Before Wiz would “Roll Up” to his “House In The Hills” like “It’s Nothin,”
He was just a kid living “Young Wild and Free” in the city of “Black And Yellow”
with “Hopes and Dreams” of “Wake(ing) Up” “So High” on the “Top Floor”
of a “Glass House” with the “Spotlight” on him.
Before Wiz would have one of the most viewed videos ever uploaded onto YouTube with “See
You Again,” which currently has 4.1 billion views on the site
Before Wiz would have his own strain of weed
Before he would star in an Oreo commercial with his son:
Before he would go from being a skinny kid who no one would have been scared to fight,
to gaining 40 pounds as a trained Muey Thai fighter:
And Before Wiz would have over 27.2 million followers on Instagram, 34.2 million followers
on Twitter and close to 19 million subscribers on YouTube.
With the humble persona Wiz displays in interviews, you might forget that he is one of the most
successful artists of all time.
But his humbleness could come from always remembering the work that he put in for years.
He grew up with military parents who travelled all over the world, he impressed a studio
head so much with his lyrics that they let him record for free and he worked on his craft
for years building an online fanbase.
Now, whatever Wiz wants to do, he can do.
But how did he get to be the massive superstar he is today, we’ll take you through the
journey in this video.
This, is the story of Wiz Khalifa.
What’s going on good people in the comment section?
My name is Jeremy Hecht, I hope you’re having one Hecht of a day, and I’ll be your host
today as I take you through the come up of Wiz Khalifa, here for you on Before They Were
Famous.
If you’re new here, I’m the LA host for this channel bringing you weekly content.
Recently, I’ve done videos on DaBaby and YG so be sure to check those out later.
Follow me on Instagram and let me know there who to cover next or in comment section below.
I’ll reply to as many people as I can in a future video.
And I’ll also be replying to some of your comments you guys left on one of my last videos
at the end of this one, so be sure to stick around for that.
Before we jump into it, I’ve got a trivia question for you that I’ll be answering
at the end of the video as well:
“What’s Wiz’s stoner nickname from a few years back?”
And I have a feeling a lot of you don’t know this one even if you think you do.
Stick around until the end of the video to find out the answer.
And stay until the end because I’ll be reading some of your comments on my last video at
the end of this one too.
Alright, let’s get into the show!
Wiz Khalifa was born Cameron Jibril Thomaz on September 8, 1987 in Minot, North Dakota
to military parents who were constantly moving around.
His parents split up when he was around the age of 3, but Wiz lived in multiple places
globally, spending time in Germany, the UK and Japan, before finally settling down in
Pittsburgh with his mother.
Music was in his household from a young age, with his parents always having something playing.
He was forced to leave his friends so often when moving to a new place, that music became
the only consistent part of his life.
When he was younger he would write poems and stories to help get his thoughts out.
Wiz would also go back and research 90’s rap like Biggie, Snoop, Camron, NWA, Bone
Thugz, Big Daddy Kane and Wu-Tang, which helped him fall in love with the craft of writing
lyrics.
Wiz attended Taylor Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh and in school he was a good
student who payed attention, listening in class and did his homework.
He was a little bit loud and would be the class clown occasionally but for the most
part, he was a good kid.
It was in Pennsylvania that Wiz began to write lyrics in his notebook and there began his
rap career.
His stage name Khalifa comes from the Arabic word meaning “successor” and “wisdom,”
which is where the Wiz came from.
He’s mentioned several originals of the name though, including his grandfather giving
him the name Khalifa because of his Muslim heritage stating that he felt like Wiz would
bring Wizdom within his music.
the older kids he would hang out with started calling him a Young Wiz because he was a prodigy,
being good at everything he tried.
And that’s still true today, I mean look at his progress in MMA in such a short time.
Even Rogan was impressed:
Wiz’s first mixtape was self-produced and self-recorded at 14 years old and it was called
“Words of Wizdom.”
By 15 years old, Wiz was recording at a studio called I.D.
Labs in Pittsburgh.
The studio manager heard a young Wiz rapping and was so impressed by his lyricism that
he let him come back and record for free whenever he wanted.
Well, not technically free, because Wiz would have to clean the studio’s bathrooms, go
get blunts for the studio crew and pickup Wendys for other rappers.
So he was basically an intern.
In my intern days at the radio station I got a lot of breakfast burritos for my favorite
rappers so I feel him on that.
The only other job that Wiz had in his life was doing a paper route at 12 years old.
Shortly after he began recording at I.D.
Labs, the president of Rostrum Records, Benjy Grinberg, heard Wiz rap on a Pittsburgh compilation
tape and thought that Wiz had the standout verses.
At the time Wiz was just 16 years old but Benjy knew that the potential was limitless.
That potential was worked on daily from that point on.
Wiz signed with Rostrum Records and started his journey in artist development.
A journey that would be 7 years of constistently working on his lyrics, song structure, flow,
hooks, tone and everything else that would produce elite music.
