Wiz Khalifa might just be one of the most content rappers I’ve ever encountered. The 37-year-old rap veteran has been smiling his way through the promotion of his new album, Kush + Orange Juice 2*, *the follow-up to his iconic 2010 mixtape.
“I’m very happy,” Wiz tells Complex. “I’m not trapped by any success or trapped by work. I wake up and I want to work and I make phone calls and I ask to do promo. I ask to do drops, I want to do meetings. I want to be on Zoom calls. I don’t dislike my life.”
Wiz has accomplished plenty in his nearly two-decade career. The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-born artist found his groove with the first Kush and OJ, a project that serves as a guidebook for emerging stoners and underground rap enthusiasts alike—perfect for vibing during a morning school commute or a sunny cruise with a joint in hand. He’d already built a solid foundation with early projects, but that tape essentially launched Wiz Khalifa’s career. He followed it with a hot streak of releases: the beloved Cabin Fever mixtape and then his first studio album, Rolling Papers, featuring the massive hit “Black and Yellow” which landed at No. 2 on the Billboard charts.
“[Kush and OJ] changed my life and career because it was the mixtape that introduced me to the world,” Wiz said. “It introduced me to a lot of people, and I had put in a lot of work before that, but I didn’t really have my own identity. Kush and OJ gave me my identity.”
Kush + Orange Juice 2 sounds like it was pulled straight from a Blog Era time capsule. Wiz said he wasn’t trying to outdo the original, but rather give a new generation of fans a chance to create their own memories with him by having their own Kush and OJ experience. The nostalgic vibes of the original Kush and OJ come through on tracks like “What’s Hannin,” powered by a classic soul sample, and through throwback Taylor Gang collabs with Juicy J on “My Influence” and Ty Dolla $ign on “Top Down.” Wiz Khalifa isn’t looking to reinvent anything with Kush + Orange Juice 2, he simply wants to bring back that high school stoner nostalgia that the original created for new listeners.
The album’s release highlights the mini Blog Era comeback we’re witnessing now, where artists from the 2010s are rekindling that feeling through their recent moves. J. Cole started blogging earlier this year, Wale has been sounding refreshed in his new singles, and Wiz is fully embracing the nostalgia, too.
“I just think us being active kind of created this whole narrative and we’re running with it,” Wiz said. “I love it because it lets me know that what I’m good at naturally doing is going to be embraced. So I don’t have to try to blend in or do anything that goes too far over anybody’s head. It’s just giving them exactly what they’re used to and what I’m used to doing and what I’m comfortable doing. So that makes me really happy.”
We caught up with Wiz Khalifa about Kush + Orange Juice 2, the impact of the Blog Era, not needing rap’s validation, and more.
How are you, man? How’s life?
I’ve been cool, man. I’ve been working. I had a daughter recently. She’s eight months, and I’ve just been working on the album for pretty much a whole year. So just a lot of self-work that has helped the music and things like that, and it’s just helped me change my whole perspective and direction, and the way that I approach things. So just applying all of that and just having a great time, having fun.
The 15-year anniversary of Kush and OJ just passed. What did that tape do for your life and career?
It changed my life and career because it was the mixtape that introduced me to the world. It introduced me to a lot of people, and I had put in a lot of work before that, but I didn’t really have my own identity. Kush and Orange Juice gave me my identity.
What are some of your fondest memories about putting the project together?
My fondest memory is probably the day that I released it, and the confidence that I had. It was on Ustream. That’s what we went live on back then. And it felt good. I knew I was going to do what I was going to do. It crashed Twitter, it crashed DatPiff, it made everybody’s summer. Everybody wanted to get stoned and do exactly what we were doing.
It was really up from there after that. You drop Rolling Papers, “Black and Yellow” blows the fuck up, and you’re a stamped rap superstar. Do you think it’s more challenging to break out of the underground now compared to during the blog era?
I think it’s really similar still. It’s just about your connection with your fans, and that’s something that the corporations and the labels and the higher-ups will never understand. And whoever has the biggest and the best connection with their fans that’s winning at the moment.
Is it easy to get lost in all the hits? Was there ever a point during that early 2010 period where you fell out of love with the music because of how big everything had gotten?
