Interview: Wiz Khalifa On 'The Saga Of Wiz Khalifa,' Khalifa Kush, His MMA Training & More

For a man who needs no introduction, he is one of the biggest names in the music world. Even if your mum doesn't pay any mind to his music, she will still know his name. The multi-platinum selling artist Wiz Khalifa has been carving up the game for 15 years and has been a huge influential force to those that have not just come after him, but to the whole hip hop and rap industry. It’s no easy feat to stay relevant for longer than a decade just by purely being yourself but Wiz has achieved more than just an extensive discography, multiple distinguished nominations and awards but he has many multi-million dollar business ventures under his belt. We’ve watched the 32-year-old American rapper from Pittsburgh walk us through the Taylor Gang era and we’ve seen him become the face of and bring to the forefront, mainstream weed rap. However, he’s never let what people think of him limit himself or his creativity as he’s stepped into acting, created his very own strain of weed and started his own management company to help other aspiring artists.

Wiz Khalifa’s latest project, The Saga Of Wiz Khalifa is a 7 track album that dropped, unsurprisingly, on 4/20 and we honestly expected nothing less from the cannabis vanguard. On a rainy Tuesday morning here in Auckland, New Zealand, I was fortunate enough to jump on the phone with Wiz to get to know him a little more than we already do and was honoured to be able to ask him some questions to which he answered with intelligence and kindness. Wiz Khalifa talks in detail about his latest body of work, his growth since his Kush and Orange Juice mixtape, his business ventures like the Weed Farm app and of course, himself and weed! New Zealand hasn’t seen Wiz Khalifa since he headlined Spark Arena in 2015 but he reassures us that he will be coming back as soon as he can for his Aotearoa fans. Read the full interview below.

Hey Wiz Khalifa! How are you?

I’m good, how you doing?

I’m good, thanks for asking! So you’re pretty much the first artist I’ve interviewed since this whole coronavirus has gone crazy worldwide. I was wondering, has this pandemic affected you in any way as an artist?

No. Not really. I was still able to drop music and I’ve always been kinda, um, you know, interactive with my fans on the internet and on the road so, it’s been a cool transition. 

Oh, that’s cool! Have you been creating more recently since this pandemic has made everyone stay inside or has it just been business as usual?

Umm, I feel like I’ve been being creative in other ways but yeah, definitely.

Oh really? What other ways have you been creative during quarantine?

Just business and marketing and promoting, as well as music.

Oh, that’s awesome. So you dropped The Saga of Wiz Khalifa last month, congratulations on the release by the way, it’s great.

Thank you.

When you started making this, did you always have the intention from the get go to drop it on 4/20?

I’m always recording music so when I decide the time that I wanna put it out, I’m usually ready for it and 4/20 is a special time because of all the pot and all the attention that my music, in general, gets on that day so I just always feel like it’s a good idea to drop music for the fans on 4/20 to enjoy and to go along with that weed smoking experience.

Definitely. So with the whole process of having to decide what tracks from the vault make it onto the final product - is that normally a hard process for you to have to pick and choose?

I wouldn’t say it’s hard but um, it definitely takes a lot of attention to detail and uh, there’s a couple of other people that I trust involved in the process as well so um, you know, along with that and just trusting time. Everybody kinda just brings their A-game and it all comes together how it’s supposed to. 

Awesome. This project seems like a real collaborative effort and not just with your artist features but with the producers as well. How important was collaboration to you when it came to making this project?  

Umm I think- to me it was more just about the songs and how solid they were and you know, it came together that that was the collection and these were the people that I had the strongest songs with and so I don’t feel like I purposefully went for any collaboration. I just think that it worked out that my strongest songs are with you know, other people that I not only am a fan of but you know, that I work really well with. 

Definitely! So one of the tracks “Still Wiz” which is a flip of “Still D.R.E”, I really loved how you made it your own-

Thank you!

You’re welcome! What inspired you to want to rework that classic song and put it on your album?

I felt like the point that Dre was at in his career when he dropped that song and where I’m at in my career is kinda similar, where you have an opportunity to extend your legacy beyond what people might identity with you or even think that it is your best work and as a creative you gotta dig deep and you gotta come out with something that you know, will surprise people again and uhh, I just had a connection with that feeling and that vibe and that sense of urgency in my career so you know, it was something that I wanted to try. When I actually did the song, shoutout to Hitmaka for making the beat, you know, it came out as a really strong record and something that you know, it was an idea and I was trying (says something inaudible) but it ended up being really, really good so it made sense to move forward and have that added to the album.

How was it getting the clear from Dr Dre and all the other legends that did that song?

It was cool. Uh, to me it was good to know that you know, I have the respect and the blessings from those of that calibre of, you know, artists. I look up to all of ‘em - Scott Storch, Jay-Z and Mel-Man so to have them, you know, basically let me remake one of their biggest hits, it was cool. It was awesome.

That’s good to hear! So this year marks the 10 year anniversary of your Kush and Orange Juice mixtape. This body of work seems to be really important to you as you always do something to celebrate it. What’s the significance of this mixtape to you?

I feel like Kush and Orange Juice not only introduced people to me and my sound and my journey with what I was tryna do with music at the time but it influenced a lot of people to start their own journey and to build things that were apart of that world. So, um, yeah, that’s what I feel like it was. 

When you look back to 10 years ago, how do you think you’ve grown since releasing that mixtape?

Um, I would say I’ve grown by being able to uh, to know the different sides of myself and you know, collaborate on each side individually and I feel like that’s the skill I was only able to learn through time and it took 10 years but I’m happy I’m here.