It was also at 16 that Wiz started his tattoo journey with his mom actually offering to
buy him a tattoo for his 16th birthday.
So shoutout to moms for helping to create his image!
In terms of weed, Wiz doesn’t like to say exactly how old he was, but here’s what
he had to say about his first ever time smoking:
At first, he hated it and was tripping out bad.
But after some time, he began to love weed and it’s become a huge part of his life.
One of my life goals is to smoke with Wiz, and I don’t really even smoke I just feel
like that would a once in a lifetime experience.
Wiz began to do small shows in small areas outside of Pennsylvania, building up his stage
presence.
His very first tape was called Prince of the City” in ’05.
He dropped “Show and Prove” the following year, earning him a spot on Rolling Stones
“artist to watch” list.
In 2007, he signed to Warner Brothers records through Rostrum and released the mixtapes
“Grow Season” and “Prince of the City 2” continuing to gain an online following.
Later that year he dropped his Warner Bros debut single called “Say Yeah” and it
landed at number 25 on the Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 chart.
He continued to flood the online scene with music dropping the “Star Power” and “Flight
School” mixtapes.
But he was ready to drop his official label debut album.
Unfortunately, Warner Brothers didn’t feel like he was ready and delayed the album numerous
times.
The two parted ways and through Rostrum, Wiz kept releasing music.
In 2009 he dropped “How Fly” with Curren$y and started to play around with melody a bit
more.
When the two first met, they realized how similar they were and formed a really strong
bond.
Wiz even slept on the couch of Currensy’s apartment for the whole summer just to record.
Wiz also became really close with Mac Miller who signed to Rostrum Records and came up
under him.
Still hurts to think about the loss so I’m taking a moment of silence just for him and
his fam.
RIP Mac.
It was the “Burn After Rolling” mixtape that gained a lot of online traction as he
rapped over multiple popular instrumentals including my personal favorite, the “Walking
on a Dream” inspired song “The Thrill.”
Then he released “Deal or No Deal” the same year.
Wiz appeared on what some could argue is the best XXL Freshman class list to date, alongside
his peers J. Cole, Big Sean, Freddie Gibbs and Nipsey Hussle, RIP.
Wiz was a part of the internet era of mixtapes that ushered in a new class of rappers that
would shift the sound for generations to come.
Big Sean, J. Cole, Kid Cudi, XV, Drake, Big KRIT, Mac Miller, Wiz and more were changing
the way that new fans discovered their favorite rappers.
It was a direct connection from artists to fans.
But he was also a part of a group of artists who started to treat mixtapes like albums.
And using this formula, Wiz changed everything when he dropped the free mixtape “Kush and
Orange Juice” in 2010.
The title of the mixtape was actually coined from one of his friends who said that Wiz’s
laptop smelled like Kush and OJ.
Shoutout to Jake from Canada for creating a legendary movement and shoutout to Damian
Campbell for getting that info.
The mixtape was the number one trending topic on Twitter and became number 1 on Google’s
hot search trends.
From there, he began selling out venues on tour, winning best new artist awards and gaining
the respect of his peers and the industry alike.
While the timeline is hazy, somewhere around that time, he did sign a new deal with Atlantic
Records.
His debut single with Atlantic was a massive smash!
“Black and Yellow” became the number 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 and basically
every single school in the nation created their own parody of the song with their school’s
colors.
With that song he was the first artist from Pittsburgh to crack the Billboard Top 40 since
Christina Agulera.
And I know she technically wasn’t born there but she was raised there so they counted her
as a Pitt artist for that stat.
Finally, he was ready to drop his debut album “Rolling Papers.”
But in an unprecedented move within the industry, Wiz decided to drop “Cabin Fever” 2 weeks
before the album was set to come out.
Not only did it work, but it has become one of his fanbases most prized possesions.
In 2011, Wiz dropped his debut, selling close to 200k copies first week and it had the singles
“On My Level,” “Roll Up” and “No Sleep.”
Since then, Wiz has had an insane career arc and has created an empire for himself.
Singles, check.
Albums, check.
Tours, check.
Movies, check.
Collabs, check.
Having his own strain of weed, check.
And most recently, he’s even found an interest in MMA fighting.
Is there anything that Wiz Khalifa can’t do?
Well I guess we’ll have to wait and see, because this, is Before They Were Famous.
Oh by the way, his weed nickname is… not the nickname for his weed, anyways just roll
it (no pun intended)
And there you have it, the answer to your question from the beginning of the video.
Alright, now let’s get to some of your comments from one of my latest videos.
These are all from “The Rich Life of DaBaby:”
As always, I’m Jeremy Hecht, be sure to follow me on
the Gram and let me know who to cover next or in the comments down below.
I’ll reply to as many people as
I can in the next video.
Dream Good, Live Better, I hope you have
one Hecht of a Day and I’ll see you
in another video.