The Forum, London
18.05.11
With the smell of weed grappling nostrils are soon as the doors to the Forum opened, it was clear that Wiz Khalifa isn’t just all mouth about his love of green. The Pittsburgh rapper, who has shot to prominence since Crossfire last saw him live, at Soundset in 2010, has developed a large following thanks in no small part to his break-out hit Black & Yellow, as a very full Forum readied itself for a night to enjoy.
Despite his wiry frame, Wiz fills the stage thanks to his huge grin and boundless energy as he and hype man Chevy Woods took the room by the throat from the very start. Slamming out tracks from his new album Rolling Papers and recent mixtapes Cabin Fever and Kush & Orange Juice, Khalifa interspersed his tracks with shout outs to his weed smokers, something which garnered no end of response from the crowd.
His medley of Kush & OJ tracks were a highlight, with In The Cut, Still Blazin and Waken Baken given the live treatment on a sound system that, for once, made hip hop sounds great at the Forum, a rare occurance indeed. Lex Luger produced bangers got the crowd going with Taylor Gang ramping the noise levels up another notch, the call-and-response reminding everyone why live hip hop is such a joy to be involved with.
Wrapping things up with On My Level, Roll Up and Black & Yellow, Wiz topped off a show that had far exceeded expectations. Even the tracks on the album that are essentially filler sounded great amongst the impressive light show [instructing the crowd to ROLL UP with his own-brand Wizlas] and scratch-happy DJ. I wasn’t smoking last night, but I certainly came out of the venue on a high, unlike the nerd filming half the show on his iPad!
Abjekt.