I must admit that Wiz Khalifa has finally grown on me. Now to be clear I was a never a Wiz "Hater",but I will say that he wasn't on my list of artist that I had to listen to on a daily basis. It wasn't until one day when I was at my job and two my coworkers kept badgering me to listen to his new joint and to fully dismiss his "Rolling Papers" LP because that wasn't an accurate depiction of how he truly got down. I'm not easily swayed but after 3 hours of hearing this I finally decided to to oblige their requests and listen to this new mixtape and let them know what I thought.
The first chimes of smoothness open up this set as Wiz begins to croon about the fact "Getting paid is a regular thing to him". When you look at Wiz you cant help but think that he has to be the most chill dude you've met in a long time. "Amber Ice" is a perfect example of that chill attitude and it's a pervading theme throughout the mixtape. The first three tracks roll by so smoothly that by the time that its get to Track 4 it almost jars you out of your comfort zone and puts you in directly into club mode.
"Guilty Conscience" is definitely a 20 something club banger and is guaranteed to get you hopping around like you're angry at someone. The next song "Mary 3x" automatically kills that mood and lulls you right back onto that couch to light one up and proceed to "Play a 82 Game Season" of NBA 2Kwhatever. Trust me it doesn't kill the mood at all. It just seems that the purpose was to break the ice and and almost reintroduce you to his style of music.
"O.N.I.F.C." and "Nameless" continue to carry that chill vibe and really started to make me think that I missed something entirely about this dude. Decent hooks,above average lyrics and a certain style really makes these songs work. Another club banger pops up as Rick Ross and his bride to be and Amber Rose show up on "Never Been Part II" and dammit Wiz Khalifa maybe, just a little bit, perhaps, UPSTAGED Rozay. I mean he didn't totally demolish Ross because they both came in and did what they had to do. Amber Rose surprisingly sounds GREAT on this song...although I don't wanna hear an entire song or album of her...She'll be fine her on the hooks for awhile until she fully develops.
Halfway through the album and my feeling about it hasn't changed yet..I actually think its kinda dope. "The Cruise" helps his case because its not really a traditional rap song. I think its one of his more experimental songs here, but like I said before...It works. The 2nd half of this mixtape doesn't trail off as he continues with the central themes which are Smoke, Ride, Chill. That's his winning combination and I realize that is the same feeling of many others.
My main mayne Juicy J shows up on "My Favorite Song" and as as cliche as that title is, I still ran that song back 12 times. The 2nd half also gets a bit more aggressive with the production but its still chill music, so and it doesn't take Wiz out of his comfort zone. The production is really the key to Khalifa's success. Not to say that he's only as good as his beats but they definitely enhance his flow. He also let's his crew gets shine. Juicy J, Lola Munroe and Chevy Woods are all competent rappers (Chevy Woods more so than the former) but as a crew they are pretty decent.
"The Grinder" and "Brainstorm" are without a doubt my two favorite songs thus far and its doesn't hurt that they are 14 and 15 respectively. But then again every song is play worthy even you if you were to shuffle the tracklist. The last two tracks "Number 16" and "Blindfolds" close out this mixtape with precision and requires instant playback.
"Taylor Allderdice" as a whole was a lesson on how to MAKE a mixtape. The was a certain cohesion about the entire project and it felt effortless. The way it was executed was nothing short of flawless and I thoroughly enjoyed it. My only complaint if I had to really choose one would have to be the length of the songs. Clocking in at about an hour, every song felt too short and felt like they were unfinished thoughts. I'm only speaking for myself however, others may love the brevity of each song. At the end of the day I'm pleased with the outcome of this mixtape and I'm hoping that his next album ,"O.N.I.F.C" (Only Nigga In First Class) is what "Rolling Papers was supposed to be.
http://www.livemixtapes.com/download/16475/wiz_khalifa_taylor_allderdice.html