No. You don’t really get lost in the hits if you love what you do. If you love music and if you love creating, you’re going to make some stuff that people might or might not like, but you still have those talents in your back pocket to go write 16 bars and it go worldwide or whatever. But if you love it, you’re going to use both. You’re going to pay the bills, you’re going to keep the lights on, you’re going to tour, and you’re going to also try different things. And then you’re going to also listen to your fans too, because you’ve built this fan base who actually knows you and they expect things from you. You don’t want to let them down either. From my personal experience, it’s not too hard not to get lost in the hits or anything like that.
How do you maintain a work-life balance as a rapper?
It takes time and experience. You just got to kind of go through stages of what’s important, and, in life, it kind of just tells you what decisions to make. When to put your foot on the gas and when to slow down. You got to be comfortable being uncomfortable.
What does it take to have longevity in rap where you’re still relevant, 15 years deep?
I think you really have to love what you do, and the love doesn’t come from just the success of it. You have to still love it when it’s not looking so good. I think that’s what makes it important. And the highs are really high and the lows aren’t that low. It’s normal in life, but compared to the highs, it might feel a little dramatic. So you have to be able to function and you have to be able to see the vision and navigate. That’s what I see as going to make you really have longevity out there. Because what I learned at a certain point is that it’s just all about who you are as a person and how you feel. And you can do a lot for other people. You could have No. 1s and all of these things, but you still have empty spaces as a person. That stuff will never fill you. So if you work on that, then I feel like everything else will come from it, and even if it’s a little dry or a little bit not up as it is, at least you’re still doing things that are important and that matter and that are going to benefit later.
At what point in your life did that click for you?
Now. I’ve been working on it for a long time, but don’t nobody care when you’re working, when you’re in your monk stage. They only see you when you use your superpowers. But I know a lot based off of what I’ve been through and where I’m going because I see the next 10, 15 years. So the way that I conduct myself now is what’s going to get me there. Same way I know the way that I conducted myself in my 20s and early in my career is what got me to where I’m at. And I’m really proud of that, but I got plans for later on as well.
Do you think there’s a blog era resurgence happening right now?
Yeah, I do. I just think us being active kind of created this whole narrative and we’re running with it. I love it because it lets me know that what I’m good at naturally doing is going to be embraced. So I don’t have to try to blend in or do anything that goes too far over anybody’s head. It’s just giving them exactly what they’re used to and what I’m used to doing and what I’m comfortable doing. So that makes me really happy. And the whole narrative of it, it makes sense because of the amount of time that it has been since that blog era. If you look at the 90s into the 2000s, nobody was looking like anybody in the 2000s how they did in the nineties. But by the 2010s, we were reminiscent about the 90s. So it’s the same thing about the blog era. They’re just reminiscent about how it felt and how important it was to actual music history, and I love that.
Yeah, nostalgia is a powerful force and people often think back to that era as being a better time in their lives.
It’s lyrical, it’s soulful, it’s thoughtful, it’s fresh, it’s fly, it feels good. And when you’re an artist like me or the guys who you’ve mentioned, or even other people who came up in that era, like Drake, Kendrick [Lamar], Curren$y, [Kid] Cudi, anybody who had to do with us, you could hear our name now and been too young for that era, but go back and just get all of that catalog and enjoy it the same way. And that’s the beautiful thing about it is it’s there, it exists, people are going to revisit it over and over again. And it changed a lot of people’s lives, and it’s going to keep doing that because that’s what classic music does. It never dies, it never gets old. And we’re still making new stuff that’s going to be a newer catalog for those kids now.
You hopped on J. Cole’s track “cLouds” which samples your song “Never Been.” How did that song come together?
He sampled the song, sent it to my team, and he was just asking if he could clear it. I was like, of course, but I was just in a mode where I was doing stuff for the fans and I kind of just seen it as a opportunity to push forward on something that made sense. So I was like, let me do a verse on there. And they sent me the instrumental and I did it, and then I just immediately posted it and it went crazy. Everybody was fucking with it. So they ended up putting the remix or my verse on their blog. And that’s another version that exists. I think we’re going to put it out officially at some point. It wasn’t supposed to be official, but the fans wanted it, so we made it official just off of us kind of going back and forth.
Is your hope for the new Kush + Orange Juice 2 to be better than the original?
No, that’s not the point. It’s just to return the feeling. It’s to remind you and to recreate it for people who didn’t have the first one, because you could sit there and explain to them how freaking awesome it is, but they didn’t live to it, so they don’t understand that. So this is for somebody who wants to live to their own version of it.
What was inspiring you while you were working on this?
