Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania rapper, singer/songwriter, actor & entrepreneur Wiz Khalifa preluding Kush & OJ 2 with his 22nd mixtape named after California fashion designer Rick Owens’ main line. Following his first 2 albums Show & Prove and Deal or No Deal as well as his 8th & 9th mixtapes Kush & OJ and Cabin Fever respectively, his Atlantic Records-backed 3rd album Rollin’ Papers established him as a star & stoner’s icon as did the Mac + Devin Go to High School film & soundtrack. Taylor Allderdice would also receive acclaim, although a lot of what he’s released since has been hit or miss with the biggest hits being Fly Times: The Good Fly Young & the Stoner’s Night collab tape with Taylor Gang Records signee & Three 6 Mafia co-founder Juicy J from a couple years back.

“Jet Lag” starts off with a jazzy beat, a flow similar to Max B talking about wanting the whole stash instead of going 50/50 & even a missed opportunity of not putting Curren$y on it whereas “Crispy T” featuring Sosamann & produced by Sledgren who did most of Wiz Owens takes the futuristic west coast route instrumentally in the vein of Larry June flexing his pack too loud getting everyone lifted. The “Uhh!” adlibs at the beginning of “Yellow Diamonds” & really throughout the tape feel bitten from No Limit Records’ heyday in the late 90s promising that he’ll show y’all too it that is until “1200 to Smoke” delves further into that west coast sound getting on his stoner shit.

Young Deji & 24hrs join Wiz for the final verse & the hook of “Gym Getting Fine” respectively blending luxurious trap & pop rap in a tacky fashion outside of an A24 Films reference leading into “Early Mimosas” giving off a summertime vibe unsure that he can trust this bad bitch he knows. “Innit” throws it back to “Like a Movie” from Deal or No Deal with the sax sample at the start assuring going trap again to end the first half of Wiz Owens talk about everything in his life being good at this point especially if the weed’s lit, but then “Movie Role” laces his vocals in monotonous auto-tune over synths flexing that this be his actual life.

“When I Was Young” gives off a cavernous trap flare to the beat finding out in his youth that you have to stick to your plan if you even got one while “On Bro” draws inspiration from Three 6 Mafia with it’s instrumental being fried like France & eyes like Japan. “PTSD” is a jazz trap fusion talking about people wanting him to come back when he hardly left while “Dream About You” reuses Ice Spice’s flow sampling “Complicated” by Nivea. “Smoke Break” ends luxuriously welcoming y’all to the private yacht club.

Unfortunately as much as I love Sledgren as a producer & the fact that he did 10 of the 13 tracks on Wiz Owens is amazing, the tape unfortunately gets dragged down by bad mixing as well as only a few underwhelming guests & even the performances from Wiz himself feel flat a lot of the times. Kush & OJ next to Taylor Allderdice are the best tapes in his discography, so I really hope he comes correct with Kush & OJ 2 since the original is held to such a a high standard in his discography.

Score: 1.5/5

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