Yesterday, Wiz Khalifa previewed a collaboration with TM88 of 808 Mafia that will appear on Rolling Papers 2, the sequel to his 2011 album Rolling Papers. There's no word yet on when RP2 will arrive, but Wiz has released four songs in the past six weeks and they all bode well: Mike Will-produced "Burn Slow," "No Social Media" feat. Snoop Dogg, and a pair of ID Labs produced bangers in "Most of Us" and "King of Everything."
Inspired by the TM88 footage, we put together a list of five producers we'd like to see Wiz link up with for RP2, eschewing longtime collaborators like ID Labs, Sledgren, and Stargate in favor of some slightly less obvious choices that have the potential to simultaneously help Wiz tap into that energy/mindspace that has produced the best records of his career, and help him develop further as an artist.
Wiz's last mixtape 28 Grams was doomed from the moment he decided to make a project with 28 tracks, one for each gram in an ounce of weed. The swollen albatross was occasionally flecked with moments of quality production, like Metro Boomin-produced "On The Way" -- it was such a powerful beat that Wiz felt compelled to try his hand at some Future-esque autotuned mumbling. So while "On The Way" wasn't exactly a masterpiece, Wiz Khalifa needs to redeem himself on another Metro beat.
Chase N. Cashe
Chase is one of the most versatile producers in the entire game but he has never collaborated with Wiz Khalifa. He is not on obvious choice for Rolling Papers 2, which makes him a good choice. Wiz tends to get tunnel vision and would benefit from the broad range of influences and styles that Chase could draw upon.
Chase produced all of Curren$y's recent mixtape Cathedral, and if you listen, almost all of the mixtape's beats would be good for Wiz. "2 Us Its Nothing," for example, sounds straight off Kush & OJ. "Like Five Deuce Four Trey" would be closer to Wiz's more current sound. Listen below:
Kaytranada
Wiz Khalifa has certainly had his share of crossover success, but other than "Black and Yellow," all of Wiz's biggest crossover hits -- "See You Again," Marooon 5's "Payphone," "Young, Wild, & Free" -- have been tough on the ears.
Enter Kaytranada, producer wunderkind who, with his collaborations with Mick Jenkins, Vic Mensa, Towkio, Goldlink, & Freddie Gibbs, has bridged the gap between electronic music and hip hop so reliably that the cross-genre mashup seems more more science than art for him. Electronica provided the backdrop for Wiz's first hit ever, and he would be wise to revisit it with a guy like Kaytranada (or someone like Sango) for an opportunity to achieve a crossover smash without appealing to the lowest common denominator.
Ty Dolla $ign & D.R.U.G.S.
The Taylor Gang connection seems too easy to miss, but Wiz Khalifa is had little interaction with the Ty Dolla $ign-helmed production squad D.R.U.G.S. (which is loosely comprised of DJ Dahi, Fuego, Buddah, James Koo, Nate 3D and Chordz 3D) since Ty signed to Taylor Gang two years ago. Perhaps the closest thing we have is the Ty Dolla-produced "Post Up" off their joint EP Talk About It In The Morning.
An even juicier choice that probably won't happen than D.R.U.G.S. would be Cardo, who played a huge role in the development of Wiz Khalifa's sound and parted ways with Taylor Gang in 2013. He produced Kush & OJ's "Mezmorized," one of the best smoking songs of the last 10 years, and brought the cowbell back for "O.N.I.F.C." on Wiz's 2011 mixtape Taylor Allderdice. He's always been a consistent producer but has seemingly taken his craft to a new level with recent standouts such as Black Hippy cut "Vice City" on Jay Rock's new album and The Game's "100" feat. Drake.
Larry Fisherman
Though Wiz Khalifa helped Mac Miller find early success (they attended the same high school in Pittsburgh), they have linked up on the same track but on a couple occasions. At this point, Mac Miller's production alter ego Larry Fisherman is a creative force nearly as powerful as Mac the rapper. And while Mac is still deeply loyal to his Pittsburgh roots, Wiz has seemed to stray from Pittsburgh a bit since his "Black and Yellow" days. These two really are overdue for a serious collab. There are many reasons for a Wiz-Mac collab -- for their city, for their moms (who are best friends), but most of all, for the fans.