Dear Wiz Khalifa
Remember LL Cool J? Remember him putting out 'I Need Love' a month after 'I'm Bad'? Heads tried to claim that Cool James was losing his edge and had gone soft on the radio, rather than keeping up with the tough guy, B-boy image from his previous album 'Radio'. The similarities with today's hip-hop scene are uncanny, with hip-hop finding a foothold in the internet and the mainstream media finally catching on. Wiz, your new single 'Roll Up' is the bubbly-sounding, radio friendly single that should take you from the smoked-out underground clientele that made you popular, to the 16 year old suburban crowd that will paint your pockets green. The fact that there is such an option is evidence of the divergence that hip-hop takes during its peaks, where an artist can either cater to the sound that made them famous or record a chart-buster.
Taking a look at the song's contents, it's surprising that the song is entitled 'Roll Up'. Normally, a song wit that name coming from you would be dubbed a smoker's anthem before heads even hit play. Compared with the Batman (subjective) to your Robin, Curren$y, you've taken upon the art of making music for the charts rather than the fans that got you to this point. Such a song is the airy, vapid, easy, non-threatening flow that's required for a foray into the mainstream. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. Think about it this way: Spitta sold less than 50,000 records after BOTH of his records albums dropped in 2010 to almost universal acclaim. In contrast, between Ghostface Killah, the blogs and the entire Twitterverse, 'Roll Up' was getting ridiculed as softer than terry cloth. That your song is getting so much flack is an indication that your album is going to sell, and well. Do I think your softer sound is good? No, not in the least. I'd rather the 'Deal or No Deal' Wiz than the 'Rolling Papers' Wiz any day, but I'm not your target audience anymore. I guess you'll be laughing all the way as you roll up to the bank...
