HitQuarters is an international music industry publication and contact database founded in 1999. It is noted for in-depth interviews with industry figures, with past subjects including Simon Cowell, Martin Kierszenbaum, Jason Flom, Diane Warren, Peter Edge, Ron Fair and RedOne, as well as its A&R and manager contact directory, free artist promo pages and song sale facility, demo reviews and A&R chart.^[1]

It is the sister site to the songwriting tip sheet SongQuarters.

Contact directory[link]

The website hosts a enormous music industry directory that includes regularly updated contact info for A&Rs, publishers, managers, songwriters and publishers. The directory is distinctive for including 'track records' for each indivual entry. The idea behind this is that users can judge the value of a particular contact by reviewing their past successes. It also means that users are able to search for a particular artist and find out the appropriate A&R, manager, producer etc. associated with that act.

Artist pages and song sale facility[link]

Users are able to sell their own songs for free online through their personal artist promo page. HitQuarters does not charge any fees or commission and all proceeds from sales go directly to the artist. Users are also able to accept donations through their Artist Page.

Focus on aiding unsigned and independent[link]

The website has a strong focus on offering unsigned and independent artists, songwriters and producers information and tools to help develop their music careers, whether through attracting the attentions of record label A&R and management, pitching songs and tracks, releasing and marketing music independently, or just learning more about how the music industry works.

To this aim the website features an extensive contact database known as HitTracker, where users can find contact information for A&R, publishers, managers, producers and songwriters based on their track records, a news bulletin service, free artist promo pages, demo review feature judged by A&Rs, producers and managers, and an archive of several hundred interviews with industry figures that are geared towards offering constructive career advice and industry know-how.^[2]

Members of HitQuarters that have gone on to find success have included Christelle, The Knife, Dominique Young Unique, Bobby Creekwater, Lesley Roy^[3] and State of Shock.

Interviews and features[link]

One of HitQuarters' most prominent features is its weekly in-depth interviews with major industry figures such as A&Rs, producers, managers, songwriters, promoters and publishers. Past interviewees have included pop impresario and entertainment mogul Simon Cowell, industry executives and A&R Martin Kierszenbaum, Mike Caren, Jason Flom, Peter Edge, Chris Hicks, Richard Russell, Miles Leonard and Ron Fair, managers Jonathan Dickins, Dumi, Louis Walsh and Eric Härle, songwriters Diane Warren, Wayne Hector, Rami Yacoub and Andreas Carlsson, producers RedOne, Chris Braide, Steve Mac, JR Rotem, Richard X and Phil Ek, and songwriter, producer and A&R Linda Perry.

The website also runs a regular demo review feature where a changing panel of industry experts review songs uploaded to the site by unsigned artists, assessing their hit potential and offering advice on how the tracks can be improved. Past judges have included Visible Noise CEO Julie Weir, and producers Colin Richardson and Eddie Galan and producer and publisher Steve "Blast" Wills.

A&R chart[link]

HitQuarters founded the world's first A&R chart that measured the success of individual A&R representatives based on points accumulated from their respective artists' chart success. Most notably, 2004 saw Wind-Up Records' Diana Meltzer become the first woman to top HitQuarters' World Top 100 A&R Chart,^[4][5] a considerable achievement in what is traditionally a male dominated field.^[6] Other #1s have included Clive Davis, Tommy Mottola, Dr. Dre and Mark Williams.^[1]

SongQuarters[link]

HitQuarters is a companion site to SongQuarters, an online tip sheet for "songwriting leads to major and developing artists". SongQuarters shares the same contact directory as HitQuarters and its members automatically have access to the HitQuarters site.

SongQuarters is a subscription based service with 7-day trials available for those wanting to try it out first.

The songwriting leads are split into three categories according to the level of the artist they relate to: 'Top 500', 'Newly Signed and Developing' and 'Unsigned and Up-and-coming'.

