“We are so back" - Netizens react as Wiz Khalifa freestyles over Kendrick Lamar's "Squabble Up"

Pittsburgh native Wiz Khalifa has been a fan favorite since bursting onto the scene in the early 2000s. His smooth vocal delivery and airy flow contributed to his overall style, one that would soon become unmistakably his. When Black and Yellow dropped the world took notice and Young, Wild & Free propelled him to the zeitgeist. In recent years, his musical output has waned as he begins to explore other endeavors, until recently when he dropped another absolute banger.

The freestyle performed over Kendrick Lamar’s 2024 mega-hit, Squabble Up showed a true return to form for Khalifa, who crushes this one from beginning to end. Social media users took notice and were quick to opine about his latest work.

"We are so back"

Netizens go off

As more people consumed his newest release, the comments continued to flood in.

"Ahhh yes I miss when rappers rapped over other rappers beats!" Said one user.

"immediately took me back to the grand am days" commented another user.

is blog era back?? opined another.

"Kendrick Lamar has me head bobbing to Wiz. LMAO what the hell did this man do?!" said another user.

It's clear the response to his work was overwhelmingly positive, and a nod to his older drops, inciting a heightened level of excitement in terms of what's next for the multi-talented star.

Wiz - Back in his mixtape bag?

Loyal fans and hip-hop aficionados recognize a large part of Wiz’s early success came from the underground scene. To provide a little context, in that period it was common for rappers to release mixtapes to a select group of exclusive blogs who would then push the music to fans. This ‘blog era’ was responsible for transforming countless unknown acts into household names, and Wiz was no different. Kush & Orange Juice and Flight School are perhaps the best examples of this.

The musical content was also markedly different. Instead of crafting an album with a singular vision and recruiting producers and collaborators to round out a given project, rappers would instead write and flow over beats that had already been released by other artists. While artists could not directly profit from these mixtapes, they had their advantages. Not only were they far easier to craft, but they also had a distinctly unique appeal to fans. They could finally see what their favorite rapper would sound like if they had featured on someone else’s tune. For artists, it was also a direct way to throw shots and start beefs with their contemporaries.

One thing is for certain, Wiz Khalifa has built up a tremendous amount of goodwill and love amongst industry insiders and fans who are curious about his next steps in the rap game. While it's unclear exactly what that entails, drops like this remind us that he's far from finished and there's much to anticipate on the horizon.

Rolling loud

Towards the end of 2024, Wiz notably headlined the second iteration of the Rolling Loud festival in Thailand. Deemed one of the biggest hip-hop festivals in the world, this was exceedingly significant because it was also only the second time it had been held in Asia, a now burgeoning market for rap.

His set was made up of a combination of feel-good tunes and party anthems, a little mix of everything that has gotten him to where he is today. Although the performance was interrupted by a member of the audience who threw money at him during his set, the situation was quickly de-escalated and the rapper was able to continue. His set was lauded as the standout performance of the event, which demonstrated his love for his craft and his fans.