From track one of hip hop’s newest star’s major debut, the themes are familiar: on ‘When I’m Gone’ it’s “back in the day money was short”; by track two ‘On My Level’, Wiz is “rolling doobies up” on a mission to “hit the club/spend this money up“; mega-hit ‘Black & Yellow’ is next, on which he informs us that “bitches love me ‘cos I’m fucking with they friends“. Six songs in, and another hip hop trend is sadly apparent. ‘Wake Up’ is the last of the completely irresistible Stargate-produced gems, and the start of ‘Rolling Paper”s descent into eight loooong, dull filler tracks that, musically and lyrically, are completely indistinguishable from one to the other. ‘No Sleep’ is about partying “til the weekend”; ‘Get Your Shit’ about asking a “bitch” for “keys back”; et-fucking-cetera-to-fade in an admittedly pleasant, laconic flow, over bland, mellow electronica. On ‘Top Floor’, Wiz proclaims that his “life is like a movie”. Maybe so, but he needs to delete some scenes.
Hamish MacBain