ARTIST: Wiz Khalifa
ALBUM: Blacc Hollywood
LABEL: Atlantic
RELEASE DATE: August 19, 2014
It’s Dem Boyz
Written by Jeremy Weeden
Wiz Khalifa returns to the scene with his 3rd major studio album, Blacc Hollywood. Highly successful in the past, Wiz Khalifa is out to reclaim his spot among rap’s elite and shows he still has what it takes to rule the charts.
The album begins with the bass heavy “Hope” featuring Ty Dolla $ign, a likeable song about gold digging women. The next track is the boisterous summer anthem “We Dem Boyz.” This song was the album’s first single and has quickly become a club staple.
Things slow down with “Promises,” a smooth R&B track that finds Wiz singing and rapping. He sings about wanting to be caught in the moment and staying in those perfect moments forever. Blacc Hollywood immediately get rowdy again with “KK” featuring Project Pat and Juicy J. The trio rap about smoking good weed over a nice beat on a song that is a future club banger.
“House in the Hills” featuring Curren$y is a catchy song with a nice hook. Over a hypnotic, slow-flowing beat Wiz Khalifa raps about the public perception of himself and other rappers with the lyrics. “They try to hold us back, paint a picture of us/Then sell it straight to the public/You young, black, then you thuggin/What they don’t talk about the kid that came from nothing/Who stuck to what he believed in and turned himself into something great/They should use that story to motivate/But instead they’d rather focus on the fact that he’s a pothead.”
“Ass Drop” is another hit waiting to happen. The bouncy full beat and Wiz’s off tilter flow vibe perfectly together to create a potential hit single. “Staying Out” is among the lighter material on the album. This song is about partying all night and getting drunk, but it has a nice hook and is the kind of Wiz song that the radio loves.
“The Sleaze” is yet another potential single. This song is made for cruising to and bobbing to in the club. Wiz raps “Just got the newest thang, get it with ease/Hopped up out the bed, did it with sleaze/They say I run the game, literally/I’m walking to the bank, get it with sleaze.”
“Still Down” features fellow Taylor Gang rapper Chevy Woods and Ty Dolla $ign. Chevy Woods shows he can hang with the established MCs with the lyrics “Yo, tell them niggas we nothin alike/They see us and imitate what they wanna be like/What’s hand and hand to them J’s next day on the flight/Shit where I’m from you out too late then you’re playing with your life.”
The “We Dem Boyz” remix is the opposite of the original. This smooth affair featuring Rick Ross, Schoolboy Q and Nas, is quite possibly the best song on the album. Nas shows he still has it and steals the show dropping rhymes like “I shine before all time/I been outside when T La Rock invented rhymes/When dinner time and BBS’s on tinted Saabs was getting robbed/I’m 20 in, still outside don’t ask for it/That parched up from here on, that half-moon is that Nas cut/We been them niggas that’s been them niggas, ask any nigga.”
With Blacc Hollywood, Wiz easily reclaims the lane in rap he is known for. Blacc Hollywood has weed anthems, club tracks and a couple of reflective songs to even things out. This formula has worked for Wiz in the past and continues to work here. The potential club and radio tracks ensure we will be hearing Blacc Hollywood for months to come.