Wiz Khalifa is a Pittsburgh-based rapper who released two hit-making hip-hop albums in 2006 and 2009. His influences primarily come from artists such as Jay Z and Notorious B.I.G.

He released his first two recordings on a mixtape entitled “Prince of the City: Welcome To Pistolvania” back in 2005. It was well-received by thousands of listeners and led to the rapper’s first album called “Show and Prove” a year later. Khalifa was mentioned in “Rolling Stone” magazine as an artist to watch in 2006.

The first recordings he released were on a mixtape entitled “Prince of the City: Welcome To Pistolvania” back in 2005. It was well-received by thousands of listeners and led to the rapper’s first album called “Show and Prove” a year later. Khalifa was mentioned in “Rolling Stone” magazine as an artist to watch in 2006.

The next year in 2007, he signed on to Warner Brothers Records and released a few more mixtapes through the Rostrum label. “Say Yeah,” his first single, charted to #25 on the Billboard “Rhythmic Top 40” and #20 on the Billboard’s “Hot Rap Tracks.” “Say Yeah” samples a song from artist Alice Deejay. Vocals from Khalifa’s song appear towards the end of the producer of Girl Talk’s album “Feed the Animals,” and over “Born Slippy” by the artist Underworld as well as on a few other artists‘ songs.

He appeared with other rappers including David Banner and The Game at a Summer Jam in the USANA Amphitheatre in West Valley City, Utah in 2008 and released some more mixtapes in 2008 and 2009 called “Star Power” and “Flight School” on Rostrum.

Wiz left Warner Brothers Records in the summer of 2009 after several delays for his next album on the label “First Flight.” He publicly addressed his departure from Warner Brothers in late July at a show in the Amphitheatre at Station Square.

He stayed on board with Rostrum and released his next single called “Teach U To Fly” on a mixtape called “How Fly” in which he collaborates with New Orleans-based rapper Curren$y in August, introducing a melodic style in which Khalifa alternates between rapping and singing. He was the opening act for U-God, a Wu-Tang Clan band member, at the 2009 CMJ Music Marathon in New York City. Wiz released yet another mixtape called “Burn After Rolling” in November where he raps over beats of other songs including “If I Were A Boy” and “Diva” by R&B superstar Beyonce Knowles.

His second album was released on November 24th called “Deal or No Deal” where Khalifa focuses more on the Internet to market his album posting videos on Youtube and streaming live web casts on Ustream. He currently has over 40,000 followers on his Twitter page and has released mixtapes of over 50 songs all throughout the past year. This album reached #2 on the iTunes Store several days after its release which surpassed Jay-Z and even 50 Cent. It also made it into the top ten albums overall on iTunes the same week it was released and briefly made it to #1 on the iTunes hip-hop charts.