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Bunny XO
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Wiz Khalifa
Hey, what's up?
Bunny XO
How you doing? I'm chilling. Dude, I'm so happy you're here.
Wiz Khalifa
Happy to be here. Thanks for having me.
Bunny XO
You are just, like, the smoothest cat. Always and forever. Every time I see you, you have a smile on your face. You're just a chill vibe. You remind me so much of my dad because I used to always say my dad was, like, the coolest cat. And then I found out that you were born September 8th. Yeah, my dad was September 4th.
Wiz Khalifa
Oh, yeah. That makes perfect sense.
Bunny XO
Yeah. So you gu. Have just that, like, super chill, super cool vibe.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah. Thank you.
Bunny XO
Yeah. Of course. If I could compare you to anybody, I'm sure you get this a lot. It's. I swear, you and Snoop Dogg are like the same human, just different font.
Wiz Khalifa
Exactly.
Bunny XO
Literally. Was he an inspiration for you growing up?
Wiz Khalifa
Huge inspiration for me growing up, especially in my teen years, like, just being, like, a taller and skinny dude, it was like, you know, I've had to find my swag, and then just looking at Snoop, that was like, the tallest, coolest, skinniest dude ever. So it's like, you know what I mean? I definitely model myself. Just my whole, you know, approach after, you know, Snoop's rules.
Bunny XO
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. I miss Pimp Snoop.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
Can we bring him back?
Wiz Khalifa
There's a lot of people who don't even know he was a pimp.
Bunny XO
Oh, I do. I listen. I grew up in that lifestyle in Vegas, so I loved Pimp Snoop. I'm like, bring him back. Remember when he used to hang out with Bishop Don Juan all the time and, like, that whole era that he went through?
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. He raised us. He raised us right.
Bunny XO
He did raise us right. If so, you know how him and Martha Stewart have that TV show. If they were to replace Snoop with you, who would you bring on as your Martha?
Wiz Khalifa
Who would be my Martha? Yeah, I think, like, Chelsea Handler.
Bunny XO
Oh, yeah, yeah. She's hilarious.
Wiz Khalifa
She's funny as hell. Yeah.
Bunny XO
We love Chelsea in this house. She actually gave. Is one of the first people who gave us, like, our first break as far as, like, reality tv.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
She believed in our family and, like, shocked. I know. She's a fucking. She's.
Wiz Khalifa
I didn't even know that she just said G to me as well.
Bunny XO
She is.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah. So that would be like my Martha for sure.
Bunny XO
Yeah. Dude, I think we need to. We need to do that.
Wiz Khalifa
We could.
Bunny XO
We need to get Wiz and Chelsea Handler in a fucking TV show together. That would be so fire.
Wiz Khalifa
That would be awesome.
Bunny XO
I know that you're stoned all the time and you're not smoking today on my podcast. Do you feel out of your element a little bit?
Wiz Khalifa
No, I'm good. I got high before I came in.
Bunny XO
All right, good.
Wiz Khalifa
It's all good. I'm not tripping.
Bunny XO
What are some of your favorite stoner foods?
Wiz Khalifa
Favorite stoner foods? I would have to go with Funyuns as far as chips.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
I like to eat a lot of fruit.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
I like to eat like pineapple and grapes and straw. I just like get a big ass bowl of fruit. Just mix it all together.
Bunny XO
I love it. Reminds me of that. Tick tock. I like a lot of fresh fruit.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
From the Step brothers. Is that from Step Brothers? I like a lot of fresh fruit.
Wiz Khalifa
Cereal any time of the day. That's.
Bunny XO
What's your favorite cereal?
Wiz Khalifa
Apple Jacks.
Bunny XO
Really? That's different. I knew I normally hear like Lucky Charms or Captain Crunch.
Wiz Khalifa
Okay. For real. I usually hear Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
Bunny XO
I do love a good Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Or Honey Grahams.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, Honey Grahams is good.
Bunny XO
Don't fuck around, Honey Nut.
Wiz Khalifa
Cheerios.
Bunny XO
Delish.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, don't sleep. Sleep on them either.
Bunny XO
Dude, I love me some Apple Jacks.
Wiz Khalifa
Are good because they're like flavored and they're sweet and the consistency, they don't get all soggy.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
Very fast. I like Apple Jacks.
Bunny XO
Have you ever thought about doing like, reality tv? I think you are literally made for it.
Wiz Khalifa
I did. Thank you so much. I used to watch so much reality TV when I was a kid. Like Real World and like all of that stuff.
Bunny XO
I miss the OG Real World.
Wiz Khalifa
Yo, Me too. And I used to, like, that was my thing. I wanted to be like a personality.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
And. Yeah. So as I got older, I started to make my own Little series on YouTube. They're called Day to Day's, but they're like, you know, they're not TV ready because there's a lot of weed on there.
Bunny XO
Right.
Wiz Khalifa
But yeah, if I ever got the opportunity to do something like that where I could show like my family or my life or just my personality, I would love that. I think that would be hella fun.
Bunny XO
I think you have enough star power now to make that happen.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah. I'm A super fun dude too. Like, I try anything, like it don't matter what it is.
Bunny XO
I think people would just want to see you, like, raise your kids. Like, I probably like the dynamic between.
Wiz Khalifa
You and your love kids even. Even if I got to do like stuff with other people's kids as well too. Like, you know what I'm saying?
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
I want to do like a wiz summer camp type thing.
Bunny XO
Oh, that would be so sweet.
Wiz Khalifa
Like play games and we boxing and we working out and we having fun and we being creative. Yeah, I'll be tight.
Bunny XO
I love that. If anybody's listening that can make that happen. You guys need to reach out to his team and make that happen.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah. Wizard was a summer camp.
Bunny XO
Have you ever seen that TV show Drunk History?
Wiz Khalifa
I have.
Bunny XO
Okay, so say Netflix came to you and they gave you a show called High History. What would your first historical moment be that you would relive? That you'd get stoned and just relive.
Wiz Khalifa
I would want to get stoned and relive. That's all good. I mean, history is like, pretty dark.
Bunny XO
Yeah, it is.
Wiz Khalifa
You think about it.
Bunny XO
It is actually.
Wiz Khalifa
So I don't wanna. I don't wanna go through that.
Bunny XO
He's like, no dark.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, no dark. I probably want to get stoned and go to like a Muhammad Ali fight.
Bunny XO
That'd be dope. That would be iconic.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, yeah.
Bunny XO
Dude, that would be so cool.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Bunny XO
What a moment in time, huh?
Wiz Khalifa
For sure.
Bunny XO
I wish boxing was like, it was back in the day, like Mike Tyson, Sugar Ray Leonard. I was a he, my. A huge boxing fan growing up. So, like, I got to watch all that growing up and I just feel like boxing's cool now, but it's not like it was back in the day.
Wiz Khalifa
Absolutely. Yeah. The sport of it has changed and just like how people enjoy it has changed. But back in the day, yeah, it was awesome. It was exciting. Yeah, you had like, really, really good fighters and multiple really good fighters too.
Bunny XO
Like so many.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, a lot of them.
Bunny XO
Mike Tyson used to hang out in the strip club that I worked at all the time. He was the coolest dude. He used to give me money because I never bothered him. Yeah, he'd be like. I'd walk by and he would just hand me like, like a thousand dollars and just like, thank you for leaving me alone.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, he just respected that.
Bunny XO
Yeah. No, he was just so. Cuz everybody was always on him and always wanted his attention and he noticed that I never, like, just, you know, he was already getting bombarded but he was just the sweetest dude.
Wiz Khalifa
That's nice.
Bunny XO
That's why it's crazy that I love Mike now, too.
Wiz Khalifa
He's so cool.
Bunny XO
Like, he's amazing.
Wiz Khalifa
He's just super chill. He'd be smoking weed, and he just. In his own world, he's a good dude, man.
Bunny XO
Anybody that can raise pigeons the way he does and love them, right? Because honestly, like, pigeons are, like, a forgotful. Like, a forgotten, like, bird. Because they used to do so much. Like, they used to fudgeing, send messages during the war, and, like, you know, like, they were very useful. And now they're, like, known as, like.
