Pittsburgh rapper
Wiz Khalifa graduated to superstar status with his breakout 2011 album
Rolling Papers. That album and its ubiquitous single "Black & Yellow" took
Wiz from mixtapes to the mainstream, and the tattoo-covered stoner MC found himself on magazine covers, on year-end Top Ten lists, and even starring alongside
Snoop Dogg in a pretty forgettable hip-hop buddy comedy flick. Within the first few minutes of follow-up album
O.N.I.F.C., several things are made forcefully clear:
Wiz likes to smoke weed, he has more money now than he knows what to do with, and he's fairly confident that his make-it-look-easy pop-rap style has pretty much changed the game for good. A host of top-dollar producers, MCs, and vocalists are on board to back him up, too, with on-point production from
ID Labs, Chris "Drumma Boy" Gholson, and
Pharrell and guest spots by everyone from
2 Chainz to
Three 6 Mafia's
Juicy J. Production team
Stargate returns to cultivate the huge beat of leadoff single "Work Hard, Play Hard," a minimal banger that attempts to revisit the fire of "Black & Yellow." Equally interesting beats come in the lovestruck stereo-panned snares and crystalline R&B hooks of "Got Everything" and the
Dilla-esque staggered funk of "No Limit." The watery beat of "Remember You" swims in a druggy haze with
Khalifa throwing down delay-effected verses in between whimpering choruses by
the Weeknd, and album closer "Medicated" sounds focused and engaged. ~ Fred Thomas