References[link]

External links[link]

• SongQuarters
• Official HitQuarters Facebook page
• Official Twitter

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2009)

This article describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. Please help rewrite it to explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective. (October 2009)

Omega Red is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in X-Men #4 (vol. 2, January 1992), and was created by Jim Lee. In 2009, Omega Red was ranked as IGN's 95th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.^[1]

Fictional character biography[link]

Little is known about the past of Arkady Rossovich except that he was a serial killer born in Russia. He was captured by the Interpol agent Sean Cassidy and turned over to the KGB, which wanted to experiment and attempt to create a super soldier similar to Captain America. Omega Red is the end result.^[2]

In another version of Omega Red's past, Arkady was a Soviet soldier stationed in a small Siberian town. He was a murderer; his crimes easily discoverable due to the town's small size and limited number of potential victims. He was caught by his fellow soldiers and executed without trial via a gunshot to the back of the head. His superiors are astonished when Arkady survives the execution, and recommend him for the aforementioned Soviet super soldier project, a brutal process; it is suggested that Arkady survives solely due to his evil and mean nature. He becomes an operative for Soviet intelligence and the KGB.^[3]

The Soviet government implanted a retractable carbonadium tentacle within each of Omega Red's arms. Carbonadium was the Soviets' attempt to recreate the artificial alloy known as adamantium. It is a more malleable form of adamantium. He uses them as weapons and as grappling appendages. He is able to a wrap a victim in his coils to literally drain them of their "life" energy. This vampiric tendency is essential to Omega Red's survival; the carbonadium implants, while great offensive weapons, slowly poisoned him and he was required to regularly drain the life energy of a person, or perhaps take small amounts from larger numbers of individuals, in order to temporarily sustain his immune system. In order to stabilize his condition, Omega Red requires the "Carbonadium Synthesizer," a device that was stolen by Wolverine, Maverick, and Sabretooth during their final mission together as "Team X" and attempted rescue of double agent Janice Hollenbeck in the 1960s.^[4] It is because of his need for the Carbonadium Synthesizer that Omega Red has continuously sought out these three individuals over the years, believing they may know of its whereabouts. While Sabretooth and Maverick might have been aware of its location, it was eventually revealed that Wolverine actually does know where it is.^[5]

Omega Red also battled John Wraith in Berlin at that time.^[6]

At some time in the past the Soviet government decided that Omega Red was too unpredictable and treacherous to be relied upon, and so needed to be put in cryogenic suspended animation until a method could be found to control him. After the fall of Communism in Russia he was revived from suspended animation by Matsu'o Tsurayaba, who led his own renegade faction of the clan of ninja known as The Hand. Omega Red became a warrior serving Matsu'o Tsurayaba and was led to believe that Wolverine knew the whereabouts of the Carbonadium Synthesizer which could save his life, and sought him out in an effort to find this device. In doing so, he came into conflict with the X-Men many times. In their first encounter in modern times, Omega Red captured Wolverine.^[7] He fought and defeated Wolverine, and brought him to Tsurayaba, Fenris, and Cornelius in Berlin.^[8] He battled the X-Men,^[9] and was wounded by Psylocke and defeated by the X-Men and Maverick but escaped.^[10] Later, Omega Red battled and fell under the mental control of the Soul Skinner in Siberia. The Soul Skinner then used him to battle Wolverine and the X-Men. Omega Red was able to subdue the team and capture Wolverine and Jubilee and was then sent to capture Colossus, who had retreated. Omega Red eluded capture by Wolverine after the Soul Skinner's death.^[11] He later fought against Chamber of Generation X, but suffered a humiliating defeat.^{[volume & issue needed]} Ultimately, Omega Red failed to eliminate Wolverine and proved to be no more loyal to the Hand than he was to the Soviet government.^{[volume & issue needed]}

He has worked for Neocommunist organizations and tried to kill a member of the Americomp organization, but was stopped by Daredevil and Black Widow.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Omega Red was later employed by Russian gangster Ivan Pushkin to incite a war between the subversive terrorist organization HYDRA and the technology suppliers A. I. M.^{[volume & issue needed]}

