When I first heard that Wiz Khalifa was making an appearance at the downtown Jefferson Theater, I was among the first to order tickets to the much-hyped concert, which quickly sold out. Wiz Khalifa, originally Cameron Thomaz, is a 23-year-old rapper from Pittsburgh, and arguably one of hip-hop's most prominent rising stars, having performed alongside big names such as Girl Talk, Snoop Dogg and Wu-Tang Clan. He also has been recognized by fellow up-and-comers like Sam Adams, who performed alongside Wiz Khalifa at the Jefferson last month.
Musically, his free album Kush and Orange Juice, released in April, was one of spring's finest rap records. The success of the album coupled with the his Billboard 100 single, "Say Yeah," propelled Khalifa onto the scene. And although the Wiz is not yet a household name, I have no doubt that his musical career will only continue to grow. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that my expectations for the concert were high. Fortunately, Khalifa did not disappoint - but the opening acts and the concert setup were lacking and left me wanting more.
When I first arrived at the Jefferson, I was underwhelmed by the simplistic stage design - the stage was left bare except for the DJ's table, which bore the name "Wiz Khalifa" on the front. The concert commenced with DJ Bonics, who has been touring with Khalifa, riffing for about an hour. His mixes didn't draw the ear, so it was a relief to see Khalifa's opening act, Big K.R.I.T. take the stage. I expected the Wiz to make an appearance after K.R.I.T. After about a half a dozen songs, however, DJ Bonics returned to the stage. Even though I understand that the Wiz might have been trying to build anticipation, at this point, I went from anxious to agitated. My mood was echoed by the crowd, who continuously roared, "Taylor Gang or Die!" - a reference to Khalifa's clique of rapper friends known as the Taylor Gang. All together, Khalifa's loyal fans repped the Taylor Gang until the Wiz finally made an entrance.
And when he did, the crowd went wild. Most of the songs he performed were from his Kush and Orange Juice mixtape, and the rest were singles such as, "Black and Yellow," with "Say Yeah" conspicuously absent from the set list. Still, the performance was impressive, genuine and, what's more, just one of the many magnificent hip-hop shows that have graced Charlottesville already this year: With the Chiddy Bang concert at the Student Activities Building Saturday and Wiz Khalifa in town the next day, it was definitely a solid weekend for the area's hip-hop scene.
Read More
The best albums of 2014
By Noah Zeidman | December 4, 2014Across genres, it has been a pretty great year in music.
Top 10 movies of 2014
December 4, 2014This has been an excellent year for film, offering everything from gripping blockbusters to innovative personal films.
Iggy Azalea is “Reclassified”
December 4, 2014It has become common practice among music artists to repackage their albums in an effort to simultaneously boost single sales and dish out new content by slightly renaming the album or slapping “Deluxe” onto the title.
