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Wiz Khalifa Works Hard And Plays Hard At The Gibson Amphitheatre

Aislinn Glennon |
November 15, 2012 | 1:53 a.m. PST

Staff Reporter

Wiz Khalifa lit up the crowd Tuesday night. (Aislinn Glennon/Neon Tommy)
Wiz Khalifa lit up the crowd Tuesday night. (Aislinn Glennon/Neon Tommy)
As everybody in the audience had their hands in the air and all the girls were screaming, Wiz Khalifa entered the Gibson Amphitheatre stage with so much punk swag you would think he was opening for a Bad Brains concert.

Through the thick cloud of smoke in the venue, many of the fans pointed at the 15-foot blue bong donning wings and a red star as they finished rolling up their Swisher Sweets blunts. The amount of marijuana in the closed air venue confused security as to the source, and they eventually gave up trying to find it after Juicy J’s performance emphasizing how much he liked “weed and pussy” as trashy club-ready girls danced around him.

Wiz brought more class at least by having a band and bong as his backup, and he brought his motto of “work hard, play hard” by telling the crowd to not care about what people think as long as you are doing what you love, which for him was smoking weed and rapping with his group Taylor Gang or Die.

Since his start, Wiz has been busy making eight mixtapes with Taylor Gang since 2005 and does not plan to stop there.

Combining mainstream rap and underground hip-hop, Wiz is not to be messed with as seen during the song “Celebration,” with a special appearance by The Game, followed by Tyga dressed in all red complete with baggy pants and snap-back as he sang the hit song “Faded"; again, the fans were singing to another top 40 hit.

If these rappers were not enough, Wiz’s rap group Taylor Gang and Big Sean backed him up, which made the stage look like a collaboration rarely seen together at festivals, let alone a one-man headlining show.

With songs like “The Grinder,” “Roll Up,” and “California”, it was evident what the message Wiz portrayed was, especially after a costumed lighter and joint accompanied him.

With his shirt reading “Kiss my acid”, psychedelic LED lighting and asking who in the audience popped molly, Wiz was obviously about more than marijuana, but rather the overall experience of a high that makes him feel good.

Following his story of his life-awakening moment of taking it too far with sipping too much Bombay Sappire gin and smoking one too many joints, he said to Big Sean he is not done yet, that he will pour another shot and roll another joint, which segued into “On My Level.”

His reason: his fans want him to work hard and play hard past the year of the tour, 2050. With the crowd shouting, “Work hard! Play hard!” as trippy LED text rolled back and forth on screen, Wiz ramped up his energy through to the very end.

Wiz ended the weed references and gangster rap with a serious note for everyone to hold up two fingers and remember it is about peace and love, and that we should honor that by doing what makes us happy and love those we care about.

While Wiz may be a mainstream rap artist, as seen with his closing song “Black and Yellow,” he kept it real in showing he made it to the top by sticking to what he loves best and not letting societal norms or negativity bring him down.

Read more of NT's show reviews here.

Reach Staff Reporter Aislinn Glennon here.



 

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