Wiz Khalifa is a popular American rapper from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He became famous for the hits Say Yeah and Black And Yellow. The music video for his song See You Again has become one of the most popular in the whole history of YouTube, gaining more than 4 billion views. Net worth: $60 million.
In the photo: Wiz Khalifa
Childhood
Wiz Khalifa (real name: Cameron Jibril Thomaz) was born on September 8, 1987, in Minot, North Dakota. Both of his parents, his mother, Peachie Wimbush Polk, and his father, Lawrence Thomaz, served in the military. The musician and his elder brother Dorien Tomaz, nicknamed «Lala», spent their childhood in various military garrisons, and not only in the United States. The family managed to live in England, Germany, and Japan.
Wiz Khalifa (Cameron Jibril Thomas) as a child
In 1990, the parents of three-year-old Cameron divorced. According to the musician, they gave him a lot, they taught him not to trust anyone and always tell the truth.
In 1996, Peachie moved to Pittsburgh with Wiz and his elder brother. Having settled in a new place, Khalifa, who showed an interest in music from an early age, began to write lyrics, with the hope to record them someday. In 2002, a 15-year-old boy agreed with the owners of the local ID Labs studio. At the same time, he attended Taylor Allderdice High School.
Wiz Khalifa with mom and brother
The musician confessed that 90s Pittsburgh was a gloomy city. Gang warfare constantly took place there; sounds of shooting could be heard in the air every day. Sometimes Cameron noticed puddles of blood on the pavement at the bus stop when he got on the school bus. There were cases when his friends were killed. Bandits didn’t touch him, but the police bothered him since they did not like Cameron’s skin color. Once the police stopped his car, put a gun to his temple, and ordered him to get out of the city.
Wiz Khalifa in his youth
The musician got his pseudonym thanks to his uncle, who was also a rapper and professed Islam. He called the boy «Wisdom», and then added to it the Arabic word «khalipha», which means «success». In 2002, the young man removed the ending «dom» from the first word, and today’s familiar stage name Wiz Khalifa came out. In 2004, he got a tattoo of this name.
Music career
At first, Wiz Khalifa participated in the creation of mixtapes of other rappers, as well as helped beginners. The owners of ID Labs were so impressed by his diligence and quality of the songs that they provided the young man with as much free studio time as he needed.
Wiz Khalifa tattoos
Soon, Rostrum Records label noticed Wiz. The rapper signed a contract for 7 years with the president of the company, Benjy Greenberg. In 2005, Wiz Khalifa released the first mixtape «Prince Of The City: Welcome To Pistolvania».
Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa
On September 5, 2006, Khalifa’s debut album «Show And Prove», recorded with the producer of The Resource, was released. Pittsburgh Sound was the main single. The album sold 10,000 copies. Rolling Stone Magazine noted the young musician, calling him a «musical seer».
Wiz Khalifa’s debut album «Show And Prove» was released in 2006
In 2007, Wiz Khalifa signed a major label deal with Warner Bros. In January 2008, he released the single Say Yeah, which took 25th place on the Billboard chart. It is worth saying that such a result disappointed such a major label as Warner. They instantly lost interest in Khalifa and stopped investing in him.
Being unhappy with the delay in releasing his second album, in July 2009, Wise Khalifa terminated the contract with Warner and returned to Rostrum Records. A few days later he released the «Grow Season» mixtape and in November 2009, the «Prince Of The City 2» mixtape.
Wiz Khalifa on the stage
According to Zoomboola.com, on November 24, 2009, Wiz Khalifa released his second studio album «Deal or No Deal». The name of the album reflected the situation with Warner. Such producers as Johnny Giuliano and Monsta Bitu took part in the creation of the album. The album was promoted with the help of the single This Plane. In the first week, 5,900 copies were sold. The album sold a total of 167,000 copies.
On March 28, 2011, the third album called «Rolling Papers» was released. Once again, the name was «dedicated» to the Warner Records label. As Wiz Khalifa himself explained in an interview:
«At the beginning of my career, I did not have money for cigarettes, and I constantly smoked the cigarettes I made from newspapers. And when I left Warner Bros, I kind of got «rolled papers». I really rolled up the contract and lit it».
The new CD was released by the Atlantic Records label. Critics ranked the rapper’s new work in the pop-rap genre. The main singles of the album were Roll Up and Black And Yellow. The latter leads the American chart. Khalifa dedicated the song to his Dodge Challenger Hemi car, painted in black and yellow. They were the colors of the state of Pennsylvania, so the track also became an anthem for the home state. The song received two Grammy nominations. According to Wiz, he composed the track «in two seconds».
Wise Khalifa - Black And Yellow
Rolling Papers took second place on the chart. In the first week, 197,000 copies were sold; the total number of copies exceeded 2 million.
