Rolling Papers 2 is the tenth full-length solo project from Wiz Khalifa. This was the long-awaited (I think...) sequel to the 2011 album Rolling Papers. I didn't end up doing a revisit like I wanted to, but I can tell you that the first Rolling Papers is the quintessential 2010s stoner album. Many would argue that RP1 was the peak of Wiz's career (it's ONIFC in my opinion). Over the later part of this decade, Wiz Khalifa had been losing relevancy. He went from a beloved stoner rapper to a walking punchline. His music started getting worse and he started trend hopping. Wiz Khalifa stans are rarer than unicorns at this point. Hell, I haven't heard a good Wiz Khalifa song since his single with Lil Uzi Vert and the only reason I loved that song was because of Uzi. He started the rollout for this album almost a year before the album dropped when he put out a single with Ty Dolla $ign called "Something New" and then dropped four more as the release date got closer. None of them ended up getting any mainstream traction. Needless to say, I wasn't looking forward to listening to this album at all. I could have easily taken this album out of my queue after I saw that 90-minute runtime. But my morbid curiosity and masochism got the best of me.
Positives
Well, not everything about this album was bad. I honestly thought the production was solid. Generic trap production, sure, but listenable nonetheless. Most of the songs were produced by TM88 and Sledgren, who both tried their best to make Wiz Khalifa sound good. I was also relieved that he didn't completely abandon his old Rolling Papers style as you can actually hear him lay down some good verses that are reminiscent of that album. Also, the singles for this album were pretty good. But as far as I can tell, I'm struggling to find many positives for this album so let's just move on.
Negatives
Fucking Christ, where to begin. Let's start with the length. This album is too long as it has 25 tracks and has a 90-minute runtime. I know what you're thinking. "bUt YoU gAvE sCoRpIoN aN 8/10." Yeah, because that album had some damn consistency and there are many enjoyable elements to it. Comparing Drake's long odyssey to Wiz Khalifa's is like comparing apples to oranges. Wiz has no business making albums that are just as long. Actually, NOBODY has any business making albums this long. I and many others are getting sick and fucking tired of this stream-trolling bullshit. But since these artists who keep making them keep raking in streams, high chart positions, and cold hard cash, they will never stop. And that is really fucking unfortunate considering that Kanye West's 7-track extravaganzas are some of the best music to come out this year. What's really sad is that the length isn't even the worst part of this album. This is only the beginning of the long list of problems that this album suffers from.
Since the release of ONIFC, Wiz Khalifa has been using autotune and it sounds awful 9 times out of 10. It's present throughout the album and it ruins some of the songs. Going back to the trend-hopping I mentioned earlier, most of the lyrical content is generic trap stuff. As if constantly talking about how much weed he smokes isn't enough, now he's bragging about diamonds.
"Ni**as runnin' off of styles that they ain't even invent." - Verse 2 of "Ocean"
Gee, this would actually be a pretty smart comment...IF YOU WEREN'T DOING THE SAME FUCKING THING YOU GODDAMN HYPOCRITE. How do you explain the auto-crooning in some of your songs? How do you explain your attempt at copying Playboi Carti on "Holyfield?" What are you trying to say? You invented jack shit and yet you're making yourself out to be an original and different artist. I'm not buying it.
There are so many awful, repetitive, generic hooks throughout this album that ruin so many songs. I would type all of the songs that have shitty hooks, but then I would just be copying and pasting most of this album's tracklist. Also, there are two double tracks that didn't need to be double tracks (Mr. Williams / Where Is the Love, Karate / Never Hesitate) and they would have worked better separately. And then there's the bazillion features throughout this album that outshine Wiz. When the features, outside of Jimmy Wopo, Hardo, and PARTYNEXTDOOR, consistently do a better job than you, you've got a problem on your hands.
This also has nothing to do with my overall opinion, but I decided to count the number of weed references on here so I wouldn't fall asleep during this boring slog. I counted 170.
Features
1) Jimmy Wopo (Blue Hunnids) - Jimmy Wopo was an up-and-coming artist who signed to Taylor Gang before his death. I wish I could find good things to say about his contribution but I just can't. He delivered a generic hook about counting money and was struggling to stay on beat throughout his verse. His "skrt" ad-libs sounded funny, so I'll at least give him some points for that.
2) Hardo (Blue Hunnids) - Another generic verse about flexing your money and possessions but at least he was on beat, unlike Wopo.
3) THEMXXNLIGHT (Mr. Williams/All of a Sudden/Homework) - I have no idea who this guy is but he did a good job on his features. All of his hooks and verses showcased vocals that were covered in effects to make it sound more atmospheric. He was easily the best part of the songs he was in.
4) Curren$y (Mr. Williams) - He delivered some fast-paced flows that fit the beat very well. He was definitely the best part of that song.
5) Snoop Dogg (Penthouse) - His verse was really nice. I liked that he switched flows throughout. When I was counting the weed references, I also counted any mentions from features and I was surprised that I didn't hear ANY mention of marijuana from him.
