaching number 3 in the rap charts.
Unprepared to rest on his laurels, Wiz Khalifa formed his own record label Taylor Gang Records and has collaborated with Curren$y on a collaborative EP. Furthermore, Wiz Khalifa upped his own achievements yet again with the release of his fifth studio album “Blacc Hollywood” in 2014, which hit the number one spot in the US Billboard charts.
Born Derek Smith in Bloomington, Minnesota, Smith changed his first name to Dylan after turning 18, and adopted the moniker MOD SUN shortly afterwards. The performer’s earliest musical excursion came playing drums in the post-hardcore band Four Letters Lie, where he remained until 2009. That year he joined the band Scary Kids Scaring Kids as the drummer, where he was given the creative freedom to pursue his own interests and debuted MOD SUN as a opening act. It was therefore natural for Smith to continue to performing as MOD SUN following Scary Kids Scaring Kids’ disbandment in 2010.
The rapper’s debut release was the mixtape “I’ll Buy Myself” in 2009, followed by the subsequent mixtapes “Let Ya Teeth Show” and “How to Make A MOD SUN”. The following year, significantly raising MOD SUN’s profile, the rapper issued the EP “The Hippy Hop” and the single “Need That”. 2011 proved a busy year for the rising star with the release of the EP “In MOD We Trust”, the mixtapes “Health, Wealth, Success, & Happiness” and “Blazed By The Bell”, as well as the single “Paradisity”. In collaboration with The Ready Set, MOD SUN issued the single “All Night, Every Night” in 2012, which was succeeded by the EP “Hippy As Fuck” later that year. After another busy year in 2013, MOD SUN signed with Rostrum Records in 2014 who issued the hippy-hop rapper’s debut full-length album “Look Up” in March 2015.
After his somewhat questionable ventures in and out of prison for drug possession, some people have become dubious of Khalifa’s spot in the limelight, but there’s absolutely no denying the irritatingly catchy tune of ‘blackandyellowblackandyellow’.
Once it gets stuck in your head, there’s no escape. Wiz initially built his fan base through cult followings gathered through his release of mixtapes, but this became an unnecessary feat after the boom of ‘Black and Yellow’.
Although the cult following that he initially obtained means that now his gigs are somewhat ‘pot heavy’, if you’re willing to overlook this and embrace the lyrics about rolling joints ‘bigger than King Kong’s fingers’, you’re in for a pretty awesome show.
His charisma translates through to performance, engaging with both his band, and audience, often welcoming out his producers and team mates to take a bow, a gesture of inclusion and gratitude.
Khalifa’s clever hooks entice the audience and pushes rap into the mainstream music genre, blurring the lines of traditional stereotypes, and encouraging a broadening of the audiences music taste.
I saw mod on warped tour last year, he was one of the very first acts, most people don't go to those. Mod didn't care, when he came out he had so much energy and was having the time of his life on stage, which drew a larger crowd. He definitely has great presence and is a blessing to watch honestly. I was lucky to meet him after the show, waiting in line for 45 minutes, but when i met him, he was still extremely happy, not having lost an energy even though going through a line of people. i asked him to sign my shoe because that's where i have all my signatures, and he said that it was awesome he got to be the first signature of that warped tour for me. I then asked him how his day was and he replied "this is the best day of my life." his energy and love on that day will stay with me forever i think.