While working for the drug lord known as the General, Omega Red was recruited by Sabretooth to attack Wolverine's friends and family alongside Lady Deathstrike. Sabretooth had promised both Omega Red and Deathstrike information on almost every mutant on Earth, but betrayed his new henchmen by teleporting away with Wolverine, his ward Amiko, and the information.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Omega Red is currently a crime lord (head of the Red Mafia) who poses as a legitimate business man, much like Wilson Fisk does in the U.S.^{[volume & issue needed]} At present, Omega Red has resumed his search for the Carbonadium Synthesizer.^{[volume & issue needed]} In Wolverine: Origins #6 and #7, Omega Red locates former Team X member, and now one of the numerous depowered mutants, Agent Zero a.k.a. Maverick, who is the only person that knows the location of the Carbonadium Synthesizer. This brings him into direct confrontation with Wolverine, who has also sought out Maverick in hopes of locating the Carbonadium Synthesizer. The result of this encounter is that Wolverine outsmarts Omega Red, landing him in the custody of S.H.I.E.L.D.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Months later it becomes known that the Russian black ops unit Red Room bought Omega Red's freedom with the hopes of using him to their own ends. Wolverine, Colossus, and Nightcrawler encounter him after he has freed himself from his master, however, and they engage in combat. Omega Red is largely impervious to Wolverine's claws; the Red Room had been experimenting on his body in an effort to enhance his healing factor. After Nightcrawler intervenes and knocks Omega Red unconscious, he is returned to S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.^[12]

Thanks to the enigmatic Romulus, Omega Red is transferred to a regular Russian prison to set a trap for Wolverine. Aided by Wild Child, their plan consisted of dropping Logan into molten steel. However, as Wild Child was preparing to finish the job, Omega Red interrupted him. While Wild Child and Omega Red battle each other, Logan managed to flee. A distracted Wild Child is consequently thrown into the molten steel by Omega Red after having his chest punctured.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Omega Red was killed after being stabbed in the heart with the Muramasa blade by Wolverine.^[13]

He later appears in Hell attempting to attack Wolverine by binding him with his tentacles, but is quickly taken down when Wolverine grabs him by the tentacles and flips him over.^[14]

Powers and abilities[link]

Omega Red is a mutant with superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability, agility, and reflexes, and the ability to secrete pheromones from his body typically referred to as Death Spores. The death spores result in the weakness or death of humans in his immediate vicinity. The severity of the effect is based on the endurance, health, and relative proximity of the victims. The spores are fatal to ordinary humans within seconds, though some superhumanly powered beings can withstand exposure to them for extended periods of time.

Implanted within Omega Red's arms are long retractable tendril-like coils made of carbonadium, an artificial alloy that is the former Soviet Union's attempt at creating true adamantium. Carbonadium is more malleable than adamantium and, while being vastly stronger than steel, is considerably less durable than adamantium. Carbonadium, however, is for all practical purposes virtually indestructible. Omega Red can cause the coils to shoot forward from openings in the undersides of his wrists in order to ensnare his victims. Omega Red is able to use the tentacles as highly effective offensive weapons, often brandishing them like whips during combat. The natural durability of the tentacles, combined with his physical strength, are sufficient to cause damage to most conventional materials.

Omega Red also has superhuman levels of stamina sufficient to engage Wolverine in combat continuously for over eighteen hours with no signs of fatigue. His bodily tissues are harder and more resistant to certain types of injury than those of an ordinary human. While he is not invulnerable, his body can withstand great impact and blunt trauma forces that would result in severe injury or death in an ordinary human. However, his resistance to injury is considerably enhanced due to the red armor that he wears. While it is unknown what the armor is composed of, it is sufficient to allow him to withstand powerful energy blasts from the likes of Chamber,^{[volume & issue needed]} and Wolverine's claws,^{[volume & issue needed]} without sustaining injury.

Omega Red has the ability, and need, to drain the life force of victims with his pheromones in order to sustain his own. Omega Red can likewise ensnare his victims within his tentacles, and use the coils as a conduit for his lethal pheromones. Due to the mutant "death factor" and the presence of the carbonadium within his body, Omega Red must drain the life force of others on a regular basis in order to sustain his own physical health and remain active. Omega Red can use these absorbed energies to, temporarily, increase his body's healing capabilities to the point where he can fully heal from a punctured lung within a few minutes. Only a device known as the Carbonadium Synthesizer can stabilize his condition, as carbonadium is the only metal that can neutralize the "death factor," thereby stabilizing it within his body.

Omega Red is an excellent hand-to-hand combatant and military tactician. He was trained in various forms of armed and unarmed combat by both the Soviet government and various organizations throughout the Japanese and Russian criminal underworlds. Highly intelligent, he has quickly become highly skilled in the management of criminal organizations.