Wiz Khalifa
You know, dirty birds.
Bunny XO
Dirty birds. And, you know, there's Mike over there, just raising pictures on that dirty bird. Loving the shit out of a dirty bird. So I learned some cool facts about you in your childhood that I actually had never known about you. Can we go on this journey?
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, let's do it.
Bunny XO
So you were a military kid?
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
Yeah, take me on that journey. Because it says that you were, like. You lived in Germany, Japan, and the UK growing up.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, I was born in North Dakota, so my parents were cold as hell when they had me.
Bunny XO
Right. Yeah. North Dakota is, like. It's crazy out there how cold it is.
Wiz Khalifa
Brutal.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
I went back for a few shows and shit, and I don't know, we might have been there in, like, June, but it still felt like it was, like, December. Yo, it never gets warm there.
Bunny XO
Yeah. No, that's crazy. We've been there on a few shows, too, and I'm like, what the is there to do out here?
Wiz Khalifa
Nothing.
Bunny XO
Besides have kids, have babies, literally. Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
And be in the military, I guess.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
But so my parents, they. My mom is from Pittsburgh, and my dad is from New York, so they met in basic training, which was away from both of those places. So when they had me and my older sibling. My older sibling was born on Guam, and I was born in North Dakota, which is, like, two totally different things. And then for the earlier part of my life, yeah, I moved around a lot. I did live in. In Europe for a while. I lived in Japan for a while, lived in a lot of Southern states. And my mom being from Pittsburgh, that's how I ended up going back there. And that's where a lot of my roots are at my real family. And that's why I spent the majority of my time, like, going to school and stuff like that. But it was really cool, like, experience and living all over in different countries, in different states and things like that.
Bunny XO
Absolutely. Like, how that had to have, like, shaped a little bit of. Well, actually, a lot of, like, how you look at life.
Wiz Khalifa
Absolutely. It definitely exposed me to a lot of different cultures and a lot of different ways of life.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
And I got to experience it young on a personal level, because I was meeting a lot of kids and just, you know, mingling with them. And now, as an adult and really being able to go back and dive into these cultures and experience them as, you know, a grown man, it just. It really, like, broadened my mind and just opened me up to a lot of different things that if I didn't have that, I wouldn't have been, you know, where I'm at.
Bunny XO
I thought that was such a cool fact about you. Cause I didn't know that. And I was like, that's actually really cool that you're, like, so cultured.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, it's super cool. And, like, all the bass kids around the world, they feel, like, a connection with me. Cause, like, they're like, oh, wiz is one of us.
Bunny XO
Yeah. Because moving around a lot as a child has to be hard, you know, like, because you kind of don't have a sense of feeling, like, belonging anywhere permanently.
Wiz Khalifa
It's Is that. And then there's, like, a lot of anxiety, like, from always being the new kid. Because when you're. When you're younger, the concept of making friends, you want to just have friends forever.
Bunny XO
Right.
Wiz Khalifa
But you have to, like, make friends and then leave them. So that be. The hard part is like, oh, I've known you for, like, two, three years, and now I'm never going to see you for the rest of my life.
Bunny XO
Oh. Are there any friends that you have kept in contact with that you met?
Wiz Khalifa
I do. I do. I have a couple friends. My boy Tyrese from. From Oklahoma. My partner Zach, he came to see me a couple times. My partner Wesley, he live in North Carolina. I haven't seen him in years, but I still remember that fool.
Bunny XO
Yeah, there's a lot of.
Wiz Khalifa
There's, like, girls that I used to date back in the day who be popping up, and.
Bunny XO
Oh, I'm sure they do. They're like, hey, Wes.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, exactly. I'm like, yeah, you ain't getting them days is over.
Bunny XO
No, I get that. I think it's a testament of who somebody is, though, to be able to maintain relationships from childhood. Because I have friends from second grade still, you know, so it's like, it just shows that you care and that you are able to keep those relationships going.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, absolutely. Even, like, my friends from Pittsburgh. A lot of them are from middle school and high school, but we just got together for Will's bachelor party, and we still kick it just on the same level. Just talking shit, having a great time. And I really value, like you said, those relationships, it means a lot to me.
Bunny XO
Is it because people, they know you from before all of this, you know, they keep you grounded.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah. When you do it the right way, they seen you on your way up, they know that it didn't just happen overnight. Like, some people, they might look at you and it's like a magic trick. Like you said, they know you. Like, we were in class together, we rode the bus together, we went to school dances together. You know, those relationships are really valuable.
Bunny XO
I love that. Yeah. Every time I go back to Vegas, my girls make sure to humble me every time I'm there, like, bitch, you are. We knew you before you were Bunny. You know, like, calm down.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, you need that sometimes.
Bunny XO
So I read also that your parents divorced at 3. Where did dad go? And were you raised majorly of the majority of time by your mom?
Wiz Khalifa
It was a even split.
Bunny XO
Okay.
Wiz Khalifa
So my dad remarried, and he's still married to my stepmom to this day, so we're still a family. And then my mother, she went back to Pittsburgh. So my dad and stepmom were still in the military, and my mother was in Pittsburgh. So I would live with my mom for two years, and then I would go live with my dad and stepmom for two years.
Bunny XO
Wow. That's a different agreement. Normally it's like every other weekend.
Wiz Khalifa
No, they hated each other.
Bunny XO
Oh, okay. Gotcha.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, they didn't get along at all. And it was the 90s, and there was really no concept of, like, how to, like, navigate through that. They didn't have as much talk about that back then as they do now.
Bunny XO
Right.
Wiz Khalifa
So they handled it the best way that they seen fit, and that was that.
Bunny XO
Do you think that that plays into your role with how you co parent with your baby mamas now? Because now you have two, Right. You've got Bash, and then you've got the. The little girl.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, my girl cadence.
Bunny XO
Yeah. So do you think that seeing how your parents didn't get along back then was kind of like you were like, I'm not gonna be like that. And that was a driving force.
Wiz Khalifa
Absolutely.
Bunny XO
Making sure you had good relationships with the mother of your children?
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, I think it, like, subconsciously played a role, because to me, that was normal when I was a kid, like, spending two years with one parent and two years with another. But having kids, I could never be away from my son for no two years. Like, that's insane. So if I gotta get along with his mom, if I gotta freaking kiss her feet, I'm doing whatever I gotta do to make sure that we're all on the same page. So that's not the agreement. And like I said, my parents did the best that they could, and I don't fault them for that at all. But I do know the difference between seeing your parents function and not seeing them function. And I would much rather, you know, my kids see me and their parents function.
Bunny XO
Yeah, absolutely. I'm an 80s baby myself. And I just feel like parents of that era, they were not ready to cope with their trauma. They didn't. They were set in their ways. You were not going to tell them how they are going to raise their kids. And like, they were just, like. It was just. I don't know. I feel like we're such a generation of kids that are healing what our parents wouldn't.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, absolutely. I think even just as a. Yeah, I totally agree with that. And I think as adults, our parents went through a lot of. As well. They had trauma, you know, before, but they were going through a lot as adults. And I think we're blessed because late 20s, early 30s, late 30s looks way different now than it did back in the day.
Bunny XO
Dude. Yeah. I'm 45 and I look at pictures of women that were 45 back in the day and they look like the freaking golden girls.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, exactly. Nobody would even know you were 45 if you didn't say it. So it's like. And even saying 45 isn't an older age, it just looks different now, right?
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
And we're in a. And we're in an era where we're taking full advantage of that and where we. We understand what kind of gifts we have based off of what we went through and what we were raised with.
Bunny XO
Yes, absolutely.
Wiz Khalifa
And, yeah, I mean, if people are lucky enough to still have their parents around, a lot of the times your parents learn more as they get older too.
Bunny XO
If you become way cooler, super cool. Like, why couldn't you have been like this, what, 30 years ago?
Wiz Khalifa
Exactly. There'd be stuff like my son does. I'm like, so you're not gonna whoop his ass and kick him down the steps and run him over with the car? Because that's what you did to me.
Bunny XO
That is hilarious. No, I totally get that. So I also read that you started writing lyrics and recording music at age 9 or 10, like, were you just musical from the gate? Like, have you always had that sense of, like, just rhythm and soul?