Mainly the fans. Just knowing what the fans want and anybody who supports me and loves my music. I know what the people want, so I’m not even going based off of what I think is going to blow people’s minds or what I think is next level. I know exactly what they want and what pocket to get in to make them feel some type of way. Then having my daughter, it just gave me more work ethic because the environment that I have her in, the amount of work that I put in for her to be safe and to be taken care of. My house is crazy. My mom drives a Porsche. We’re so good, and it’s motivating.
My son is 12, so my experiences with him are new as well. There’s times where I have to just completely take off of work and spend time with him because he’s growing to be a young man. So that’s another side of it too, it’s like, “Alright, well I’m working on my album, but I can’t just neglect my life and my responsibilities.” But I also realize that when I have both of them and when I’m around, the more responsibilities that I have, the better it makes me. Rather than separating myself and trying to isolate and just do music. I’m challenging myself and I’m pushing myself and I’m doing everything. I’m working out. I’m hanging with my kids, I’m chilling with my mom. I’m making sure my son get the basketball practice and I’m working on my album.
I was reading this Reddit thread that was titled “Why doesn’t Wiz Khalifa get enough recognition from the hip-hop community?” Do you feel like your contributions are appreciated?
Yeah, I feel like it’s appreciated enough, because when I see people in person, they always tell me what they remember, and I remember that shit too. To me, you don’t have to say it or you don’t have to put me in a top five or whatever. Like I said, and this isn’t even a flex, but I’m able to do million dollar shows on the weekend.
That’s success to me, to be able to take care of my family and to be not worried about anything, to be happy. I could drive down the street by myself. I go to the gym. I don’t need armed guards behind me. That’s success to me. That’s happiness to me. All that other shit, it might cause too much confusion when I walk around. I don’t want to forfeit that for all that recognition. I feel like people understand it, they get it. I’m good.
I’m very happy. I’m not trapped by any success or trapped by work. I wake up and I want to work and I make phone calls and I ask to do promo. I ask to do drops, I want to do meetings. I want to be on Zoom calls. I don’t dislike my life. So me just being that happy, I don’t really need any more. I just need to keep doing what I’m doing. I’m on a path that I see, and nobody knows what that path even looks like. So recognition for what? I got more to do. It’s a blessing, bro. And it’s something to really, really be appreciative of.
Luh Tyler is on the tape, talk about the relationship you have with him?
I have always been a fan since he first came out because he was a younger dude, but he was smooth. I listened to his music and then he wasn’t talking about hurting nobody, but he’s still cool, but it’s appropriate. I support that, and that’s all I wanted to do is show that I support what he does. And that should be looked at as for what it is because kids go any and every way. And he started when he was like 16. He could have been talking about crazy shit, and I know where he’s from, so it’s not like he ain’t seen it. But I was just really, really happy to see somebody young, just representing more positivity, being chill, being cool, being smooth. That’s the lifestyle we on all day.
Does it trip you out now that you are at OG status, when you started out when you were in your teens and early 20s?
Yeah it trips me out. I was ahead of my time, man. I was like, “Bro, how did I know so much? Why was I so grown?” But that’s just the area that we grew up in. I think hip-hop was a little bit rougher, tougher back then. But it’s cool now because everybody gets to express themselves, and that’s what it’s really all about, is just that expression. I feel like we opened the door for a lot of that expression. Even people like Mac [Miller], he’s been really inspirational when it comes to that too. Just opening doors for just new ways to create that have still lasted.
You’re also about to go on tour. What led you to choose more intimate venues for this one?
I was overseas and I was talking with somebody and they were like, “Man, somebody just came here and they did a show, and there was only a certain amount of tickets.” And the way that it came off to me and the way that it was, was it created a sense of urgency. Rather than showing that it’s a smaller venue. It’s like “I have to get one before somebody else does.” So from that perspective, I was like, we can do that. We should do that. And it also gives me a chance to practice what I’m doing for the bigger stages now, because I have rebranded, I have updated. So things moving forward, they have to be natural, they have to be organic. It can’t be choreographed. We got to really feel it out. This is a chance to get out there and put that shit to the test. It’s brand new music, brand new fans, some old, but you got to get your ticket fast. Whoever gets it first, the YNs or the ONs.
What’s the biggest misconception about you? What do people often get wrong?
I don’t think anybody who knows me misunderstands me at all. I’ve heard nothing but nice things about myself, and anything that is preconceived, by the time you meet me, that’s out the door.
