Wiz Khalifa Probably Should’ve Just Left Kanye West Alone

By now, we have all seen and heard about what has transpired between Kanye West and Wiz Khalifa. If you’ve been under a rock, here’s a quick rundown:

• Kanye West changes the name of his album (again); this time to Waves

• Wiz Khalifa took exception to the name change and subliminally called out Kanye for biting incarcerated rapper Max B, who popularized the term (and it’s multiple variations) in Hip-Hop

• Kanye would later go on to pay homage to Max B, only to be met with skepticism by Wiz

• Kanye would respond by ripping Wiz via a lengthy Twitter rant, in which he took aim at the rapper’s music, his style and even his son, who he co-parents with Yeezy’s ex, Amber Rose (who he also took shots at)

• Wiz disregarded the rant, only correcting Kanye, stating that KK is a type of weed, and not short for Yeezy’s wife, Kim Kardashian

• Amber Rose would chime in, mentioning weird sexual pleasures allegedly enjoyed by Kanye

• Kanye would go on to delete his rant, in favor of promoting positivity

Did you get all that? Good.

Here’s my thing; when I first heard that Wiz Khalifa was upset about the new name of Kanye’s album, I didn’t want to believe it. Everyone’s like “Aw, man. Wiz is taking shots at Kanye!” and all the while, I’m giving Wiz the benefit of the doubt, like “No way. Wiz is way too cool for beef. Dude is basically a hippie”. I was cheering for Khalifa Man, and rightfully so, being that he’s one of my favorite emcees.

Then he let me down.

After Kanye tweeted “All respect to Andre Harrel and Max B #Waves”, Wiz would respond “Yeah aight”, and that’s when I realized that everyone in my mentions was right; Wiz actually did feel some type of way.

But for what?

This is the second time I’ve seen a rapper get mad at another rapper for something so stupid (the first time was when KiD CuDi tried to take off on Machine Gun Kelly over the word ‘Rager’). I don’t get it. True indeed, Max B should be credited with popularizing ‘wave/wavy’ in Hip-Hop, but the last time I checked, he didn’t invent the word or any form of it. Furthermore, I doubt Kanye was thinking of Max B when he named his album. He could’ve been, but c’mon. That’s a stretch.

Wiz Khalifa seemed more upset about this than the people from Max B’s own ‘hood! Again; for what? It’s just a word. You didn’t see players from the NBA getting mad when the album was called SWISH. You didn’t see priests getting mad when the album was called So Help Me, God. Lastly, rising Chicago star Mick Jenkins, whose last project is actually called Waves, didn’t say a thing, other than to joke that he would be naming his new album SWISH.

Truthfully, I don’t think Wiz is that upset. I don’t think he ever was. I think he knows he has a new album on the way (February 5th), so he could very well be trying to reel in some extra promotion; and who better to get it from than Kanye West? The thing is, it was unnecessary to go at Kanye. For one, Wiz Khalifa doesn’t need the promo boost. He has been one of the top emcees in Hip-Hop for a while, now and that “See You Again” record turned him into a megastar. For two, he went at Kanye’s neck, only to get flamed! And you know how the Internet is. We’re gonna joke about it all day, we’re gonna make memes, and if Kanye was telling the truth about Wiz losing 2 million followers, that means you’re going to lose fans.

Wiz Khalifa is my guy, but he barked up the wrong tree and even though Kanye West said a couple of things that he probably shouldn’t have, he gave Wiz exactly what he deserved. Just be cool, Wizzle Man. The real Taylors are gonna ride for you, no matter what. No need to start a petty beef to boost record sales.