Wiz Khalifa Biography
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Cameron Jibril Thomaz, known as rapper Wiz Khalifa, was born on September 8, 1987 in Minot North Dekota. Both of
Wiz’s parent’s served in the military and his family was constantly moving from place to place. Growing up
Wiz Khalifa lived in Germany, England, and in Japan. He moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the age of 2 however
he moved back and forth between Pittsburgh and several other places over the next ten years. In 1990 Wiz Khalifa
was separated from his mother when she left to serve in Operation Dessert Storm. Khalifa was forced to mature
sooner than other kids his age because he was constantly forced to face new surroundings and to change schools
and homes frequently. Wiz soon began to see the world differently and his lifestyle offered
opportunities for him to broaden his mind and knowledge which led him to write down his daily thoughts. The
thoughts he wrote down became the foundation of music he would create in the future.
At age 14 Wiz has a couple of songs under his belt. His stage name Wiz Khalifa comes from the Arabic word
Khalifa which means “successor” and wisdom which is shortened to Wiz. He drew his inspiration from artists
such as Jay-Z, Cam’ron and the Notorious B.I.G. However, Wiz was determined to create an identity for himself
that would be love by his fans one day. He began to look for a place to record his music in Pittsburgh and
found a recording studio called ID LABS. Eric Dan, the owner, saw that Wiz Khalifa had great potential and
talent. Eric Dans and Chad Glick of ID Labs Management began to network Wiz with Benjy Grinberg of
Rostrum Records who was a Pittsburgh native. After Benjy saw his talent Wiz Khalifa was immediately
brought on board with Rostrum records. In 2007 Wiz Khalifa signed his first contract with Warne Bros. Records.
Even though Wiz Khalifa achieved a smash hit with Warner Bros. Records entitled, “Say Yeah” he spent about
two years sitting on the shelf. So in 2009 he decided to go independent and leave his major label. Since
then he has done a major amount of grass roots marketing with Rostrum Records and when he dropped a recent
project entitled Kush & O.J. it became a trending topic on twitter. Kush & O.J. was the buzz in major
music publications and Wiz Khalifa’s name was coming up more and more in hip hop discussions. Today
Wiz has over 300,000 followers on twitter.com on and he recently signed with Atlantic records on July 30, 2010.
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