Rolling Papers

After clearly finding his identity on his mixtapes, it's like he used his debut to make music for everyone but himself.

Hardcore Taylor Gang fans will be happy to add this to their collection, but if you're expecting another round of Kush x OJ, this album will probably disappoint you.

Wiz proclaims that his "life is like a movie". Maybe so, but he needs to delete some scenes.

It is that sense of self that prevails over the pop sheen of Rolling Papers and makes it worth more than a passing listen.

Songs like Roll Up, Hopes And Dreams and The Race best showcase his self-assured charm.

Most people will want Wiz to succeed, as he does successfully come across as likeable personality, and even Rick Ross has displayed a genuine hunger to improve, so anything is possible. But this album is, put simply, one that won't make much of an impression, good or bad. And that's the worst kind.

On Rolling Papers, Khalifa, the 23-year-old Pittsburgh rhymer responsible for the jersey-waving hit "Black and Yellow," manages to give life to those kinds of cash-gorged perma-baked cliches by warmly luxuriating in the space between pop's fresh-faced exuberance and hip-hop's easy arrogance--between skater and playa, Bieber and Biggie.

As a whole, the verses on Rolling Papers are so boring that I'm not convinced that even Khalifa finds them interesting. They seem to exist solely to fill space between the hooks, which are sung, tolerably, by Khalifa himself

Like Snoop, Khalifa raps extensively, even obsessively about marijuana; unlike Snoop, Khalifa never seems to be having much fun.