That’s great. That’s real growth. You’ve been doing music for like 15 years now which is a long while. What do you think was one of your biggest struggles or problems you faced that you had to overcome during those 15 years?

I think the biggest problem that I had to overcome or face was uhh, getting people to understand my ideas on a bigger level where I was coming from more of like a mixtape, underground grind level. I feel like it was a process to get people to understand that mindstate, you know, in the label meetings or with executives and things like that and I feel like over time like a trust was built and you know, me sticking with it helped that.

Well, apart from being successful in music, you’re also a successful businessman. You’ve got Khalifa Kush, Weed Farm, McQueen.. What’s your favourite business venture you’ve gotten into and why?

I don’t really have a favourite that I’ve gotten into. It is all apart of me and my lifestyle and I’m happy to be able to take things that I enjoy and make businesses out of ‘em. One of my favourites is definitely the Weed Farm game, Wiz’s weed farm which is on the iPhone and it’s on the app store and things like that. That’s one of my favourites anddddd doingggg… um, you know, voiceovers. That’s another one of my favourite things to do and also the management company that I have, helping other artists, starting their careers and putting them in the right positions to make deals, to make money and things like that. I really enjoy that as well. 

Sick. So when I found out I was interviewing you I was so excited and honoured to get the opportunity but when it came to trying to get some questions to ask you that would fit into such a short timeframe it was so hard because you’ve done so much and achieved so much since you’ve been in the game. Is there anything else you aspire to do or any more goals you want to achieve?

My main goals is just to keep making great music and to help out other artists you know, get their music out and it’s just a whole vision in general of doing videos, movies, you know, my merch and things like that and just being consistent with my brand and um, use that brand to help other people. 

Definitely, that’s a great idea. So for your fans here in New Zealand, is there anything you’d like to say to them?

Make sure you guys get The Saga of Wiz Khalifa. It’s got several bangers. It’s got Meg Thee Stallion, Quavo, K CAMP, Tyga, Ty Dolla $ign, DJ Mustard, all on there anddd yeah, I can’t wait till I can come over there on tour, that’ll be really fun.

Yes definitely, when all this blows over. So I gotta ask, out of all the countries you’ve travelled to, who do you think had the best pot?

LA (laughs)

(laughs) damn. What about outside of America?

Nowhere!

(laughs) nowhere?! I gotta agree with you on that. So I know you started doing mixed martial arts so you could be better at fighting - apart from the physical benefits of getting fitter and stronger, has doing mixed martial arts benefitted you in any way like mentally and emotionally?

Yeah definitely. Mentally, emotionally, socially I’m now well connected to people in the martial art world as well.

So you are an international icon when it comes to cannabis and not only does your music reflect that but you are the modern vanguard of all things weed-related. Can you talk on what cannabis means to you?

For me, weed just started out as a journey of uh trying to smoke the best pot. Especially being from Pittsburgh, I had gone through a lot of stages of you know, learning about weed where I didn’t even know it was that much to it and then, the deeper that I got into you know, travelling and going to all different places, I started meeting people, learning about different types of weed. It was when I went back to the West Coast and met Berner was when he put me on to pretty much how everybody sees the weed game now where it’s more packaged and more legal, real. These are ideas he was showing me 10, 12 years ago before anybody thought it would be like that so I feel like it was just timing and a blessing thing, especially as far as the connection and the people that I’ve met. Berner being the main one and um, you know, just throughout that time I was able to learn and apply those things with my own personal taste that people you know, respect and yeah, it’s been fun to be in the weed game, it’s been fun to be not only smoking the best pot but educating people on it, being an ambassador for you know, good weed. Not only just having a lot of it but you know, the legalisation of it and the medicinal value of it, the good things that come from pot.

Here in New Zealand, marijuana is still illegal in this country but we’re doing a vote this year as to whether it should be legalised or not so you know, fingers crossed. Can you tell the people of New Zealand what you think the benefits are to legalising weed here?

I think people already know what the benefits are. Medicinal, it helps with you know, the lighter jobs, it helps with (says something inaudible) so there’s a lot of things that on paper, you could sit down and tell somebody what those benefits are. Whether they want to listen or not or go with it, it’s up to them but I feel like the main thing is it’s not that bad. It’s normal in a lot of other places so it should be normal everywhere.

Definitely. So you have your own Khalifa Kush, what made you wanna start doing that?

Like I said before, when I met Berner he introduced me to different things about weed - pollination, cross-pollination, genetics for different weed and um, as soon as he put me down with that, I kinda went on my, you know, on my own quest to try and find something that was perfect for me and this was really just for personal consumption but you know, just the way that the weed game kinda moved in the direction it went, it only made sense that I had something that specifically had my name on it, as well as the qualities that I like. 

That’s so awesome. Well, it was such an honour getting the chance to talk to you. Thank you for your time. Once this is all over and artists can tour again, we can’t wait to have you back here in New Zealand. 

Ima be there, don’t even trip.

(laughs) awesome. Thank you very much! Have a good day.

I appreciate it. Have a good day as well.

Interview: Breanna Tugaga-Rogers

About The Writer:

Breanna is a 21 year old uni student who was born in Australia and raised in South Auckland. Half New Zealand European and half Samoan, Breanna is undergoing a Bachelor of Arts, double-majoring in Communications and Sociology. Currently residing in Auckland, Breanna loves hip hop, rap, RnB music and enjoys watching TV shows, movies, travelling, going to concerts and keeping in touch with the latest of pop culture. Breanna especially enjoys writing and using it as an outlet to talk her sh*t. Breanna loves to always integrate her worldview, her background and her experiences into her writing and values your feedback