One of the hottest new rappers on the hip hop scene right now, Wiz Khalifa, was born as Cameron Jibril Thomaz
on September 8, 1987. He was born to military parents in Minot, North Dakota and he and his family often moved
from city to city. Growing up, Wiz Khalifa spent time living in other countries such as Germany, England,
and Japan. He and his family found their way to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when he was only two years old and
they moved back and forth between Pittsburgh and other places over the next ten years. Today he represents
Pittsburgh proudly with many of his lyrics, the chain he wears, and he even the color of the car he drives.
At a young age, Wiz Khalifa began to look at the world differently and he was given opportunities to broaden
his knowledge and thinking. His lifestyle led him to write down his thoughts everyday and eventually his
writing became the spark for his music career. He had written a few songs by the age of fourteen and had
developed Wiz Khalifa as a stage name. Wiz Khalifa is derived from Arabic meaing successor of wisdom.
Inspired by Jay-Z, Cam’ron, and the Notorious BIG, Wiz Khalifa was strived to create an image for
himself and to search for a place to record his music. He found a recording studio called ID LABS in
Pittsburg and owner, Eric Dan, began to work with him. Benjy Grinberg, from Rostrum Records was
introduced to Khalifa and immediately took him in at Rostrum Records. By 2007, Khalifa had been signed
to Warner Bros, Records.
“Say Yeah” was released while Wiz Khalifa was under the Warner Bros label but he seemed to be placed
on the back burner for the next two years. In 2009 he made the decision to leave Warner Bros. and try
to spread his music independently. He went back to his roots at Rostrum Records and when he dropped
his recent project Kush & O.J. he became the buzz of several major media publications. Kush & O.J.
even became a trending topic on Twitter.com. Today his twitter following has grown immensely
consisting of over 500,000 followers and counting.
Wiz Khalifa 2011 has chosen to sign with a record company once again. He signed with Atlantic
records earlier this year on July 30th.
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