By: Mason Stoutamire
Cover art for 'Stoner's Night' via Trippy Records
I miss the early 2010’s. I was discovering a ton of hip-hop and downloading it straight to my iPod Shuffle via Limewire. Soulja Boy, Lupe Fiasco and Wiz Khalifa were my world. After I discovered more and more genres, I lost the time to listen to my ‘oldies,' but they continued releasing new music for those willing to support them.
Wiz Khalifa is one of the only rappers from my past that I still check on from time to time. This February, he released 'Stoner’s Night,' a collaborative album with Juicy J that didn’t impress me as much as it should've. Aiming for their synergy on Wiz’s second studio album, 'O.N.I.F.C.' (2012), the duo filled 13-tracks with bars that only testify to the Three 6 Mafia founder’s talent on a dirty Memphis beat, leaving Wiz in the shadow of a legend.
The difference between 'O.N.I.F.C.' (2012) and 'Stoner’s Night' is time. Wiz had a hold on the early 2010s; some could say he was a pioneer. But a big part of the rap industry has embraced 90's tradition. In the past two years, Three 6 Mafia has seen a revival unlike any other rap group: a resurfaced track on TikTok, a Chief Keef cover on his latest album, and a series of rappers influenced by their distinct Southern cadence.
Juicy J outraps Wiz on every song with a flow as timeless as peanut butter and jelly. You should have hope in Wiz bodying a chorus, at least (think "Black and Yellow”), but he becomes a forgettable feature on his own joint-album. Tracks like “Pop That Trunk” and “Big Game” leave Wiz with 16 elementary bars that reveal the truth: without a successful delivery, his verses are reduced to dispensable raps about weed, women and wealth, in that order.
What makes rap fun today is the quick, cutthroat verses that are performed so perfectly that you don’t really care about the lyrics. It’s ignorant, it’s fleeting, and it depends much more on vocal performance than writing. But Wiz falls short when he trades his surefire, assured style for rapid, half-baked AABB punchlines — he becomes just another rapper that raps about smoking weed. Wiz doesn’t need to experiment with new approaches if he’s looking for more buzz; enlisting Juicy J for 'Stoner’s Night' only displays how the 2010-great lacks confidence in this shifting meta.
Stream 'Stoner's Night' here.
Mason Stoutamire can be reached at mstoutamire6@gmail.com
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