New Music Review: Wiz Khalifa - "Remember You (Feat. The Weeknd)"

Wiz Khalifa "Remember You (Feat. The Weeknd)" - 2/5 Stars

Wiz Khalifa is making a career of stereotypes in the rap industry. His content isn't exactly unique, sex, drugs, etc., it's the same thing that the majority of the hip-hop/ rap industry has been pushing for years. That said, he pushes it well enough to stay relevant to the mainstream. This was evident enough when he released "Black and Yellow" and it became a theme for a lot of Steelers fans around the Super Bowl, so much so that Lil Wayne decided to take it on with a freestyle over the B&Y instrumental, called "Green and Yellow" in favor of the Packers. Content aside, it seems to have  cemented him in a place of interest for the industry, something that will benefit him with his second release coming within only a year of the first.

With this week's release of his new single "Remember You", which features The Weeknd (yes, that's the right spelling), he sadly goes back to the same pattern lyrically. The song is another sex and drug filled track with Wiz bragging about himself constantly in a setting that could have potentially given him an opportunity to explore something new lyrically. The Weeknd's verses on the chorus aren't the world's next great love song as they slip into rap stereotypes occasionally, but they still feel far more romantic in nature than Wiz's, and as far as I'm concerned the song is his since it fits his style better. You can tell he's singing to a woman, whereas Wiz is just interested in himself. I'm struck with the same feeling I had with Maroon 5's "Payphone", everyone else knows what the song is about except for Wiz. He's off in his own world for the most part, probably because of the "papers" he's so fond of reminding us every few seconds that he's using. The song takes almost 3 and 1/2 minutes out of a nearly 5 minute track, before Wiz even seems to mention anything relevant to the chorus, but it doesn't take long to figure out he's actually just talking about himself again. 

I don't dislike the song so much as I dislike the lack of connection coming from Khalifa. I rather like his sound against The Weekend, I just wish he would expand more on his repertoire, since he clearly has the talent to do more but he won't as long as he keeps using drugs as a physical and lyrical crutch. Until then, as enjoyable as the underlying track and idea may be, this repeated pattern of narcissism and weed smoke is holding him back from releasing his full potential, and leaves me giving the new release only 2 of 5 stars.