Wiz Khalifa
I think, yeah. Also actually, like, my parents played a lot of music in the house, just, like, getting ready or cleaning up or driving. So it was always around me, and it was something that made me feel good. But I got some of my best memories from music or where I was at or what I was doing. So that kind of translated into my love for music. And then my cousins, they were rapping and doing shit just because they were older than me. So that's when I figured out that I could actually make it. And I was like, oh, okay, this isn't that difficult. It's like when you get an instrument and you start playing, it was the same thing for me. I was just kind of fucking around, like, writing raps here and there. And then people just start telling me how good I was. So I just practiced and kept going and going and going. And my mind is like. I got a really big imagination. So I would see stuff that people didn't necessarily see as, like, doable. I would see it as like, oh, okay, we could make an album. We could, you know, make merch. We could put on a show. We could. You know what I mean? So I just started, like, developing into this over time. But it was all based off of enjoying music and loving how it made me feel. Like, I remember watching music videos and just being blown away or, like, saving up all my money to go buy, you know, bone Thugs and harmony tape or something. You know what I mean? It was so valuable to me. It wasn't like, just music. So, like, that's what started me creating and doing what I'm doing.
Bunny XO
Music was the soundtrack to your life.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
I feel like our parents, actually, that was one of the really cool things that they did for us is I grew up in a very musical household, too, and, like, you know, I had so many influences. What were some of your influences growing up that inspired you to rap but also just even that weren't in the rap genre?
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, my dad listened to everything. He listened to Journey. He listened to Bob Marley. He would listen to Whitney Houston.
Bunny XO
Love Whitney. Yep.
Wiz Khalifa
My dad had, like, a huge record collection, so we would just sit down and listen to funk records, everything. And my mom was more like the hip hop like she was. She's current.
Bunny XO
Mom's the G. Oh, yeah, my mom's.
Wiz Khalifa
The G. She listening too short.
Bunny XO
Oh, I love it. I love it. Okay, so mom's with the. Yeah, all Right. Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
My mom smoked weed and everything.
Bunny XO
I love mom.
Wiz Khalifa
That's who I got smoking weed from, for sure. Oh, yeah. My mom is a G. And so, yeah, it was like the combination like we. I had. I had everything. And then we grew up in a really good era of music too, where it was diverse. It was really good R B along with really good rap music.
Bunny XO
Bring it back. 90s R B. Can we bring that back, please? That is like a moment in time that unless you lived it, you do not know what the you missed.
Wiz Khalifa
Not for real.
Bunny XO
Like it 90s I love. I play 90s R B for my cows. Yeah, he loves Keith Sweat.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah. Who doesn't love Keith Sweat? That makes you feel good in here. Like it's not just. Not just hearing it, but. Yes. So all that influence, but especially like from. From rap music, Bone Thugs and Harmony was a huge influence to me.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
Growing up in Pittsburgh, we're in the Midwest, so we were close to Ohio. But just that sound and like it just resonated with me. And then the look, they had the braids and the sunglasses and like, they were just hard to me. Like, I love bone.
Bunny XO
I was a Bone girl too.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, for sure.
Bunny XO
When I first got with Jay, he's a three six mafia dude.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
So we literally had Bone Thug and three six mafia wars in the house. Of course he won because he's daddy, so.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.
Bunny XO
But no, I'm a Bone Thugs girl through and through.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
They're actually coming up on the podcast. I'm really excited.
Wiz Khalifa
Oh, yeah.
Bunny XO
I'm gonna be like, that's probably gonna be a fan girl moment for me.
Wiz Khalifa
You got to. Yo. It's bomb.
Bunny XO
Yeah, for sure. So where do you think that, like your smoothness came from? Do you think it came from your mom?
Wiz Khalifa
My smoothness come from my dad.
Bunny XO
Really? Show do tell.
Wiz Khalifa
He's just a smooth dude, yo. Like, he's real mild tempered, mild mannered.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
Just everybody loves him. Everybody's best friend. He don't raise his voice. He's, you know, he's just a cool dude. He's a really, really cool dude. And he just been a cool dude. Like, he taught me how to be cool. For sure.
Bunny XO
I love. Is dad still around?
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah. Yeah.
Bunny XO
Good. I love that.
Wiz Khalifa
Yep. I spend a lot of time with my dad, especially like having my daughter. My dad comes out to the house a lot and just kicks it. And he doesn't really do too much. Like he used to party and turn up and do all that shit, but now he'd be like in my backyard taking pictures of birds and stuff.
Bunny XO
Isn't it crazy how life just like calms you the down?
Wiz Khalifa
And I'm like, he's happy. You know, I don't try to really take him out of his element. I used to. I used to be like, daddy, come on man, let's like go get some jet skis or something. But he's like, nah, I just want to, you know, connect. I feel you.
Bunny XO
I feel that too. I sit outside with my cows all the freaking time. Shopify helps you sell at every stage of your business. Like that. Let's put it online and see what happens.
Wiz Khalifa
Stage and the site is live that.
Bunny XO
We opened a store and need a fast checkout. Stage thanks. You're all set. That count it up and ship it.
Wiz Khalifa
Around the globe Stage this one's going to Thailand.
Bunny XO
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Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, well, the grandfather is his dad, so it was both of them.
Bunny XO
Okay, gotcha.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, so I was kind of. It's my mom's little brother, but it's my mom's father as well. So while my mom would be out doing whatever she needed to do, whether it was work or just, you know, partying, whatever she was doing, I would hang out with my uncles and be at my granddad's house. And my granddad is like. Well, he was. He passed away, but he's straight Muslim. Like, pray five times a day, be in the mosque, you know, seven days a week, you know, helping the brothers out at jail. Like, everybody knew my granddad because of what he did for the community. So, yeah, that was like, a real powerful moment for me, just being a kid and wanting a name that was like, wasn't my name, but I would carry as my name.
Bunny XO
Yeah, absolutely.
Wiz Khalifa
And, yeah, it came together. It was. It was wisdom Khalifa at first, but my dad, being cool as hell, he took the dumb off and was just calling me whiz.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
He was like, I don't like the wisdom. I don't like that. He was like, just whiz.
Bunny XO
That's so cool, though. And I love that you had a grandfather that introduced spirituality into your life.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
Do you hold any lessons from him that he taught you?
Wiz Khalifa
The majority of it is just, like, the strength and, like, family and in yourself, your daily routine. My granddad was a wild dude as well, back in the day, before he, you know, took on his religion.
Bunny XO
Wow.
Wiz Khalifa
And he had been to jail a lot of times. He had been on drugs, and he completely changed his life around and, you know, helped kids and helped, you know, other people in the same situation that he was in get out of those situations or at least navigate through them. And that's what I learned from my granddad is just to really be a leader. And he was real stern, too. Like, he wasn't. He wasn't no punk.
Bunny XO
He's gangster, too.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, he was super gangster. He was really upfront. Everybody respected him, too. So, you know, just having that as like a backbone, you know, that. That was. That's good. Yeah, that's great for a young man. Yeah.
Bunny XO
That's so cool to be able to, you Know look back on that with just fond eyes. So take me on this come up. Okay, you dropped your first mixtape at 16. Prince of the City, welcome to Pistolvania. Take me on that entire journey of when you dropped that first mixtape, going all the way to getting signed with Warner in 2009.
Wiz Khalifa
Okay, so I dropped my first mixtape. I think I was like, 16 years old in high school. So I'm selling the mixtape in school, like, physically pressing them up and selling it. And I had a.
Bunny XO
Kids these days will never understand.
Wiz Khalifa
Never. They don't even know. They don't know about burning those CDs. They won't have to burn a CD.
Bunny XO
For what they go on.
Wiz Khalifa
TikTok, there's no CDs to burn anyway.
Bunny XO
I know, I know. They took albums away from us. Now they're taking CDs away from us.
