Wiz Khalifa

[personcis]

Wiz Khalifa: More Than Just Marijuana Few people in the world can relate to using marijuana while being famous. It is a duo that some of society doesn’t approve of, as shown by a public survey, where one male surveyor said, “It is a drug that makes you stupid. It affects your judgment and motor skills and in the long term it makes you lazy” (PEW Research Center). Despite the controversial appeal and disapproval of marijuana, there are some who have received praise all while partaking in this illicit drug. Through the years, there have been artists such as Bob Marley, and Snoop Dogg who have been heavily associated with marijuana. New to the mix is Wiz Khalifa, an African American rapper, and producer, who is widely known for what some may find excessive and which others may find of marijuana. Although Marijuana is seen as Wiz Khalifa’s only distinct characteristic in society, he is in fact fields a man of many trades, which include producing and singing hit songs and albums, living a life of luxury, standing up for what he believes in, and collaborating with companies in an effort to broaden his investments. Through Wiz’s involvement in he has developed a persona by which he voluntarily puts everything in the open, with no true care of the consequences or opinions people will develop based on his actions. This persona, unique to Wiz Khalifa is made available through his intricate use of social media platforms, which have the means to influence followers and further increase Wiz Khalifa’s popularity.

According to Wiz Khalifa’s personal Twitter profile he has amassed 21.9 million followers, a number which surpasses other great artists such as Kanye West and Beyoncé, who according to their personal twitter accounts have 15.4 million and 14.1 million, respectively. Wiz Khalifa’s social media presence doesn’t stop there, as his Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook account have accrued 8 million followers, 6.3 million subscribers, and 38.7 million likes, respectively. With numbers of this caliber, Wiz Khalifa has given himself the ability to spread his image throughout the world. With this immense presence in the world of social media, artists like Wiz Khalifa have become more successful and gained greater popularity. Peter Schwartz, who represents Wiz Khalifa, says this is due to a “refreshing and all-age scene in hip-hop, much of it driven by social media” (Waddell). Schwartz also believes that “If it wasn't for the Web, we wouldn't be having this [increase in popularity of hip/hop artists]” (Waddell). Schwartz owes much of Wiz Khalifa’s success to using social media “correctly” (Waddell). Every artist has to start somewhere, and Wiz Khalifa specifically took advantage of his ability to attract people through social media, which jump-started his career, and led him to where he is now. Social Media as an entity has been on the rise ever since Myspace and Facebook were created. The rise has continued to the creation of even more powerful social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. Social media is universal to everyone who has a connection to the internet, and it finally gave fans a sense of personal connection to their favorite artists. It also gave artists a chance to prove they are deserving of an entitlement to be followed by fans which their popularity in the music industry. Wiz Khalifa has definitely not let this brilliant opportunity slip by him, as he has crafted a unique image on social media. This unique image crafted by Wiz is central to his character, his image presented is the “true” Wiz, a man who doesn’t bother to seek the approval of others. It is consequently through his presentation of true character that he appeals to people by the masses, again evident by his vast number of social media followers.

One of the most universal and popular social media platforms used by Wiz Khalifa is Twitter. It is a social media platform that has the ability to connect the famous with the public, especially at a more intimate level. Proven by an information systems research article, from a section that focused specifically on social media use, the authors concluded that “...there is a significant effect of broadcasting activities in social media on music sales, but the effect mainly comes from broadcast messages with a personal touch rather than an automated message” (Chen, De, Hu 529). There have been plenty of instances when Wiz Khalifa has reached out to his fans for their opinions, and when fans tweet him, Wiz has been known to give responses, something that most famous artists don’t do. For example in the following tweet by Wiz Khalifa, he replies to a fan. The action of simply replying to fans is very rare to see an artist with millions of followers do. It is with this connection with fans that gives Wiz the personal touch that allows him to appeal to increasing his popularity.

In addition to twitter, Wiz Khalifa makes sure to make his presence known on the social media platform called Instagram. Instagram, a platform that consists of only pictures with a caption, allows people to convey their lives through pictures. Wiz took advantage of this by hiring a photographer to follow him around. This photographer's name is Dan Folger, a young man from Pittsburg, the same city that Wiz is from. In a Green Label article, Dan Folger talks about working with Wiz, saying, “Wiz and I have a very creative relationship. I always learn from him whenever I’m with him.” and “He’s [Wiz Khalifa] not afraid to do different things and doesn’t want what’s normal...” (Lopilato). This relationship Wiz and Folger have, has certainly been a dynamic that works, as evident by Wiz Khalifa’s 8 million Instagram followers. It is through Wiz Khalifa’s not “normal” character that he attracts fans by the millions. There are pictures of all sorts, from Wiz flashing his excessive amounts of marijuana, to boarding a private jet. The variety of pictures that Wiz is able to put out allows him to appeal to a wide range of fans, from the supporters of Marijuana to those fascinated by wealth and luxury, and those who like an original and “abnormal” artist to support.

Wiz’s effort to expand his diversity is one that has surely paid off, and it has been noticed in his Instagram account. Recruiting a photographer who works well with Wiz himself was one of the greatest decisions he made when it came to photography and Instagram. Proven that by correctly using social media platforms, you can influence people by the masses and gain immense popularity. Therefore, Wiz Khalifa has continued to express his truly unique character liked by many on Instagram.

