Wiz Khalifa is almost as well known for his upper torso full of tattoos—including Martin Luther King quotes and religious symbols—as he is for his rabid devotion to his hometown of Pittsburgh, Penn. And since releasing his first mix tape in 2005, being labeled “artist to watch” by Rolling Stone in ’06 and garnering big wins at the Pittsburgh Hip-Hop Awards in ’07, this twentysomething rapper has kept his foot firmly planted on the fame accelerator.
And all of the above—especially the fame part of the equation—is what Khalifa’s first chart-topping single is all about. Tapped as an anthem for the Pittsburgh Steelers, “Black and Yellow” is part chest-thumping shout-out to his football-crazed hometown, part engine-revving “I’m the king” victory strut.
Khalifa raps about hitting the clubs and impressing everyone with his colors, his possessions and his magnetic personality (“Black stripe, yellow paint/The n-ggaz scared of it, but them hoes ain’t/Soon as I hit the club look at them hoes’ face/Put the pedal once make the floors shake”).
Sexual conquests are part and parcel of Khalifa’s game. “B‑‑ches love me ‘cuz I’m f‑‑‑ing with their best friends,” the singer brags. “Not a lesbian but she a freak though/This ain’t for one night, I’m shining all week, hoe.”
We get an equally enthusiastic embrace of drugs and alcohol. Khalifa crows about quaffing Clicquot champagne and—in line with his alleged $10,000-per-month hash habit—he sings the praises of marijuana. “Stay high like how I’m supposed to do/That crowd underneath them clouds can’t get close to you/ … She wanna f‑‑‑ with them cats/Smoke weed and count stacks.”
The video pretty much mirrors the lyrics. It focuses on the rapper cruising the streets in an expensive ride, sporting gold, cupping his crotch and waving Terrible Towels in a crowd.
It makes me wonder why any team or town would be eager and proud to claim this profane and vulgar rap anthem as its own.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