Wiz Khalifa
It's crazy. It's just all in the air.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
So I'm selling my cd, I'm going to different stores, and I was really a real hustler to the point where I would show up and drop off 10, 20, 50 CDs and go collect the money as well the next week. And people see me around the city, and they really respected what I was doing and the people who I was working with at the time as well. And it just kept building up, building up, building up till I was about 19. And then I got a record deal with Warner Brothers, but it was for a single, it wasn't for an album. And the single did pretty well. It was called say yeah. And while I was on Warner, I learned how to do radio and do drops and meet DJs and go to, you know, car shows and just really promote myself. So I. So from early stages, I got the street hustle, and then I learned the business hustle and the creative side of it as well. I'm always working on that. I lost my record deal at Warner Brothers. They didn't want to do my album because they just couldn't see the vision.
Bunny XO
Did you lose it or did you walk away? Because I think I had read that you had walked away from it.
Wiz Khalifa
They had the option to do the album, and they didn't take the option.
Bunny XO
Gotcha.
Wiz Khalifa
Okay. So we had the option to leave or stay, and there was no reason to stay because they weren't gonna work on my project.
Bunny XO
Right.
Wiz Khalifa
So we did leave, but they didn't want anything to do with me. They had already just chalked it up. This money that they spent. They were like, it's cool. It's whatever. You can go back to Pittsburgh. So I did go back to Pittsburgh, and that's when the Internet started to change. Like YouTube, Twitter, those were the main vehicles for me. Like.
Bunny XO
Right.
Wiz Khalifa
YouTube was brand new because I graduated in 06, and YouTube was, like, kind of still, you know, like, turning around, but Twitter was brand new. And I was like, okay, cool. I could do something off of Twitter.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
And so I started just being on social media and just being consistent and making YouTube videos and making mixtapes that were directed towards, you know, the audience that I had and that I was building, that I knew that I had. And that just took me to a point where I was bigger and better on my own than any, you know, label or anything could market for me.
Bunny XO
Absolutely.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah. So that's when I started to, like, really travel and tour, and then I got my deal with Atlantic through. Through that time.
Bunny XO
So you left Warner in 2009, but then you blew up in 2010. Correct. With black and Yellow off of Twitter.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
Right.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
That's crazy.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
Not many people can say they blew up off of Twitter.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Bunny XO
Because that's a scary. First of all. It's scary as hell. I get scared going over there. Twitter's crazy.
Wiz Khalifa
It was different back in the day.
Bunny XO
Right, right.
Wiz Khalifa
It wasn't how it is now.
Bunny XO
Yeah, for sure. But it's. It's so cool that that is part of your story, that, you know, you used a platform that not some people. Most people get, like, famous off of, like YouTube from back in the day or something like that. But you got to utilize Twitter the way that you did.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, for sure. Twitter was like a. Like a subculture back then, so you had the mainstream, but people were low key, more tapped into Twitter than anything else. Like, they felt like that was more real life and it was cooler and we had that edge where I could just keep supplying, you know, those same fans. And it became more popular than the mainstream stuff, and I didn't really see that happening, but that was the goal because we just felt like we were so cool. Like, we was cooler than everybody. So I was like, you might as well watch us. And that's what really took us to the top, for sure.
Bunny XO
What did that feel like, though? Like, for. Because this was before you even had, like, a number one on the radio, and you're just literally going viral on Twitter. What were you feeling? What was Wiz in that moment feeling?
Wiz Khalifa
I was super confident, really cocky, very aware of myself.
Bunny XO
We love a king who can own it.
Wiz Khalifa
Oh, yeah. Oh, I was owning it. Yeah, man. Like, I knew what I was dealing with. And like you said, I had. I had trended on Twitter a couple times. Whether it was just me coming up with a topic and having everybody on Twitter talking about it or whatever it was. I knew that I could control the Internet the way that I did. And when I dropped certain tapes like Cushion Orange Juice, that shut sites completely down.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
You couldn't even go on the site. I'm like, oh, yeah. I'm that dude.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
Like, clearly, y' all let me know.
Bunny XO
How can you not? Yeah, how can you not?
Wiz Khalifa
Y' all let me know.
Bunny XO
Yeah, for sure. Do you ever get tired of singing Black and Yellow, Jay and I literally said this at Stagecoach. Cause he was like, yeah, Wiz is coming out to sing Black and Yellow. And we both started laughing. We're like, poor Wiz. He's probably so tired of singing this song.
Wiz Khalifa
Nope. I never get tired of it.
Bunny XO
Oh, really?
Wiz Khalifa
I love that song.
Bunny XO
That is so cool. I mean, it's a vibe.
Wiz Khalifa
It's a vibe. It represents a great time in life.
Bunny XO
It's a happy song.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
Anytime Black and Yellow comes on, if you're not smiling and dancing and having some sort of a. A moment with that song, you're just.
Wiz Khalifa
And I can perform that song all over the world. It doesn't matter what language they speak. You could say black and yellow.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
So I'm good with that.
Bunny XO
Yeah. I could see them in, like, China and Japan singing black.
Wiz Khalifa
That's what I'm saying.
Bunny XO
Right.
Wiz Khalifa
Getting it on. Getting it cracking out there.
Bunny XO
I loved it. And listen, they're like. They're crazy when it comes to. Like, they're fanatical.
Wiz Khalifa
Like, I was in Korea, and they were singing Young, Wild and Free in the airport just, like, right in front of me. Oh, this is awesome.
Bunny XO
That is amazing.
Wiz Khalifa
So sweet.
Bunny XO
That's a moment in time. You've evolved from black and yellow to, like, boss, entrepreneur, martial artist. What version of you are we just starting to see now?
Wiz Khalifa
You're just starting to see. I think the more mature me. Yeah, yeah. I've always been ahead of my time, just as far as my thought process, but now my actions and the way that I treat myself, it represents all of that, too. Yeah. So it's a lot of things that people don't see me doing, but the result of it is just how I am now or how I'm able to operate and move, which I'm really, really proud of and grateful for.
Bunny XO
I feel like with age, it slows us down, you know, like, how your dad's watching birds and stuff like that. It just. There's something. How old are you now? You're.
Wiz Khalifa
I'm 37. I'll be 38 this year.
Bunny XO
Yeah. So you're 37? 38. Do you feel like you're going to start slowing down a lot or do you still have that drive in you?
Wiz Khalifa
I feel like I've already slowed down a lot and I think I just changed things that are important to me or just certain things that used to turn me on, they really don't do it for me no more.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
And I like that feeling because I'm like, yeah, I'm growing out of stuff and I'm a different person. I'm not who I was. And I like that because some people get stuck and they're just that same person over and over, and then you just become like this novelty and it's like, I don't want to be, you know, a character. Like, I'm a real person. Like, I might have a very large smile and a great, you know, personality that attracts people, but that's not. My goal in life is to just give that and give that and give that.
Bunny XO
Right.
Wiz Khalifa
Like, you can love me for that. I'm cool with that. Like. Like, that's. That's straight. You see what everybody else sees, but is the things that are deeper are way more important to me now.
Bunny XO
Absolutely.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
I love that.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
So 2011, you dropped rolling papers and became pretty much like a household name. When you look back at the 2011 rolling paper self, what's something you love about him and what's something you've completely outgrown?
Wiz Khalifa
I love the hustle, the drive, the motivation, the self awareness, the self branding. And something that I outgrown is the lack of sleep.
Bunny XO
Right.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, I didn't.
Bunny XO
We need our sleep.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, I need my sleep. Yo, I'm going to bed. Yeah, but I didn't care about sleep back then. I sleep on the couch like 45 minutes and get right back up and get to it.
Bunny XO
I don't think I could do that anymore.
Wiz Khalifa
It hurts.
Bunny XO
I saw. Literally, that is exactly what it is. I saw some girl on TikTok was talking about she was coming out of work at like 6am and I used to do that coming out of the strip club. I could never. I would literally probably have a panic attack if I saw the sunrise.
Wiz Khalifa
Oh, yeah, it's painful.
Bunny XO
Yeah. I can't do that at all. Do you feel like artists are healers?
Wiz Khalifa
I don't feel like all artists are Healers. No, because some people are projecting their onto the world.
