| Wiz Khalifa keeps it poppin’ |
| By Omar-Abdul R. Lawrence |
Published
09/14/2006
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Entertainment
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Unrated |
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18-year-old Allderdice grad to release debut album
 | WIZ KHALIFA
| Local rap sensation Wiz Khalifa’s highly-requested single “Damn Thing” touts, “ Hear you talkin’ but you not about a damn thing, Keep it movin...I’m doin’ my damn thing.”
Enough said, the 18-year old Allderdice High School graduate and his support staff at local indie label Rostrum Records is developing a portfolio that dwarfs the average local rap artist.
This year for the Rostrum team has only been marked by achievement.
Khalifa’s “Prince of the City” mixes CD stayed hot on the streets with sales in the 5,000s. “Prince of the City” was distributed locally at more than 15 stores, as well as nationally and internationally online.
Speaking of online, Khalifa’s music page on the ever-popular myspace.com website is outrageously busy. First of all he has had 49,774 visits to his page from people listening to “Damn Thing,” with a total of 276,892 plays on all of the songs available for preview.
Locally, “Damn Thing” remained in the 106.7 WAMO top 40 for over two months, becoming one of the hottest singles on local radio this summer. Following the song’s local radio success, “Damn Thing” is now number three on the two top college mix show charts Rap Network and Rap Attack, leaving behind such international sensations as Lupe Fiasco and Mos Def. “Damn Thing” is also getting significant radio play in Japan among internationally recognized major label artists. Khalifa modestly adds, “It’s great to be able to gain success in other places. I’m very happy about the success I have in Pittsburgh, but I also want to gain a broader audience.”
Audiences nationwide are gearing up for the release of Khalifa’s debut album “Show and Prove.” Songs such as “Pittsburgh Sound” and “Gotta’ Be a Star” epitomize what the album is all about, well-crafted flows and stylistic versatility. “Pittsburgh Sound” uses sample based music to come through with a melodic yet swingin’ track where Khalifa reminds you, “I got that Pittsburgh Sound and I’ma always hold Pittsburgh down.”
“Gotta’ Be a Star” has a Houston-style bounce to it featuring the production and lyrical cameo from young powerhouse Juliano of the I.D. Labs production crew. Khalifa elaborates, “We (Rostrum Records team) took a while to put this album together. I had songs on stash from like two years ago that made the album along with new songs and we made sure the whole album sounded consistent by touchin’ up some songs and just completely eliminatin’ others.”
Having a whole team behind him has definitely made all the difference in his level of exposure and development. Local label Rostrum Records and I.D. Labs have signed Khalifa on for management, publicity, production, promotions and distribution. I.D. Labs holds down a lot of the production, recording, and management while Rostrum Records handles executive production, publicity, promotion, and distribution. Khalifa says, “It’s a team effort. They let me do me as far as recording whatever songs I like. But, then we all go at it as a team to finish up the songs and work with the business. I’m very happy with the way the album turned out, very happy.”
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