Other versions[link]

Age of Apocalypse[link]

In the "Age of Apocalypse" timeline, there is a different version of Omega Red known only as Rossovich. Instead of a homicidal maniac, Rossovich appeared more sane and business-like. He had ties to the mutant underground and the black market.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Days of Future Now[link]

In the "Days of Future Now" story, Omega Red is a member of X-Force.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Ultimate Marvel[link]

In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, Omega Red is an enemy of Spider-Man. He is depicted as a mutant with a hatred of humans. At some point, he had been hired to attack a cargo ship belonging to Roxxon Industries as a conspiracy against its leader Donald Roxxon. After his fight with Spider-Man, he was arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D. However, he managed to escape when the Green Goblin escaped. His defeat by Spider-Man became public knowledge because of articles written by J. Jonah Jameson detailing his humiliation. Subsequently, his former clients blacklisted him. He blamed Jameson for the loss of his livelihood. When Jameson began writing articles critical of Roxxon, Omega Red went to the Daily Bugle office disguised as a janitor and ambushed Jameson in his office with the intent to do Roxxon a high-profile favor and restore his mercenary career. Unfortunately, Peter Parker happened to be in the Bugle office that day. Changing into his Spider-Man costume and bursting through Jameson's office window, he quickly subdued Omega Red, ultimately knocking him unconscious with a vending machine.^[15] His tentacles extend from the tops of his wrists instead of the bottom and appear to be organic, not artificial. He has demonstrated superhuman strength.^[16] He is later imprisoned in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Triskelion, and freed in a breakout by Electro hired by Norman Osborn along with Kraven, and Gwen Stacy, aka Carnage.^[17]

Several months later after the death of Spider-Man, Omega Red is seen resuming his work but is stopped by the second Spider-Man.^[18]

In other media[link]

Television[link]

• Omega Red appears in the episodes "Red Dawn" and "A Deal with the Devil" of X-Men: The Animated Series, voiced by Len Doncheff.^[19] In the original X-Men TV series produced by Saban, Omega Red claimed that the armor, like his tentacles, was made of carbonadium. Whether or not this means the armor in the comics is also made of the material is unknown.
• Omega Red appears in the episode "Target X" of X-Men: Evolution, voiced by Richard Newman. He is depicted as working alongside HYDRA as part of a deal to get revenge on Wolverine for something the Weapon X program did. Wolverine has no memory of who Omega Red is or what they did to him, but he swears vengeance upon them all, including Sabertooth, Wraith and Maverick. He was paired up with a HYDRA operative named Gauntlet to capture Wolverine and also ran afoul of X-23. With help from some HYDRA agents, Gauntlet and Omega Red managed to capture Wolverine and X-23 and brought them to the HYDRA Base where Madame Hydra is. While in the HYDRA base, Wolverine ends up fighting Omega Red and manages to defeat him. After the aircraft that Madame Hydra and Gauntlet were in crashes, Omega Red is then arrested by the arriving S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents.
• Omega Red appears in Marvel Anime: Wolverine, voiced by Ryuzaburo Otomo in the Japanese version and by J. B. Blanc in the English dub.

Film[link]

• Omega Red's name can be seen in X2: X-Men United on the computer when Mystique hacks into Stryker's computer.^{[citation needed]}
• Omega Red has appeared in the Hulk Vs segment "Hulk Vs Wolverine" voiced by Colin Murdock.^[20] He works with Weapon X (opposite of the comics) to capture Hulk so they can use him as their ultimate weapon. Like all members of Weapon X, he hates Wolverine, although he always gets annoyed by Deadpool. He is defeated by Wolverine and Hulk.

Video games[link]

• Omega Red is a Danger Room opponent in X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse for the SNES.^[21]
• Omega Red is a playable character in the Capcom fighting games X-Men: Children of the Atom, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2.
• Omega Red appears as a boss in X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse voiced by Steven Blum. He is encountered in the Beyonder's Sanctum within the Savage Land. He is shown working for Mikhail Rasputin. Omega Red stated that Apocalypse had promised him his own domain in Apocalypse's "new world order" and also stated that Beast was used to translate the symbols on the temple walls.
• Omega Red appears in X2: Wolverine's Revenge. He is shown as a prisoner of the Void until he is freed by Sabretooth. In the final scene, Wolverine lies on his bed realizing that he never found or defeated Omega Red. In the Gameboy Advance version, Omega Red is a boss.

