Hipsters, rap fans, joint and blunt smokers alike packed New York City’s Webster Hall last night (Nov. 17) to see Wiz Khalifa rock the spot. Taylor Gang’s head honcho put on for Pittsburgh in front of a sold out show attended by a mix of college students, hustlers and clock punchers.
Opening act Uzi, the pop duo featured on “Different So Fast” from Khalifa’s 28 Grams mixtape, catered to the crowd clad in Wiz Khalifa t-shirts and Under The Influence tour shirts, skinny jeans and Jordan’s. Uzi, along with DJ Bonics, warmed up the crowd before Wiz took the stage. It’s not clear as to whether or not Uzi is signed to Taylor Gang, but the duo performed their cuts “Lost In the Night” and “Blue.”
Donning a light maroon sweater, oversized white tee and his Ninja Turtle Dontello pendant—which matches his purple locs—Wiz appeared on stage to a thunderous applause from his fans.
The extremely confident Wiz took the stage right before DJ Bonics dropped the beat to “Hope,” which features Ty Dollar $ign. The weed smoking fans enthusiastically nodded their heads while simultaneously swinging their arms and screwing their faces as they rapped with Wiz. Khalifa kept the momentum going as he went into “The Sleaze.” Concert-goers in the venue—which was covered in a blanket of weed smoke—rapped and bounced in unison as the stoner effortlessly ripped through his do-it-big anthem. The ladies gently rocked back and forth while the fellas kept it cool and pulled on blunts. The darkly lit space seemed to shine brighter as Wiz performed crowd favorites such as “Work Hard, Play Hard,” and “Roll Up.”
However, the two hour-long show’s weakest link came when the purple-braided rapper went into the motivational “House In the Hills,” “Something Special” and “Staying Out All Night.” Despite the crowd’s lack of energy during these songs, Wiz’s energy stayed lit. After the slowdown, Webster Hall went from 0 to 100 real quick when the beat to “On My Level” dropped. The crowd was so hype that concert goers threw rolling papers into the hazy air. While performing “On My Level,” Khalifa used every inch of the stage to bounce around as if he was a member of a rock ‘n’ roll band.
Just as quickly as Wiz stirred up the energy, it came back down as the Taylor Gang CEO crooned his cut dubbed “Promises.” The crowd didn’t seem disappointed, though. They just used the time to roll and light up their weed.
Like a roller coaster ride, the energy peaked again as Wiz delivered a surprise set with The Conglomerate’s O.T. Genasis. Joined by Busta Rhymes, Genasis performed 2014’s buzzing club anthem, “Coco.” The crowd went bananas and briefly forgot about the weed they were smoking as they sang the “Coco” word for word in perfect unison.
Wiz rode the momentum of Genasis’ “Coco” by going straight into “KK,” a song off Blacc Hollywood . The Taylor Gang posse joined their boss on stage to perform “Foreign” and “We Dem Boyz.” This stretch of songs seemed to be the highlight of Wiz’s performance, which lasted for about twenty minutes.
After a short vent explaining why he likes to sing—because people remember melodies and he’s happy as fuck—Wiz closed out the show with “Young And Wild.” Before exiting the stage, he lit a blunt, gave some of his fans few daps, and told them that he loved them. Although it seemed as if Wiz gave a smoking exhibition, he delivered on a solid performance.