Bunny XO
Wow.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah. And some artists are so much artists that they're not even freaking human.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
And that's the thing about art. You know, some people like value that and live for their art more than actual life itself. But I think the people who focus on being great people are also, you know, great artists as well.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
And they're not. I don't think one is better. I think actually the chaos gets celebrated more than actually the peace.
Bunny XO
Well, that's because that's what the earth is operating on right now.
Wiz Khalifa
Right. But I think peace is the goal.
Bunny XO
Absolutely.
Wiz Khalifa
So regardless of what people are into, we should, we, we should try to reach that.
Bunny XO
We need to figure it out. We need to analyze ourselves as a whole right now and figure out how to get back to that.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, yeah. Because there's a lot of dark ass art.
Bunny XO
There is. There is. I consider you a healer though.
Wiz Khalifa
For sure. 100%.
Bunny XO
You're a good vibe and you're like a happy vibe, you know. What do you think that like your music does for people as far as healing?
Wiz Khalifa
I've, I've been blessed to be able and be. Have been told to just change people's lives and just make the best memories for them. Like some people have met their husband or wife at my concert or, or you know, I see people making out in the crowd and crying and a lot of people made life decisions based off of, you know, what they were doing at the time. And sometimes my, like you said, soundtrack to your life, the music got em through that and helped them understand or helped them pivot or helped them cope or whatever it was. And you know, I got a lot of weed smoking and riding and just party and feel good stuff. But. But I also have freaking See youe Again, which is like, you know, one of those songs that help people get through a lot of stuff.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
And it's.
Bunny XO
That's your save me pretty much.
Wiz Khalifa
Thank you.
Bunny XO
Like my husband saved me. Like that's that song that.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
People will play at a wedding, funeral, a freaking bar mitzvah, like everywhere, forever, graduations.
Wiz Khalifa
It's never gonna get old. Like. And as an artist, we're blessed to have those types of songs.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
Because we don't try. You don't think that it's gonna grow, go that far or do that. But then when it actually does on that scale, you're like, wow, okay, cool. This is what it's all about.
Bunny XO
Everything else, I think it does show that people are leaning towards looking for peace, too, in music. Because songs like that, like see you again, you know, that brings people peace.
Wiz Khalifa
Right.
Bunny XO
You know, for the whole time that that song's playing, it's making them feel a certain type of way.
Wiz Khalifa
I think that's the goal with music in general, too, is to. To make people feel something. And the more you learn about how in control you are, the more sensitive you are with that message, too.
Bunny XO
Yeah, absolutely. You strike me as a really deep person for sure. Do you? What do you think that your soul's assignment was for coming to Earth?
Wiz Khalifa
My soul's assignment for coming to earth is to literally make everybody else feel better. Because I feel so good.
Bunny XO
Right.
Wiz Khalifa
I'm so blessed to just wake up and smile. Like I have to make somebody else smile.
Bunny XO
Yeah. Are you always in a good mood or do you have some down days, too?
Wiz Khalifa
I never really have down days. I have moments that frustrate me. And that's what it's about, too, is like, not avoiding chaotic situations, but navigating through them.
Bunny XO
Right. Facing them head on.
Wiz Khalifa
Right.
Bunny XO
You gotta go through it to get to it.
Wiz Khalifa
You gotta go through it to get to it. So that's. That defines who you are as well. Like, you can't just go around the bullshit sometimes you gotta go through the bullshit that shows how tough you are.
Bunny XO
Absolutely.
Wiz Khalifa
And those are the times where I really just try to center myself and just try to think about what the real end goal is. And it's never to be pissed or never to be upset. So it's easy for me to let that go. Cause I know, like, in the end, I'm not even trying to be mad. So how do we get to where we all cool?
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
When you are in those moments that you're, like, flustered or upset, what is something that you do that maybe somebody listening to this podcast could be like, oh, you know what? Wiz does that? I'm gonna try it.
Wiz Khalifa
Breathe.
Bunny XO
Yeah. I'm telling you, take a deep breath. Have you ever done, like, meditation or, like, box breathing?
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah. Yeah. I do hot yoga, so that's like, a lot of. I do that three times a week.
Bunny XO
I love that. I could not picture your tall ass in a yoga pose.
Wiz Khalifa
Me, tall as hell for an hour and a half, sweating in the front of the room with everybody else.
Bunny XO
Are you limber as hell?
Wiz Khalifa
My hair up in a bun? Yeah.
Bunny XO
I love that. Dude, we need a freaking reality show, please. We. This is fucking gold. It's like, content gold.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
You in a fucking hot yoga class would be phenomenal to Just watch. I would tune it.
Wiz Khalifa
I know a lot of ladies who love watching it too.
Bunny XO
Yeah, I love it. I love it. So let's talk about the 15 year anniversary cushion OG2 that you just dropped. I mean, it was so good the first time. You were like, let's fucking circle back.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah. Yeah. It was a classic, like a defining moment in my career. Definitely got my identity off of the first cushion Orange Juice. And a lot of people just had great memories of just smoking out, chilling with the homies, having a great summer, hooking up, whatever it is, getting fresh, traveling. That's what the first cushion Orange juice was really about. And I wanted to return that feeling for people who were there and then people who need that now. And I worked on the album for a whole year and it was just like, coincidental that it looped all the way around to the exact same time that I dropped the first one and we were ready to drop the second one. And yeah, the reception's been really good. All the fans love it. They telling me that it's as good as, or maybe even better than the first one. I haven't heard one bad reaction from it at all. Everybody gets it. And is that.
Bunny XO
Is that a fear that you have ever, like, whenever you drop an album, do you ever get that thought in your mind of, like, what if this doesn't resonate with the masses?
Wiz Khalifa
I've had that before. Yeah. There was a couple albums that I dropped where I wasn't completely comfortable. Confident. Yeah, for sure. Because I didn't know there was some experimental stuff. I was like, are people gonna really with this? Are they gonna accept it for me? Did I do what I was supposed to do? Like, should I have done something else? Like, I've had those thoughts before for albums.
Bunny XO
I feel like as an artist, though, like, each album that you drop is a testament to where you're at in your life at that moment, you know? So I feel like if they all sounded the same, then that would show that you're not showing any growth and people would probably get bored.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
You know, because it's the same thing over and over again.
Wiz Khalifa
Absolutely. It's scary, like reinventing.
Bunny XO
Right.
Wiz Khalifa
And, you know, and like, you got to be ready to lose some people to gain some people as well. So it's like you said, it's just a lesson in all of that.
Bunny XO
I feel like you've been able to maintain who you are, though.
Wiz Khalifa
Absolutely.
Bunny XO
Over the years. I don't feel like you've changed too much. You've just always been whiz yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
I've always been whiz. I never really changed. I got. I'm really multifaceted, and I think that's a strength. That's something that plays to my strong side because I can do. I can mix genres.
Bunny XO
Right.
Wiz Khalifa
And a lot of artists aren't really able to do that. They can just stay in one lane or you expect one thing from them.
Bunny XO
Right.
Wiz Khalifa
But you can expect a plethora of stuff from me, and it's still gonna be wiz. Yeah.
Bunny XO
What do you feel like one of your most slept on tracks is? Like, if there was one track that could have got a lot more attention, what would it have been for you?
Wiz Khalifa
One of my most slept on tracks that should have got more attention. I have a lot of plaques, so I can't really say that. Everything that I put out, it usually goes, like, gold or platinum.
Bunny XO
Yeah. You don't have to pick one if you don't want to.
Wiz Khalifa
And then the stuff, like, I did an album. It was called Multiverse. It was a really good album, but I didn't. I didn't go big with this album. It was. It was for a small, small audience. And I think later on down the line, people will appreciate that for what it. For what it was.
Bunny XO
Right.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah. I don't think it was slept on. I think it's just gonna take a while to get appreciated.
Bunny XO
I mean, look at the Goo Goo Goo Dolls right now. Their song Iris literally has come back and it was made freaking 20 years ago.
Wiz Khalifa
Right.
Bunny XO
That album could do the same thing.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
Like, that's what's cool about music, is it's timeless.
