Wiz Khalifa Essentials

There’s more to Wiz Khalifa than his well-documented love of weed, though that certainly contributes to his down-to-earth, conversational flow. After ambushing the mainstream with the global 2010 smash “Black and Yellow”—an earworm tribute to the signature colors of Pittsburgh sports teams—the affable MC suddenly found himself co-starring with another infamous herb lover, Snoop Dogg, in the 2012 comedy Mac & Devin Go to High School. The movie’s sing-along hit “Young, Wild & Free” paired both rappers with Bruno Mars, just one of Khalifa’s several successful collaborations with pop stars. Another came soon after with 2015’s “See You Again,” which saw Khalifa lend poignant verses to a Charlie Puth ballad commissioned to honor the late actor Paul Walker in Furious 7. It handily topped the charts in multiple countries. Yet rather than go down the pure pop road, the rapper continued to wax laconic about the things he loves in life, from smoking and women (“Contact”) to getting yet another tattoo (“Ink My Whole Body”). Khalifa isn’t all feel-good vibes, though: 2022’s gleefully trash-talking “Bad Ass Bitches” and romantically lamenting “Memory Lane” both serve as useful reminders that he’s more than just a single-subject MC.