Toys[link]

• Omega Red has also been made into an action figure.^[22] In 2007, Omega Red appeared as a rare figure in the Mutations & Monsters expansion set of the table top miniature game, HeroClix.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Omega Red at Marvel.com
• Marvel Directory's entry on Omega Red
• Uncanny X-men; Omega Red Profile
• Mutant High; Omega Red FAQ

Wiz Khalifa
Wiz Khalifa in Brooklyn, New York in August 2009.
Background information
Birth name	Cameron Jibril Thomaz
Born	(1987-09-08) September 8, 1987 (age 24) Minot, North Dakota, United States
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Rapper, singer, songwriter, actor
Years active	2005–present
Labels	Rostrum, Taylor Gang, Warner Bros., Atlantic
Associated acts	Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, Curren$y, Big Sean, Chevy Woods, Mac Miller, Juicy J, Tinie Tempah, Yelawolf, Maroon 5, Big K.R.I.T.
Website	wizkhalifa.com

Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by the stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper. He released his debut album, Show and Prove, in 2006, and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 2007. His Eurodance-influenced single, "Say Yeah", received urban radio airplay, charting on the Rhythmic Top 40 and Hot Rap Tracks charts in 2008.^[1] Khalifa parted with Warner Bros. and released his second album, Deal or No Deal, in November 2009. He released the mixtape Kush and Orange Juice as a free download in April 2010; he then signed with Atlantic Records.^[2] He is also well known for his debut single for Atlantic, "Black and Yellow", which peaked at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. His debut album for the label, Rolling Papers, was released on March 29, 2011.^[3]

Early life[link]

Khalifa was born on September 8, 1987 to a mother and a father serving in the military.^[1][4] His parents divorced when Khalifa was about three years old. His parents' military service caused him to move regularly: Khalifa lived in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan before settling in Pittsburgh where he attended Taylor Allderdice High School.^[1][4]

His stage name is derived from khalifa, an Arabic word meaning "successor", and wisdom, which was shortened to Wiz when Khalifa was a young boy .^[5] Khalifa stated to spinner.com that the name also came from being called "young Wiz 'cause I was good at everything I did, and my granddad is Muslim, so he gave me that name; he felt like that's what I was doing with my music." He got his stage name tattooed on his 17th birthday.^[6][7] He includes Jimi Hendrix, Camp Lo, The Notorious B.I.G. and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony among his influences.^[8]

Career[link]

[edit] 2005–08: Early mixtapes and Show and Prove

Rostrum Records president Benjy Grinberg first heard about Wiz Khalifa in 2004 when the rapper's contribution to a mixtape of various new Pittsburgh artists attracted his interest.^[9] When Grinberg finally met the 16-year-old artist, he immediately decided he wanted to work with him, later telling HitQuarters: "Even though he wasn’t all the way developed you could just tell that he was a diamond in the rough, and that with some polishing, guidance and backing he could become something special."^[9] Khalifa signed to the label shortly after and began a seven year period of artist development.^[9]

Khalifa released his first mixtape, Prince of the City: Welcome to Pistolvania, in 2005. The mixtape paved the way for his first full length album entitled Show and Prove in 2006. Khalifa was declared an "artist to watch" that year in Rolling Stone magazine.^[10][11]

In 2007, Khalifa signed to Warner Bros. Records and released two mixtapes through Rostrum Records: Grow Season, hosted by DJ Green Lantern and released on July 4, 2007, and Prince of the City 2, released on November 20, 2007. His debut Warner Bros. single "Say Yeah" reached number 25 on the Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 music chart and number 20 on Billboard's Hot Rap Tracks. The song samples "Better Off Alone" by Alice Deejay. Khalifa's vocals from "Say Yeah" appear near the end of Pittsburgh mash up producer Girl Talk's 2008 album, Feed the Animals, over music from Underworld's "Born Slippy", Usher's "Love in This Club", and the Cure's "In Between Days".^[12] Khalifa appeared with The Game, David Banner and Play-n-Skillz at U92's Summer Jam at the USANA Amphitheatre in West Valley City, Utah on August 2, 2008.^[13] Khalifa released the mixtapes Star Power in September 2008, and Flight School in April 2009 on Rostrum Records.