Wiz Khalifa - Fr Fr
On September 18, 2018, the track Fr Fr from the Rolling Papers 2 album was released. In the video, Khalifa along with rapper Lil Skies arranged outrage in the supermarket, smoked weed, beat shop assistants and scattered goods.
Wiz Khalifa personal life
The rapper had the most notorious love affairs with a shocking actress and model Amber Rose. They began dating in the spring of 2011. Wiz Khalifa was a fan of Rose, he posted content about her on social networks.
Wiz Khalifa and Amber Rose
Once he confessed in an interview that of all the girls on the Earth, he would only like to be together with Amber Rose. The actress paid attention to the musician, writing on her Twitter: «It was really nice». They began to keep up a correspondence, and this was the beginning of their beautiful romance.
On March 2, 2012, the rapper proposed to Amber Rose. They married on July 8, 2013, after the birth of the son, Sebastian Taylor Thomaz, born on February 22, 2013. Few people knew that this was the second child of the couple. Their first-born died without having been born in 2012; Amber had a miscarriage.
Wiz Khalifa with his pregnant wife, Amber Rose
In an interview, Khalifa claimed that the family came first to him: «I know how to have fun, but I’m not unfaithful to my wife; it’s wrong». He also said that he spent his mornings with the child and arranges everything else in such a way to combine career and family life.
Wiz Khalifa Takes a Lie Detector Test | Vanity Fair
Unfortunately, these statements were not true. On September 22, 2014, Khalifa and Rose divorced. The actress told reporters that the musician was constantly cheating on her. He, in turn, claimed that she had an affair with Mariah Carey's ex-husband, Nick Cannon.
In the same year, the rapper went to jail. During the inspection at the Texas airport, drugs were found in his luggage. Wiz Khalifa was not particularly worried about what had happened, but carelessly posted selfies from the prison cell.
Wiz Khalifa had problems with the law due to drugs
Khalifa got involved with drugs in his school years. According to him, has become a celebrity, he spent several thousand dollars a month on cannabis.
In July 2015, Khalifa filed a lawsuit against his ex-wife to take away her custody right over their son. According to Khalifa, Rose was a bad mother: got stuck in parties, and at home, she constantly kicked up a row with her mother and this made the baby nervous.
In 2016, he began an affair with model Isabella Guedes. Their relationship lasted two years.
Wiz Khalifa with Isabella Guedes
In January 2016, Khalifa had a row with a rapper Kanye West. West named his album «Waves». Wiz accused him of stealing the name from rapper Max B, who was in prison at the time. In response, Kanye West said that Amber Rose was cheating on Khalif, and Sebastian Taylor Thomaz was his child. «You let her pull the wool over your eyes», he said. In response, Wiz Khalifa stated that Kanye West is gay and his marriage to Kim Kardashian is fiction.
Wiz Khalifa became interested in rap music under the influence of performers such as Camp Lo and The Notorious B.I.G.
Wiz Khalifa with his son
The rapper always spent a lot of time on the Internet. At first, he attended various forums, where, according to him, he «cursed and left bad comments». Then Khalifa discovered Twitter. He dramatically changed his behavior there. His daily message to subscribers was the phrase «a smile a day». Khalifa confessed that he wanted to give people positive feelings.
In May 2017, he began studying the Brazilian martial art of Jiu-Jitsu with instructor Rigan Machado.
Wiz Khalifa trains Jiu-Jitsu
His fortune is estimated at $ 45 million. The rapper earned 32 million from concerts, 2.6 million from album sales, 11 million from advertising contracts, and 15 million on YouTube.
Wiz Khalifa - See You Again
Wiz Khalifa Now
On April 21, 2019, the musician released a video for the song Taylor from the mixtape Fly Times, Vol. 1: The Good Fly Young. The release was dedicated to marijuana day (April 20). In the video, the rapper smoked, swam in the pool with the girls and lay on a huge flamingo shape swimming ring.
Wiz Khalifa - Taylor
On July 22, 2019, Wiz became a strategic partner of the Pittsburgh Knights esports organization. Khalifa shared with them his experience in the field of creativity, marketing, live performances, and merchandising. Representatives of the company called Khalifa «a real seer with a great flair in the field of business».
Wiz Khalifa will play in the series «Dickinson»
It is known that the rapper appeared in the series «Dickinson», the creators of which decided to tell the world the story of the poetess Emily Dickinson. Wiz’s role is ambiguous: he plays as the personification of Death. The action takes place in the 19th century, but the context is very modern. In the series, the lead role is performed by Hailee Steinfeld.
In early 2020, Wiz presented the mixtape "The Saga of Wiz Khalifa", as well as several separate soundtracks: "Wait For Me", "Speed Me Up" and "Bammer".
At this year, the rapper also has been working on a new album, "#FUCC2020". The name is very telling, and for a reason: the musician tried to make references to all the hardships that humanity had to endure this year, from the uprisings in the United States to the coronavirus. The release premiered in early 2021.
Wiz Khalifa — «#FUCC2020»
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