Also used by Wiz Khalifa is YouTube, a video sharing social media platform. Wiz has a video series on YouTube titled “DayToday,” which includes videos of his daily life, that are extremely appealing to a variety of audiences, through the beautiful craft of video editing. In one specific video, titled “Boys Ep.1,” Wiz Khalifa is preparing for his Grammy appearance and performance. He is shown trying on Emporio Armani suits, and smoking plenty of marijuana from bongs and other smoking devices. Then Wiz is shown playing with his son, and watching children shows with him. Wiz Khalifa is also shown with a crew of people that he hangs out with, at parties in luxurious apartments and houses. Wiz Khalifa is even shown at clubs, being the main attraction, and appearing very popular and liked by all. The video ends with Wiz Khalifa’s hit song “’See You Again’ featuring Charlie Puth” and the lyric, “...how can we not talk about family when is all that we got,” playing while the video shows a picture of Wiz Khalifa and his son Bash together. The different aspects that Wiz has at play in his videos are at the very essence of why and how he appeals to a variety of individuals. Through the culmination of multiple aspects, Wiz Khalifa successfully uses the video to appeal to some people with one aspect while using another aspect to appeal to another viewer. This video (shown below) even showcases Wiz Khalifa’s lack of concern for how people may critique as he put a scene of him smoking weed and a scene of him taking care of his son all within the same video.

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The platforms of social media offer endless amounts of sharing of your interests and even beyond to your personal life. It is through this of social media that artists and celebrities alike are able to give their “followers” a sense of their personal life and their ideals in life. Wiz Khalifa, as a recent father of a son named Sebastian, has made it clearly evident that he adores his child, and it has been through social media that he has done this, including the YouTube Video described above. One of the instances where Wiz includes his son on his social media is in a picture on Instagram. This picture, which was uploaded by Wiz Khalifa to his account and titled “Purple Hearts,” is Wiz sitting in a stopped car with his son on his lap, pretending to drive the car. The picture does a great job at showcasing the love between Wiz and his child, part in due to the fact that Dan Folger is exceptional at capturing Wiz in his truest form, as evident by how they work together.

It is through Wiz’s subtle incorporation of his personal life into social media that he yet again appeals to others. The publicity used by Wiz Khalifa to show his affection towards his son has extremely beneficial outcomes for both Wiz Khalifa’s popularity and his influence. It creates the image of a pot smoking, from Pittsburg, who also has a soft side, a personal touch that can truly win over fans.

Along with Wiz Khalifa showing his personal life, he also expresses his own personal views and opinions on different topics through social media as well. Over summer, Wiz Khalifa was arrested at the LAX airport “seemingly for riding a hoverboard” (Reid). In response to his arrest, Wiz took to Twitter and Instagram, by posting videos of his arrest and voicing his opinion on the incident. Wiz Khalifa had tweets like, “I stand for our generation and our generation is gonna be riding hover boards so if you don’t like it eat a dick!” and “All because I didn’t want to ditch the technology everyone will be using in the next 6 months. Do what you want kids” (Reid). In these tweets, Wiz Khalifa voices his own opinion, and by doing so appeals to the youth generation by standing up for something they also agree with. Although Wiz appeals towards a variety of people which increases his influence and popularity, it is through his unique personality and style that he develops an interesting and controversial connection with some people who encounter his social media. There is certainly a lot of things Wiz Khalifa does that many people may find unappealing and even become upset with. First, there is the excessive use of Marijuana and alcohol that Wiz can be seen portraying across all social media platforms. Even though these substances appeal to some, there are many people, most likely parents, who don’t want their children being influenced by Wiz Khalifa’s antics. In an article on the Forbes website Wiz Khalifa talks about marijuana and himself.

“It’s part of my personality. It wasn’t conscious at first, but then when I saw how far it was going and I was like, ‘Why not?’ … I mean, there’s way worse things I could be talking about. Just through time and experimenting and figuring out how close it brought people together and how peaceful a subject it was, I was like, ‘That’s what I need to talk about’” (Greenburg). The main point to take away from this statement is that the drug “marijuana” is what Wiz Khalifa has branded himself with, and he is proud of it. Even if there are people who don’t support him, he won't let that taint his popularity, as he has been pushing passed the criticism for years. This has been proven by his “consecutive appearance[s] on FORBES’ annual 30 under 30 ” and “FORBES’ Hip-Hop Cash Kings list, “...[pulling] in $20 million over the past two years (before 2012)” (Greenburg). Wiz Khalifa even made it a point to tell the media that he was not going to stop smoking weed when his son was born. Saying that, “he’s [Wiz Khalifa’s Son, Bash] going to know what it is” (WENN). This is yet another reason for some people to not find him to be very appropriate, but it is Wiz Khalifa’s unique and crazy attributes that allow him to flourish in popularity and influence while his critics no virtue to him.

The connection between celebrities and their fans has been forever changed by social media. It has been formed into a tool that if used effectively can launch an artist to a position of great success. Specifically, to Wiz Khalifa, he has been able to climb to the top, from a poor boy in Pittsburg to the wealthy man he is now. Through his effective use of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. he has acquired a loyal fan base of which he influences. Although he has many he has shown that success comes from the loyal supporters who you appeal to, and being a true character on social media, as demonstrated by Wiz Khalifa, can bring fame and fortune.