Wiz Khalifa has enjoyed an incredibly successful year in which his name has skyrocketed into the public conscious, but Monday evening he made headlines for another reason. The Pittsburgh MC was arrested for multiple drug charges after a performance at Eastern Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina.
The news isn’t incredibly shocking to anyone who’s been following MTV News’ Hotttest Breakthrough MC . Wiz has made no secret of his love for marijuana. The release of his mixtape, Kush & Orange Juice, was arguably his watershed moment this year, and it was named after a particular strain of cannabis. He’s bragged in a recent interview that he spends about $10,000 a month on marijuana, and he’s launched his own line of rolling papers, aptly named Wiz Khalifa Brand Rolling Papers. His tour is named the Waken Baken Tour, and he typically tweets that he is “waking and baking” every morning.
In fact, Tuesday morning (November 9), after his release on $300,000 bail, he tweeted to his fans, “waken…baken…wrist still achin. thnx for tha love and support.”
While Wiz certainly isn’t the only musician to brag about his marijuana usage, his rapid rise in popularity has made him one of the most noticeable. When he stopped by MTV News’ “RapFix Live” this summer, he was asked if he thought the prevalence of marijuana use in his music could influence his listeners to do the same.
“I don’t say, ‘Yo, get up and do that.’ I said that’s what I do, and I tell you what I do while I’m doing it. I’m not trying to push drugs on anybody,” said Wiz, who calls his house “The Bakery.”
“I thought weed was bad for a minute,” he added. “When I was younger, I thought it was bad, but I got to a point where it worked for me. It don’t work for everybody else. People gotta stay free, people need jobs, people got parents that probably wouldn’t be with it, so don’t ruin your life trying to be like me. That’s my advice.”
But asked if he thinks marijuana should be legalized, Wiz told MTV News, “Definitely, legalize it. Please, everybody needs it. The world would be a better place.”
(How to Roll a Joint with Wiz Khalifa | WF News | Article Credit: MTV News)