6) Gucci Mane (Real Rich) - You know, I like Gucci Mane, but I never have anything new to say about his guest verses because they're very interchangeable. He certainly did better than Wiz on this song, that's for damn sure.
7) Swae Lee (Hopeless Romantic) - He carried this track and basically made it his own. Another great hook and solid verse. He's been doing guest features at a pretty high volume and hasn't gotten stale yet.
8) PARTYNEXTDOOR (Rain) - He was pretty awful. His hook was very shitty and repetitive and his verse was unintentional comedy. In addition to struggling to stay on beat, he also stutters quite a bit and gives out great moments like this:
"Because I took the baddest broad and I du-du-du-du"
9) Chevy Woods (Karate) - He sounds a lot like Wiz with a deeper voice. He traded bars and shared the hook with Wiz on this song and they have great chemistry.
10) Darrius Willrich (Never Hesitate) - He sings the hook of this song and his voice sounds great. His chorus is short but sweet.
11) Lil Skies (Fr Fr) - This was basically like every other Lil Skies verse. It's okay but nothing special.
12) Problem (Gin and Drugs) - Unsurprisingly, he had the better verse on this song. I thought it was decent and that his flow was okay.
13) Bone Thugs-N-Harmony (Reach For the Stars) - The group all spit some verses and bring back their old school fast-paced flows. I liked every one of their verses except for Bizzy Bone's. He was annoying.
14) Ty Dolla $ign (Something New) - "That's a nice album you got there. Mind if I did a feature for it?" All jokes aside, Ty Dolla $ign is one of the best feature artists right now and hasn't shown any signs of getting stale. His hook was okay, but also a bit repetitive. His verse sounded a lot better since it sounds like he actually put a bit of soul into it.
Singles
1) Real Rich (feat. Gucci Mane) - It's one of the better tracks on here. Tay Keith delivers some nice production as usual and Gucci did his thing. I thought Wiz's autotune was pretty tolerable.
2) Hopeless Romantic (feat. Swae Lee) - This was my favorite song overall. Which is kind of funny since this sounds more like a Swae Lee track than a Wiz Khalifa track. He took up a bulk of it and damn near carried that song. We also get some nice production from Young Chop and surprisingly, NO weed references.
3) Gin and Drugs (feat. Problem) - Wiz was going for a more West Coast-esque sound with this one. The hook is okay and kind of devolves into repetition halfway through it. Both Wiz and Problem deliver decent verses but this song is pretty meh overall.
4) 420 Freestyle - Wiz Khalifa ended up releasing this song on April 20 (nice) and he actually gives a decent verse over a beat from 30 Roc and Mike WiLL Made-It. It goes on for a bit too long and he also doesn't switch up his flow and the instrumental outro drags a bit but I think it's alright.
5) Something New (feat. Ty Dolla $ign) - This was the first single that was released in August of last year. Ty Dolla $ign delivers another good feature but Wiz was meh.
Best Tracks
1) Rolling Papers 2 - In this song, Wiz reflects on his past and what he's learned when he was in the hip-hop industry. I really liked his flow and bars throughout the verses, but I thought the hook sucked. It was short, but it also had obnoxious autotune Wiz, which brings down the quality of the song quite a bit.
2) Penthouse (feat. Snoop Dogg) - This was my favorite non-single on this album by far. NSFR's beat was pretty nice. The hook was pretty catchy, which is a rarity for this album. Also, Snoop demonstrates that he's still got it in his verse.
3) B Ok - I love the touch of piano in the production. In this song, Wiz addresses the downsides of his fame and his relationship with Amber Rose as well as the recent death of his sister. The hook states that as long as he has his family and friends with him, he will be fine. It's a very heartfelt track.
Worst Tracks
I usually reserve one song for this section, but I couldn't decide which of these four songs were the worst so I decided to include them all.
1) Very Special - The hook is so boring, repetitive, and stupid. "I treat you special cuz you very special" is said over and over again with each time sounding worse than the last. Then there's also this line:
"What I'm smoking is quality, not for children."
Well no shit, Wiz. Smoking is VERY bad for children no matter how quality the bud.
2) Holyfield - The constant robotic start-stop flow in this song is incredibly irritating. Wiz tries to do his best impression of Playboi Carti and fails miserably. Just a really boring track.
3) Late Night Messages - Looks like this is the obligatory slow sex jam that fucks up the flow of the album (in this case, there wasn't really any flow). This is another track that I was incredibly bored by. Unsurprisingly, the hook sucks and there's way too much repetition.
4) Rain (feat. PARTYNEXTDOOR) - Remember that Fat Joe and Remy Ma song that everyone and their mother was playing in 2016 and 2017? It's called "All the Way Up." Well, they sampled this song and did an awful job with it. Also, PARTYNEXTDOOR's part sucked.
Conclusion
God, this album was such a slog. There was barely any enjoyment to be had and the few moments that were enjoyable weren't even that great, to begin with. This is definitely one of the worst albums of the year.
Score: 2/10
I don't want to listen to anymore Wiz Khalifa after this.
This concludes my review. I'll be putting out a double review of Jaden Smith's EP and Chief Keef's new project tomorrow.
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