Wiz Khalifa – Roll Up
Not quite a one-hit wonder yet…
[Video][Website]
[4.71]
Jer Fairall: As a 21st century “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” this is actually kinda cute, keeping in mind that “cute” is the faintest praise possible that can be heaped on anything that isn’t a puppy.
[6]
Chuck Eddy: Uh oh…After the ebullience of “Black And Yellow,” which I loved even more once I got how it was about Pittsburgh, this sounds like as rote a radio r&b move as what the New Boyz and Nicki Minaj started putting on singles around the time of their breakthrough albums. I’m rooting for this kid, think he has real potential. But this does not bode well for Rolling Papers at all.
[4]
Anthony Easton: Sweeter and more earnest than most of this genre, and he seems genuinely interested in being this woman’s friend, though the whole narrative of trading her like a possession as part of an aspirational arsenal continues to be problematic
[5]
Josh Langhoff: It’s got those “True Colors” chords, so it’d be a [9] if he didn’t fall into the love-rap trap of leaving a bunch of nothing lines hanging out to dry. Rhythmic interest is confined to that syncopated “you ain’t entertained” sequence that ends Verse 1. Lyrical interest is confined to the trickle-down bling hogwash “If I ball then we all gon’ stunt”, which Mitt Romney should adopt as a campaign slogan.
[6]
Alfred Soto: I was prepared to inflate the grade based on the novelty of an up and comer pledging his troth with Bieber-esque ardor, but I couldn’t get past Wiz’s voice failing to generate much tension between it and the woodblock percussion.
[4]
Martin Skidmore: It’s sort of pleasant, but I don’t think so much of his performance, when singing or rapping, and the music is kind of dull.
[4]
Zach Lyon: So mysterious! Does Wiz like to poke out the little shapes, even though they never really sever correctly and they just end up stretching and then they cover your fingers in sticky dye? Did he just unwrap them and roll them back up and eat it like beef jerky? Decadent, I know, but I did the same thing with Fruit by the Foot, and that’s infinitely more disgusting. Does Wiz, too, question the usage of “fruit” in the name of products that feature absolutely no fruit or even fruit flavoring? Does Wiz also blame his weight on this corporate deception? Munchies songs are so complex!
[4]
i think this is being underrated here. not a fan of the bridge though
Definitely underrated. I meant to review it and would have tossed it a [7], easy. It’s embedded itself in my mind over the past week or two.
The ‘You know if I ball, then we all gon’ stunt’ bit is endlessly catchy. Less of the ‘white sand’ and ‘in orbit’ lines and more about ‘keep fitting me in your plans and fucking up, your man’s gonna catch on to us,’ would be ideal…just a fuller picture of their relationship.
Plus, I wish there was another line like “Wake up, you rolling weed, cooking eggs in the morning,” which conjures up an entire image of intimacy for me, somehow. Nice moment of detail in a song that would *really* benefit from a bit more of it.
this guy knows his audience, and it’s 13 to twenty-something stoners who need a swag mentor. we could do worse than wiz. to quote the bible, “Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones,” and to paraphrase e-40, all the girls gonna fuck with it because the fellas fuck with it, and all the fellas gonna fuck with it because all the girls fuck with it.