Para fãs de: Hip-Hop, Eletrônico, e Pop.
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Born to a military family, Wiz Khalifa’s early years were spent moving from country to country, never truly able to call one place home. This international upbringing has been reflected in the rapper’s music and found him success with his 2008 single “Say Yeah”, which featured Wiz Khalifa’s rap lyrics over a Eurodance track.
Taking inspiration from a variety of artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and Notorious B.I.G., Wiz Khalifa plays with a range of musical styles within his tracks, but all are equally melodic.
Known for cultivating a strong fan following from a grassroots level, Wiz Khalifa found his popularity continue to increase after the release of his free mix tape “Kush and Orange Juice”. The mix tape generated so much excitement from fans that it ended up being the number one trending topic on Twitter shortly after its release, and led the rapper to sell out every gig in his 2010 “Waken Baken” tour.
Moving away from Warner Brothers due to delays in releasing his material, Wiz Khalifa switched to Atlantic Records in 2010 and released single “Black and Yellow” shortly after. The single hit the number one spot in the US charts and earned him a Grammy and MTV VMA Award nomination.
The success of this single bolstered anticipation for Wiz Khalifa’s 2011 studio album “Rolling Papers”, which debuted at number 2 on the US Billboard charts. It wasn’t long before this success was repeated when Wiz Khalifa’s 2012 album “O.N.I.F.C” once again debuted in the US number 2 spot with single “Work Hard, Play Hard” reaching number 3 in the rap charts.
Unprepared to rest on his laurels, Wiz Khalifa formed his own record label Taylor Gang Records and has collaborated with Curren$y on a collaborative EP. Furthermore, Wiz Khalifa upped his own achievements yet again with the release of his fifth studio album “Blacc Hollywood” in 2014, which hit the number one spot in the US Billboard charts.
Born on 12 September 1977 in College Park, Georgia, Epps formed a hip-hop duo in high school with his friend Dolla Boy (Earl Conyers) named Playaz Circle. At the time, he adopted the moniker Tity Boi, and together they released an independent album entitled “United We Stand, United We Fall.” They were then introduced to rapper Ludacris (who was still just a DJ), who took an interest in the duo and recorded and played some of their output together.
It was through this connection that Epps was able to hit his big break. Ludacris had become one of the highest selling rappers, and had invited Epps and Conyers to sign to his label, Disturbing the Peace. The debut album “Supply and Demand” was released in 2007, followed by a second album in 2009 called “Flight 360: The Takeoff.”
After leaving Disturbing the Peace, Epps changed his moniker to 2 Chainz to not have to deal with the accusations of how derogatory Tity Boi was. He then releaed a mixtape called “T.R.U REALigion” which peaked at number 58 on the US Billboard Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart. In 2012 he released his first studio album with Def Jam entitled “Based On A T.R.U Story” and sold over 100,000 copies in it’s first week. He also went on his first world headlining tour and was nominated for over 13 BET Hip Hop awards (four of which he won) and three Grammys.
In 2013, 2 Chainz ran into legal trouble, having a few run-ins with illegal drug possession. However, by September he released his second studio album, “B.O.A.T.S. II: Me Time,” which featured guest appearances by a number of other artists such as Pharrell Williams, Drake, T-Pain and Lloyd.
Born and bred in California’s San Francisco, since his arrival to the rap scene in the late 2000s, MC Berner has released a generous collection of marijuana-orientated songs and mixtapes. The rapper’s debut release was the 2007 mixtape “Dirty Sneakers… Plenty Ways To Get It” released on his own label Bern One Entertainment. The same year in collaboration with rapper Equipto, the pair issued the mixtape “Track Money And Pack Money” featuring the likes of B-Legit, Yukmouth, and Andre Nickatina.
Berner’s first official release, 2008’s “Drought Season”, alongside lyricist Jacka, The, marked the rapper’s first appearance on the Billboard R&B/Hip Hop Chart. It was a feat Berner would repeat on his subsequent releases “Traffic” and “Weekend at Bernie’s” issued in 2009. The same year a follow-up to “Drought Season” arrived entitled “Drought Season 2”, following which Berner issued the gangsta rap album “The White Album” in 2011 featuring Big K.R.I.T., Smoke DZA, and J Dawg.
The rapper subsequently signed with Wiz Khalifa’s Taylor Gang Records, home to artists including Chevy Woods, Project Pat, and Ty Dolla $ign. Berner’s debut release on the label was the mixtape “Urban Farmer” released in 2012, followed by “Drugstore Cowboy” in 2013. The rapper continued to regularly collaborate with fellow artists, releasing the mixtape “Cookies & Cream” alongside San Quinn in 2013, and the album “Prohibition” with B-Real in 2014. In 2015 Berner contributed to the Taylor Gang’s label/supergroup’s full-length “Taylor Gang: The Album”, before issuing his 2015 mixtape “20 Lights”.
After his somewhat questionable ventures in and out of prison for drug possession, some people have become dubious of Khalifa’s spot in the limelight, but there’s absolutely no denying the irritatingly catchy tune of ‘blackandyellowblackandyellow’.
Once it gets stuck in your head, there’s no escape. Wiz initially built his fan base through cult followings gathered through his release of mixtapes, but this became an unnecessary feat after the boom of ‘Black and Yellow’.
Although the cult following that he initially obtained means that now his gigs are somewhat ‘pot heavy’, if you’re willing to overlook this and embrace the lyrics about rolling joints ‘bigger than King Kong’s fingers’, you’re in for a pretty awesome show.
His charisma translates through to performance, engaging with both his band, and audience, often welcoming out his producers and team mates to take a bow, a gesture of inclusion and gratitude.
Khalifa’s clever hooks entice the audience and pushes rap into the mainstream music genre, blurring the lines of traditional stereotypes, and encouraging a broadening of the audiences music taste.
2 Chainz - or ‘Tity Boi’ as he proudly proclaims himself on Twitter - is one of mainstream hip hop’s more intriguing propositions of recent years; he’s one of those rappers, like a modern-day Busta Rhymes, who seems to have made a name for himself more for his guest spots on the songs of others than in his own, solo right. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a slew of hits to his name already, though, with the Kanye-featuring ‘Birthday Song’ and ‘Used 2’ among the choice cuts from his solo canon. On the live front, too, he’s made some serious headway in recent years as far his own profile is concerned; his set at last year’s Made in America festival in Philadelphia - as well as suggesting the implicit approval of the event’s founder, Jay Z - was an exercise in controlled intensity, with sparse beats forcing Chainz and his hype men to do the heavy lifting. He rose to the occasion by delivering his verses with genuine menace, controlling the crowd less through typical, “everybody bounce!” tactics and more in terms of presenting himself as a brooding, compelling presence; to see a mainstream rapper take such a different approach was genuinely refreshing, and when he does route a proper uK tour of his own, we should hope for more of the same.
Before this artist has even taken to the stage, there is an audience with their palms to the sky in anticipation. There is a rumble on the floor from people stamping their feet as fast as they can, summoning Berner, a rapper who features on the roster of Tayler Gang Records. He has featured on many full-length albums to date. He walks out on stage greeting the crowd and they go absolutely wild for the rapper, who even stops the music to thank the audience for being there. The hip-hop artist opens with his song; “Won’t Stop”, showcases the rapper’s flow. One of the things that I take away from this set is that this guy is extremely hard working with everything he has worked on for the last couple of years, releasing mix tapes and full lengths, with a couple of EPs in there just to make collecting the complete discography a challenge, but hey! This guy has fantastic flow, and a charismatic stage presence. It’s refreshing to see people appreciate the position they’re in on stage.