Wiz Khalifa brings home peace, love and tributes
This month is the 10th anniversary of Wiz Khalifa as a skinny 21year- old, playing one of his first big outdoor shows in Pittsburgh, tucked in the middle of an indierock bill at the Amphitheater at Station Square.
He was the self- declared “Prince of Pittsburgh,” though, pre-“Black and Yellow,” he was more of just a buzz.
On Saturday night, he stepped out on stage at KeyBank Pavilion on the Decent Exposure Tour to more than 17,000 fans with the “King of Everything” shouting “I’m the King of [ expletive] Pittsburgh!”
Wiz, of course, doesn’t have those sort of grand ambitions, and Pittsburgh doesn’t have a king, but if we did and he did, his platform, as he stated Saturday, would be “Peace, love and smoke some [ mother ------] weed!”
He walked out in a green “Bash” jersey, Pirates cap, ice around his neck and wrist,
smoking a fat joint ( Khalifa Kush, most likely), which he threw out to the crowd. With DJ Bonics and his band positioned behind screens of lights, he ruled the stage for the next 80 minutes, jamming the set with more than a dozen songs that have hit the Billboard Hot 100.
While he might not be on the level of Drake and Kendrick, Wiz is in the elite class of live hip- hop performers by virtue of his stage presence. He just makes you feel good. You can’t watch him without a smile on your face, which is not necessarily something you’d say about Drake. Or Kendrick.
Wiz rocked the house early with an ecstatic “Black & Yellow” and rolled through a string of favorites including “Roll Up,” “No Sleep,” “Work Hard, Play Hard,” “Young, Wild & Free” and “We Dem Boyz,” songs that feel like classics, at least in these parts. Longtime sidekick Chevy Woods came back out to join him for a rousing “Taylor Gang.”
Wiz also mixed in some big songs he’s featured on, like Mike WiLL Made It’s “23,” Tyga’s “Molly,” the “Suicide Squad” hit “Sucker for Pain” and French Montana’s “Slide,” with Montana himself bouncing out on stage. Wiz also took his own trip down “Old Town Road” for a crowd sing- along and changed the pace a few times, slowing it down for “You and Your Friends,” “Promises” and “Hopeless Romantic.”
His shirt stripped off, revealing the body of an action figure, Wiz worked the stage on this steamy night, throwing out water bottles and big joint inflatables, and shooting off a handheld fog cannon.
“It’s so good to be home,” he said. “I’ve been all around the world, but there’s no place like home. There’s no party like this.”
The last big hit of the night, “See You Again,” had cellphone lights glowing all over the hillside, confetti flying and everyone joining in on the Charlie Puth parts, while Wiz looked up at photos on the screen of Mac Miller and Jimmy Wopo. Around the pavilion, that certainly added some tears to the sweat.
Early in the tour, Playboi Carti dropped out, giving French Montana, a Moroccan rapper who came out of the Bronx, some decent exposure to work the crowd with hits “Unforgettable” and “Stylist,” some covers, including DMX, and the intriguing addition of a violinist. Also on the bill was Taylor Gang member Woods, Moneybagg Yo and DJ Drama, keeping things lit all night.