Wiz Khalifa
It's timeless. And we listen to records, Right. So there's artists who drop albums that you like. Hold on. I didn't even know this. Put that shit out. But you're still going to grab it, put it on and listen to it, because you enjoy that artist. So it doesn't matter if it got really hyped up or not. It can still, like you said, enter your world.
Bunny XO
Yeah. I feel like albums catch fire so much later on now, too, because things are, like, always coming back into style. So it's like all it takes is one video going viral now with it, and literally people are like, it's a whole new set of eyes.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah. Yeah. It creates a narrative that people just want to be a part of.
Bunny XO
Absolutely. Have you ever done a feature with somebody or featured on something and then, like, regretted it later?
Wiz Khalifa
I'm always happy about my features. Yeah. Yeah. I've. I've been blessed to be a part of some really cool ass songs. Payphone with Maroon 5. That was one that I've never even seen happen a year. Like. Like that, like. Or the Miley Cyrus song 23.
Bunny XO
I mean, doing a song with Miley in general is just. That's.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Bunny XO
Top tier.
Wiz Khalifa
I just did a song with Good Charlotte too, before I. Before I came out here.
Bunny XO
That's amazing. Is it rock?
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, Yeah.
Bunny XO
I love Good Charlotte. I'm a west coast girl, so I love Good Charlotte.
Wiz Khalifa
Charlotte is the shit.
Bunny XO
Yeah, yeah. They're amazing.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, yeah.
Bunny XO
All right, let's switch gears. Let's talk about being a dad because you have Bash and then you also have your daughter. Now what would you say is the difference in between raising boys and girls? Have you noticed anything yet? Because I know she's. She's fresh, right? She's like, how old?
Wiz Khalifa
She's 10 months.
Bunny XO
10 months. So, I mean, you've got a long ways to go being a girl dad, but just in this short time, do you notice a difference?
Wiz Khalifa
Not yet. Yeah, yeah, not yet because she's so fresh. And then my son is 12, so.
Bunny XO
It'S so much a lifetime of different experience.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think, you know, in the next few years, especially as her personality starts to come in. Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna start to see the real girl dadness start to happen.
Bunny XO
Are you excited about it?
Wiz Khalifa
I'm super excited. I mean, I'll be like, shopping for her and buying her outfits. I'll be picking out her outfits. Like, we do like three a day. So I'm like, let me get one. At least.
Bunny XO
She gets three outfits a day.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah. Hell ye.
Bunny XO
Oh, my gosh. I love that.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, yeah. She's like our little baby dog.
Bunny XO
I bet she's fly as hell, though.
Wiz Khalifa
Super fly. She got chrome hearts and all that.
Bunny XO
Oh, my. Dude, I. Hello. I've been trying to get chrome hearts forever. Look at her.
Wiz Khalifa
She got a little baby chrome.
Bunny XO
I love that. That's so cool. What's something that Bash has said to you that's made you, like, question your.
Wiz Khalifa
Whole personality as far as, like, giving it to him?
Bunny XO
Has. No. No. Has he ever, like, checked you, like, dad, that's not cool or, like, been like, you know, like, just made you question, like, what the fudge?
Wiz Khalifa
You know, he's quick. Like, he. He's all day with it. So like, sometimes he'll just be like, your teeth look like you ate a piece of cheese or something. I'd be like, damn, bro. Like, he likes to. He Likes to rip on people. So, like, he just goes all day.
Bunny XO
Like, that is hilarious. Has he. Does he have your musical inclination?
Wiz Khalifa
Like, yeah, he does. He does. He listens to a lot of different types of music. I test him out on new music. So I'll be like, I put on some shit that I know is brand new. I'll be like, you like this? He'll be like, ah, it's cool. Blah, blah, blah. I'll be like, play me what you like. And he likes old school rap. He likes newer rap. He likes rock and roll. He played me some crazy shit the other day from some band that I never heard before. And then he's got MF Doom on his phone. On his display for his phone. I'm like, all right, cool. So he's developing. He's very eclectic already.
Bunny XO
I love that. But that's just a testament to, you know, you and Amber obviously showing him pretty good music. What's something you're teaching him that no one ever taught you?
Wiz Khalifa
My parents did a good job raising me, so I wouldn't say that. Some that nobody ever taught me. But the biggest lesson right now is I teach him to respect himself and to respect others so that they can respect him.
Bunny XO
Absolutely.
Wiz Khalifa
Because they're not going to respect you if you don't respect yourself. So I'll be like, the things that you do, they have to be a representation of who you are and what you want people to say about you. And we have those conversations over and over. I'm like, of course you're going to slip up and you're going to make mistakes, but the main thing is to be respectful to yourself and other people, and that's how you demand respect yourself.
Bunny XO
Yeah. No, that's amazing. I feel like this generation is lacking respect, too. Like, kids nowadays, they're just like. They're wild.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
And the respect factor is not there. So the fact that you're teaching Bash, that is amazing.
Wiz Khalifa
Absolutely.
Bunny XO
How are you and Amber getting along these days? You guys still getting along?
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, yeah, we're super good.
Bunny XO
I love Amber because, you know, I'm sure you hear this all the time, but, you know, I grew up in Vegas. I grew up and the whole scene of, like, dancing and working girls and stuff like that. So, you know, for her to be this outspoken role model. Outspoken role model for us, we. I've just always respected her.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, absolutely.
Bunny XO
Always been who she is.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, she's a great chick. She's a great mom. She's a great friend. Yeah, that's. That's like, my partner. For real. Like, you don't get too many partners in life. And. And Amy is, too. That's Cadence's mom. We're really great partners, and we've been together longer than me and Amber were together. But me and Amber's relationship is lifelong.
Bunny XO
Right.
Wiz Khalifa
We ain't in a relationship, but we together, though.
Bunny XO
Do you believe in soulmates? Because soulmates don't always have to be romantic either. Like, you guys can.
Wiz Khalifa
I don't know about soulmates, because to me, like, a soulmate, you might not necessarily even have kids with that person or, you know, this. This person might help you build your empire. But me and Amber, like, we're stronger than a lot of people because we have difficult conversations. We navigate through that shit.
Bunny XO
Yes.
Wiz Khalifa
And that's what makes us so, so strong, is we don't argue every time we disagree. We're allowed to disagree, but we're still gonna get through it together because she's not throwing low blows. I'm not being disrespectful. We don't have any underlining, freaking animosity towards each other. And that makes the situation way more positive than anything. It doesn't get negative. You know, we might get a little heated sometimes when we talk, because we're both passionate and we both have our own opinion. But the heatedness, I might be stressed out from. From my job, so she might be like, okay, what's wrong? For real. Like, don't just. Just be upset. Tell me what's going on, and then we'll talk about this. Or if she's in a situation, I'm like, you don't have to. I'm not checking you at all. You don't have to check in with me. You know what I'm saying? I respect your life. I want you to have all the space in the world. Please have space. I respect your space. I validate your space and all that. I would never want to get in the way of that. That only time we have to come together is when we make decisions. So, like, let's make this work.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
I always say, what is it? Communication is key. Comprehension is vital.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
So if you. If you're talking to somebody all day long and they're not hearing you, it's not going to get anywhere. And I love that you guys have that communication. Do you also have that with Cadence's mom? I've met her before, right?
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
Yes, I met her.
Wiz Khalifa
You met her stage coach, Stagecoach.
Bunny XO
She's beautiful.
Wiz Khalifa
Thank you.
Bunny XO
Gorgeous.
Wiz Khalifa
She's a great girl. As well, she's like, like I said. And that's my partner too. We do everything. She, she makes sure I eat.
Bunny XO
That means a lot to a man, especially these days, you know?
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, hell yeah, it's a lot. She holds it down, like, for sure in ways that other women would never even be capable of. And she does it like, happily too, you know?
Bunny XO
When you say that, can you give us an example of something that, like, most women wouldn't be able to deal with?
Wiz Khalifa
Just my schedule in general. I wake up at 5:30 and I'm up all day. I got the gym, I got meetings and zoom calls. I got merch samples coming to the house. I got, you know, fire pit being built. I got, I got three dogs.
Bunny XO
That's that Aries moon. You have an Aries moon?
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, I do.
