Released March 29, 2011
3 / 10
Favorites
The Race
Least favorites
On My Level (feat. Too $hort), Roll Up, Fly Solo
"Rolling Papers" spotlights Wiz's limitations as a rapper, preferring to highlight his competence as a smoker: if there is such a thing as a (multi-million making) professional smoker, Wiz is just that. The record takes its time - with close to an hour span -, moving in slow circles around an obsession with weed that overshadows anything else Wiz could have to say. When asked about the album's title, Wiz had this to say: "it's not just about the weed thing. It's bigger than that. My career really took off when I started smoking papers.", making it sound precisely like it's "just about the weed thing". Lyrics are very undercooked and not helped by the languid sing-song rapping superimposed on high-energy beats. The 14 tracks don't really add any depth to the caricatural character sketch Wiz has presented the world. In fact, even Wiz sounds bored by his rapping ability, resorting to singing the hooks himself thereby exposing his subpar competence as a vocalist. Let's just say I listened to the album so you wouldn't have to. Much of the record has to do with weed, money and parties: strangely enough, it doesn't even sound fun or, on the other end of the spectrum, judgmental, it sounds just plainly factual. Wiz must have been aware of the irony of opening the album with the line "And they say all I rap about is bitches and champagne" before going into a record that doesn't stray very far from this crude depiction of its choice of subject matters. When I'm Gone kicks off things with a long melancholic piano intro with ethereal synths fluttering around in a hazy space: it's probably one of the most emotive passage of the album and Wiz is notably absent from it. The vocal layering and overpowering beat on the chorus are not sufficient to hide the subpar vocals on the anthem-like hook. On My Level is close to pastiche. It's trying to sound menacing and depicts a scene that doesn't sound enviable at all while being sold as nearly aspirational. Lyrics sound like they've been written in a suburbia garage by a teenager toying with the idea of rapping. And Too $hort falls too short of expectations (badumtss). When you're not chuckling or cringing, you're probably yawning. That's before the whirlwind of Black and Yellow. "Yeah, uh-uh, you know what it is": even after having forced the track down the throat for what felt like a year back when the album came out, I'm still not sure I do know what "it" is. Wiz sounds pretty monotone and doesn't do the hyping arrangement any justice. It's striking how he doesn't sound very aware of how his voice and delivery comes across - something I'd expect every rapper to be on top of. Hopes & Dreams lures the listener into thinking they might've come across a more interesting sound, with a loop purposefully sounding like it's momentarily stuck. But then Wiz has to go into rap-song mode on the verse. It's like he tries to look in every direction at the same time while being high on his own sh*t. The song really is a mess. To be fair, Wiz is also concerned with his grind (listening to him brings up the weed metaphors at the surface just like that). He insists on all the work it took to get where he is - without ever going into details, not as much describing what the "work" looked like as detailing the parties he now attends every weekend. In Wake Up he follows the old adage "work hard play hard" - lingering on the "play" part a bit more for entertainment value. His singing doesn't sound as bad as it does elsewhere on the record - both on the hooks and bridge. The rapping is what lets the track down: it's as conversational as I sound reading a book aloud. Then comes The Race, the only good track on "Rolling Paper" in my opinion. Wiz rolls a joint, looking back at his journey to this point where he's become very much in vogue. The bass drums skitter along to a lush melody that creates a smoother sound than we've heard so far. The instrumentals are instrumental on The Race, maintaining the track in flux throughout. The hook also flows into the verses remarkably well: it's really a song full of little touches that you become more aware of as it progresses, working for our interest rather than expecting it. The respite is brief though. Star of the Show is a form of retrospective on times where Wiz didn't get the respect he feels he deserved, shedding light on inconsistency in his peers' characters. As most other tracks on the record it features a strong beat on a background of muted synth. The hook is disconcerting with uncalled for background chants and the weirdest elongation of the word "show-owo-owoooww". Chevy's verse is as bland as Wiz's: no risk of being overshadowed by the guest feature here. The other track mostly focused on the grind is Fly Solo, a crossover between pop rock and rap that nobody asked for. I really wonder who green-lighted this idea. Who said Wiz's shaky vocal ability could carry this? Amongst a sea of doomed tracks, this one still sticks out as particularly tragic. "Rolling Papers" is ultimately a celebratory album yet it doesn't really ever overly enthusiastic. It describes reaching new heights and enjoying the perks that go along with it but there is a sense that it's not all that it's made up to be. Top Floor talks of elevating someone else with him, filled with unfortunate lyrical choices. In particular, the juxtaposition in "Make you feel like a little girl again, but fuck you like a grown up" is one of those moments where Wiz should've taken a step back before recording. The perpetual vocal loop should've been muted outside of the chorus: it works well on this part but gets unbearable after its relentless onslaught on the verses. In this track R'n'B meets pop rap but each world crashes into the other with such force that the strengths of each genre are annihilated. Rooftops celebrates Wiz success by comparing the before and after of fame - and it's actually pretty decent. The track sizzles from the opening with scissor sharp synth. The addition of the clapping beat is a.. choice. I find that clapping sounds are hard to integrate in a song without risking sounding corny - not impossible, but hard. This time around, the brief melodic excursions Wiz takes pay off (providing an example that if you do things a sufficient number of times you're bound to do well at least once - is that what stochasticity is about?). "Rolling Papers" ends with Cameras, a strange track that brings same-era B.O.B or Drake to mind. It's a rare moment of self-reflection where you don't smell weed when listening. A heavy synth goes head to head with an energized beat, at times augmented with guitars and very much sending like the closing of something. "Something" feels like the right word here. It's been.. something.
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