NEW YORK (AP) — Who understood the cool children higher than Wiz Khalifa? In 2010, the easygoing Pittsburgh rapper launched his breakout mixtape “Kush + Orange Juice,” crafting the perfect soundtrack for fashionable stoners — breezy songs about ladies and weed broadcast by means of his generously enunciated stream.
For these paying consideration, mass business attraction was all however assured. Simply 5 years later he’d launch the diamond-selling “See You Again” with singer Charlie Puth for the “Livid 7″ movie, one of many largest songs of the last decade.
“A lot of artists who, you know, stick to what originally made them, them — they don’t get the opportunity to make a hit song like that,” he informed The Related Press. “So, I really feel blessed and grateful to have songs like that under my belt.”
Now, a decade from “See You Again” and 15 years faraway from “Kush + Orange Juice,” he is gearing as much as launch a sequel, “Kush + Orange Juice 2,” out Friday. Main as much as the album, Khalifa began dropping freestyles — a nostalgic return to his early profession days, the period the place discovering scorching new information meant scouring rap blogs and SoundCloud. Listeners ate it up.
“It’s just something I just kept doing for my fans and for the people who support me,” he mentioned of the freestyles. “That really sparked the fire and just let me know that there was a demand for that again.”
Khalifa was already engaged on “Kush + Orange Juice 2” when he began releasing the freestyles, however the curiosity from his followers actually helped embolden the challenge. He needed to faucet into the feel-good nature of the unique.
“The excitement for it came from what the music actually does for people or what it reminds them of,” he defined. “I think they get a feeling of some of the best times and some of the most fun and important times. And if you want that now, then you’re gonna turn my music on and I’m gonna give you something new for you to have those same experiences.”
And there are similarities: The radio skit of the primary mixtape endures on the second, however most significantly, there’s a shared lackadaisical cool — from the sleek melodicism of “5 Star” to the anthemic “Khalifa’s House” — completed with the assistance of some strong options: Gunna, Don Toliver, DJ Fast, Juicy J, Ty Dolla $ign, Terrace Martin, Curren$y and extra.
“Everybody who’s concerned with it … they’re actually near what the origin of the particular ‘Kush + Orange Juice’ story. So, it simply is sensible, and it simply makes the story even greater,” he says.
In a track close to the top of the brand new album, “Super Duper High Outro,” Khalifa suggests there could also be a 3rd installment within the “Kush + Orange Juice” collection. “If we wanna do number three, we’ll do number three,” he says on the observe. “I’ll see y’all in 10 years, man.”
“We’ll keep it going,” he says of the series. “Just keep it going nonstop.”
However for now, he needs folks to attach with “Kush + Orange Juice 2” like they did with the primary one.
“I just hope that they need this in their life, and that this is the perfect thing to come at the perfect time,” he says of the album. It actually would not damage that it is releasing 4/20 weekend.