Bunny XO
I checked it because I have an Aries moon. My husband has an Aries moon. And there's always some shit going on. Like, we've always got a project, always.
Wiz Khalifa
A project on top of a project, right? And we gonna have some fun too, right?
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
So you gotta be ready to party as well. You gotta do all that and party.
Bunny XO
It's like, we have to make sure we have fun time. I love that. That seems like you just want to always make sure that you have fun in whatever it is that you're doing. And I think that's a really sweet quality to have because a lot of people don'. Stop to enjoy life.
Wiz Khalifa
Right.
Bunny XO
They get so carried away with just the grind.
Wiz Khalifa
Right, right.
Bunny XO
Like, nope, we're gonna have fun.
Wiz Khalifa
We're gonna have some fun. We gonna make some memories. And that's where the inspiration comes from. Yeah, you gotta, like, you gotta actually do shit and live. And then if your life is just beautiful, it's poetic. So you, you just, you just grab those feelings and then you just put them into whatever your project is at the time.
Bunny XO
Yes, sir.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
Can you take me on the journey of you doing MMA and fitness?
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
When? How did you get into this? Because I think that's amazing.
Wiz Khalifa
Thank you.
Bunny XO
It's very taxing on the body to be doing stuff like that, so.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, yeah, I trained pretty hard too. I got into it. My big homies, they were doing jujitsu at the time and they're like, hey, you need to come to the gym and we're going to rough you up and all of this stuff. So as soon as I got to the gym, they instantly were like, you need to lift weights. Like, you're, you're way too small. You gotta eat and you gotta lift weights. You could, you could actually do something if you, you know, I mean, took it seriously. So I got on like a regimen where I was, you know, doing certain amount of calories and making sure I started sleeping. And then I just liked how my body felt and like what it did to me mentally as well. And the martial arts part of it just kind of turned into its own little thing. Cause I was naturally a little bit gifted at it. But just being the type of person where I want to do something over and over and over and try to perfect it, that's the perfect sport for that. Because you just get better every day. So each and every day you learn new techniques or just fine tuning or practicing or drilling or there's always something to do. So it's like that forever project for me. That's how I feel like martial arts is. It's just something that I, that I could practice for the rest of my life. And it is good for my body and it's good for me mentally. It's a skill that I, that I could use if I needed to.
Bunny XO
Hopefully not though.
Wiz Khalifa
Nah, I don't, I don't see. But being a dad though, you gotta be ready for that shit too. Cause it's like, look, I'm not calling security. I'm gonna beat your dad up.
Bunny XO
Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Right. Would you ever fight in the ring professionally? Would you ever, if they offered it to you? Cause I think I had read also that you said you wanted to be a wrestler for a day.
Wiz Khalifa
I did.
Bunny XO
Would you still do that?
Wiz Khalifa
I would more do some wrestling than fighting because wrestling is like entertainment is acting.
Bunny XO
Right.
Wiz Khalifa
Actually getting in the ring and doing that's not what I train for.
Bunny XO
Right.
Wiz Khalifa
But I'm trained good enough to do some shit. I'm always ready.
Bunny XO
Right.
Wiz Khalifa
And anybody who's ever seen me do what I do, they. They know what level I perform on. So the whole getting in the ring, it's more for entertainment. Like it makes everybody money. And it's like, I'm not really into it.
Bunny XO
What came to you with like a bag though?
Wiz Khalifa
What's the bag though?
Bunny XO
I mean, you name your price.
Wiz Khalifa
It would have to be like 50 million.
Bunny XO
And then you would get in the ring.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, it would be like Floyd Mayweather prices.
Bunny XO
I mean, you know, they might do it.
Wiz Khalifa
I need 50 M's for my first fight, guaranteed. Cause it's gonna like, it's gonna pull a big crowd.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
And I'm gonna knock somebody out cold.
Bunny XO
What's your move? What is your Move. Like if you had a move in the ring.
Wiz Khalifa
Well, if I did boxing, it would probably be like a overhand right.
Bunny XO
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's.
Wiz Khalifa
That's, that's. That's pretty much night night. Or my. Or my. Or my lead left hook. Ooh, yeah. No, well, the lead left is. Is orthodox, but it's just coming from the left. So I'm either hit you in the face or a nice little lead left body shot.
Bunny XO
Gotcha.
Wiz Khalifa
But if we doing Muay Thai, there's nobody seeing me in Muay Thai. Like, boxing is different because you only got hands.
Bunny XO
Right.
Wiz Khalifa
But if I get to use my feet and my elbows and my knees. Yeah, it's. Oh, there's nobody seeing me in this.
Bunny XO
You're knocking somebody out.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah. And I'm tall as hell too, so you're not even getting close to me. Yeah, just one. One round kick. The hardest kick is probably like the spinning back kick.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
So, like, if we really.
Bunny XO
You'd knock somebody's head off.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah. Or like break some ribs or like puncture some lungs or something like that. Yeah. Nice spinning back.
Bunny XO
I like it. Now we're talking. We gotta make this happen, too.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah. I like elbows, too, because.
Bunny XO
Let me just manage you. I'm just kidding.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah. Cause with elbow, like when you boxing, you got like, the gloves are protecting them.
Bunny XO
Right.
Wiz Khalifa
But if we do MMA and I elbow you in your forehead and I split your forehead open and you're bleeding, it's gonna be hard for you to fight me for the rest of the fight. Fight.
Bunny XO
Or break a nose.
Wiz Khalifa
Or if I knee you and break your rib in the first round, you're not really going to want to keep was.
Bunny XO
I feel like you're ready for this. I feel like you're.
Wiz Khalifa
I don't want to hurt anybody. I don't like hurting people. I like that.
Bunny XO
I feel like you would rock the shit out of somebody, though.
Wiz Khalifa
But they got to pay me 50M's if you want to see some blood.
Bunny XO
All right, well, whoever's listening, let's make that fucking happen because I'm tuning in. I want to see somebody get their ass whipped. What? Is something embarrassing you do alone that no one knows about?
Wiz Khalifa
And until now, something embarrassing that I do alone that no one knows about. I cry a lot.
Bunny XO
Really?
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
You're emotional. That's sweet, though.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
I don't think that's embarrassing.
Wiz Khalifa
It is to me, because I'll be. Why? I was watching, like, what's that Encanto? Or what's that Disney movie?
Bunny XO
I'm not sure.
Wiz Khalifa
Is the one with the Spanish girl and her family. What's that movie called, man? I was crying in that the other day, though. You cried too? I'm crying just thinking about.
Bunny XO
Was so sweet.
Wiz Khalifa
It was the sweetest freaking movie ever. It's so sweet.
Bunny XO
It's sweet. It's not sad.
Wiz Khalifa
No, it's just sweet. It's like the sweetest thing. I mean, of course it's, like, sad. It hits you, but it's like. Yeah, it's so sweet. It was like. I was like, oh, man, Here, here we go.
Bunny XO
I don't think that's a weakness, though. I think that a man that can, you know, show emotion, that's awesome. That just means that you're in tune with it.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, for sure. I think I'm very in tune with it.
Bunny XO
He said I'm very in tune with it. So let's say some aliens came down to Earth and you're the spokesman for Earth. What would you. What's the first thing that you would show aliens and prove to them, like, that we're actually, like, cool people down here?
Wiz Khalifa
I would definitely smoke weed with them.
Bunny XO
Yeah. You don't think they're not already smoking weed?
Wiz Khalifa
I think they're, like, past smoking weed. We might. This might be, like, really prehistoric to them. They're like, okay, we gotta. We got. We gotta bring it back to the origin.
Bunny XO
Right, Right.
Wiz Khalifa
So I would. Because they're aliens, like, everything is fast to them, so it's like. Let's slow it down a little bit. Yeah, I would smoke some weed with them, and I would probably play them, like, Parliament Funkadelic record.
Bunny XO
Oh, there we go.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah. I would put on some. Some Earth music.
Bunny XO
Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah.
Bunny XO
Would you only smoke weed with them or would you drop acid with them?
Wiz Khalifa
I don't really do too much acid.
Bunny XO
I can't either.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah. Yeah. So I would rather just smoke the weed.
Bunny XO
Okay. Yeah.
Wiz Khalifa
Smoke weed, listen to records, watch a movie, go for a ride, get burgers.
Bunny XO
Oh, any particular burger?
Wiz Khalifa
Where. Where are the aliens landing? Are they landing here?
Bunny XO
They'll not here. The Nashville sucks. Let's take them to la. At least. There's probably more to do.
Wiz Khalifa
So we go to, like, Astro Burger or something.
Bunny XO
Okay.
Wiz Khalifa
Because we get to. We get to cruise through Hollywood in the Low Rider and smoke weed and go get burgers.
Bunny XO
Have you ever dropped acid before? Have you ever done psychedelics?
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, I did.
Bunny XO
You don't like them?
Wiz Khalifa
I think I did too much.
Bunny XO
Yeah, I did.
Wiz Khalifa
I did acid with Diplo.
Bunny XO
Oh, I would never do Acid with diploma.
Wiz Khalifa
It sounds like a good idea, right?
Bunny XO
I know. No. Doesn't sound good to me.
Wiz Khalifa
I'm like, it's Diplo. Like, this is gonna be awesome.
Bunny XO
I feel like he's on a permanent acid trip.
Wiz Khalifa
Trip. He is. He's walking acid.
Bunny XO
Yeah. So how did that go?
Wiz Khalifa
It was. It was. It was interesting. It was. It was. It was intense. That's what it was. It was super duper intense. And it wasn't like a bad trip or anything, Right. But I could definitely feel it. And I would, like, go places and be like, hold on, I need a little second to myself. And then I would just be randomly somewhere else. It was like a movie. It was like I would blink and then I would wake up in another room.
Bunny XO
Oh, no.
Wiz Khalifa
And I would blink and I would.
Bunny XO
Wake up in another room.
Wiz Khalifa
No.
Bunny XO
I would have anxiety.
Wiz Khalifa
It was crazy. And I thought I was Aladdin on a magic carpet for a minute.
Bunny XO
I thought I was Michael Jackson when I did mushrooms.
Wiz Khalifa
Okay, cool.
Bunny XO
Yeah, I get it. I feel that.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah. I definitely, for sure thought I was, like, sailing over the city on a magic carpet. Yeah.
Bunny XO
So that was your first and only time doing.
Wiz Khalifa
Only time.
Bunny XO
Okay. He's like, yeah, that's enough.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, I turned into Aladdin. I'm cool.
Bunny XO
All right, final question. Build your dream strip club name, theme, signature drink and house rules.
Wiz Khalifa
Name. Nippleopolis. What was the other one?
Bunny XO
The other one was. Hold on, I'm still hung up on Nippleopolis. And how fast you thought of that. You've thought of this before. Was the late. Oops. Hold on. Sorry. It was Build your dream strip club name. What's the theme, what's your signature drink, and what's the house rules?
Wiz Khalifa
Okay, the. The theme is 80s baddies.
Bunny XO
Yes. Video vixen.
Wiz Khalifa
Yeah. Those are my favorite chicks.
Bunny XO
Oh, me too.
Wiz Khalifa
So good. Like, nice bodies. Like, perfect boobs, cute little butt.
Bunny XO
Yep.
Wiz Khalifa
Little bush, you know?
Bunny XO
Are you into bush?
Wiz Khalifa
I like the little 80s bush.
Bunny XO
We like the bush.
Wiz Khalifa
Well, we're not have a bush floor. Yeah. It'd be a floor for bush. And then downstairs bush floor.
Bunny XO
Shit's hairy. Upstairs, just hairy.
Wiz Khalifa
It's hairy. And then downstairs, Nippleopolis is regular. The signature drink will be the Napoleon Dynamite.
Bunny XO
I'm crying.
Wiz Khalifa
What's the last one?
Bunny XO
I'm sorry, I'm still just hung up on what you're saying here. I'm so. I can't get over the bush floor. Signature drink. And what are the house rules?
Wiz Khalifa
House rules? Oh, we gotta respect the ladies. That's the number one rule.
Bunny XO
Yes.
Wiz Khalifa
Tip well and leave room for the Holy Spirit. Leave room for the Holy Spirit.
Bunny XO
I like that.
Wiz Khalifa
All right, cool.
Bunny XO
I like it.
Wiz Khalifa
I love that. Welcome to Nippleopolis.
Bunny XO
Thank you so much for coming on the podcast, babe.
Wiz Khalifa
I'm happy to be here. Thank you.
Bunny XO
I appreciate you so much. Come back anytime.
Wiz Khalifa
I will.
Bunny XO
All right. And thank you guys for tuning in to another episode of Don Blonde. I will see you guys next week. Week. Bye.
Podcast Summary: Dumb Blonde Episode – "Wiz Khalifa: I'm Blessed to Be a Healer"
Episode Information:
The episode kicks off with Bunnie XO warmly welcoming Wiz Khalifa to the podcast. She immediately compliments Wiz’s laid-back and positive demeanor, likening his vibe to her father’s coolness. Bunnie humorously compares Wiz to Snoop Dogg, highlighting their similar swagger and chill personalities.
Notable Quote:
Wiz shares how Snoop Dogg was a significant inspiration during his teenage years, especially in developing his personal style and swag. He reflects on admiring Snoop’s stature and demeanor, which helped him find his own identity in the music industry.
Notable Quote:
Wiz delves into his upbringing as a military child, moving frequently between countries like Germany, Japan, and the UK. This exposure to diverse cultures profoundly shaped his worldview and adaptability. He emphasizes how these experiences broadened his mind and contributed to his success.
Notable Quote:
Discussing his parents' divorce when he was three, Wiz explains the unique custody arrangement where he spent alternating two-year periods with each parent. This experience instilled in him the importance of maintaining healthy relationships with his children's mothers. He contrasts his approach with his parents', striving to provide a more stable and cooperative co-parenting environment.
Notable Quote:
Wiz recounts his early days of creating and selling mixtapes while in high school, highlighting his hustle in pressing CDs and distributing them locally. Despite an initial record deal with Warner Brothers, he chose to return to Pittsburgh and leverage emerging social media platforms like YouTube and Twitter. This strategic move led to his breakout hit "Black and Yellow," demonstrating his ability to navigate the evolving music landscape independently.
Notable Quote:
The conversation shifts to the therapeutic role of music. Wiz discusses how his songs, such as "See You Again," have become anthems for significant life moments like weddings and funerals. He expresses gratitude for being able to influence and support listeners through his music, viewing himself as a healer who helps others navigate their emotions and life decisions.
Notable Quote:
Wiz talks about his relationship with Amber and their co-parenting journey with their children, Bash and Cadence. He emphasizes the importance of mutual respect and effective communication in maintaining a strong partnership. Wiz shares insights into his parenting philosophy, focusing on teaching his son to respect himself and others.
Notable Quote:
Wiz reveals his passion for martial arts and fitness, explaining how training in jujitsu and later in MMA disciplines has contributed to his mental and physical well-being. He discusses the discipline and continuous improvement required in martial arts, paralleling it with his approach to music and life.
Notable Quote:
In a surprising revelation, Wiz shares that he often cries alone, particularly moved by heartfelt movies like Disney's "Encanto." He discusses the importance of emotional intelligence and being in tune with one’s feelings, debunking the stereotype that toughness negates vulnerability.
Notable Quote:
The episode concludes with a lighthearted segment where Wiz and Bunnie brainstorm a dream strip club concept. They humorously detail themes, signature drinks, and house rules, showcasing Wiz’s playful side and creative thinking.
Notable Quote:
Throughout the episode, Bunnie XO and Wiz Khalifa engage in a candid and entertaining dialogue, blending humor with deep reflections on life, music, and personal growth. Wiz’s journey from a hustling teenager to a mainstream artist underscores themes of resilience, adaptation, and the therapeutic power of music. His insights into relationships, parenting, and emotional vulnerability offer listeners a multifaceted view of his character beyond the public persona.
Key Takeaways:
This episode serves as an inspiring narrative of Wiz Khalifa’s evolution, offering valuable lessons on perseverance, emotional well-being, and the importance of nurturing meaningful relationships.