Khalifa parted ways with Warner Bros. Records in July 2009 after numerous delays in releasing his planned debut album for the label, First Flight. Khalifa stated to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that, "I learned a lot during my time there and matured as an artist during the process. I'm happy to be moving on with all of my material and having the chance to be in control of my next moves".^[14] Khalifa appeared with Girl Talk, Modey Lemon, Donora, Grand Buffet, and Don Caballero at the Amphitheatre at Station Square in Pittsburgh on July 31, 2009, where he announced that his relationship with Warner Bros. was over.^[15]

Wiz Khalifa performing at Columbia University in New York City in April 2010.

[edit] 2009–10: Deal or No Deal

Continuing his association with Rostrum Records, Khalifa released the single "Teach U to Fly", and the mixtape How Fly, a collaboration with New Orleans rapper Curren$y, on August 9, 2009.^[14] Khalifa introduced a more melodic style on the mixtape, alternating between singing and rapping. He opened for Wu-Tang Clan member U-God at the 2009 CMJ Music Marathon in New York City.^[16] Khalifa released the mixtape Burn After Rolling on November 2, 2009, where he raps over familiar beats from other artists, including the songs "If I Were A Boy" and "Diva" by Beyoncé, "Walking on a Dream" by Empire of the Sun, "Luchini AKA This Is It" by Camp Lo, and "Best I Ever Had" by Drake.^[17] Khalifa released his second album, Deal or No Deal, on November 24, 2009.^[18]

Khalifa performed at Emo's in Austin, Texas in March 2010 as part of the 2010 South by Southwest Music Festival.^[19] He appeared on the cover of XXL magazine that same month, for the magazine's annual list of Top 10 Freshman, which included Donnis, J. Cole, Pill, Freddie Gibbs, and Fashawn. Wiz Khalifa was named 2010 "Rookie Of The Year" by "The Source", with alongside Rick Ross, "The Man Of The Year".^[20] He toured with rapper Yelawolf on a 20-date tour, the Deal Or No Deal Tour.^[21] Khalifa released the free mixtape Kush and Orange Juice for download on April 14, 2010. Due to Khalifa's devoted grassroots fan base, the mixtape became the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter with the hash tag #kushandorangejuice, and "Kush and Orange Juice download” ranked No. 1 on Google’s hot search trends.^[22]

2010: Signing with Atlantic Records[link]

Citing music industry insiders, New York magazine wrote that Khalifa signed with Atlantic Records in April 2010, although the rapper did not confirm it.^[23] He stated to AllHipHop in June 2010 that he was working on a new album, but was weighing his options and had not yet decided on a label to distribute it.^[24] Khalifa confirmed to MTV on July 30 that he was signing an Atlantic Records deal.^[25]

Wiz Khalifa on stage in Boston in August 2010.

Khalifa was featured in a remix and video for the 2010 Rick Ross single "Super High", alongside Curren$y.^[26] He guested on the mixtape Grey Goose, Head Phones, and Thirsty Women by St. Louis rapper M.C,^[27] and was featured on the track "The Breeze (Cool)" on rapper Wale's August 2010 mixtape More About Nothing.^[28] Khalifa was named MTV's Hottest Breakthrough MC of 2010, winning with nearly 70,000 votes, and beating out finalists Nicki Minaj, J. Cole, Travis Porter, and Diggy Simmons.^[29]

Khalifa appeared at the Soundset 2010 festival in May 2010 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, alongside Method Man & Redman, Del the Funky Homosapien and Hieroglyphics, Atmosphere, Murs, Cage, and others.^[30] He also performed at the 2010 Rock the Bells festival, along with hip hop veterans Wu-Tang Clan, Snoop Dogg, Lauryn Hill, A Tribe Called Quest, Rakim, KRS-One, Jedi Mind Tricks and Slick Rick.^[31] Khalifa declined an invitation to tour with rapper Drake and launched his own "Waken Baken" tour, a 50-city national tour with rapper Yelawolf. The tour, scheduled to last from September to November 2010, has, as of October, sold out every venue.^[8] On November 2010, during his "Waken Baken" tour at East Carolina University, Wiz Khalifa was arrested for possession and trafficking of marijuana. He was then released the next morning after a $300K bail, and resumed his tour. Khalifa performed in a cypher during the 2010 BET Hip-Hop Awards. He recited his verse from the song, "The Check Point", from his mixtape with Curren$y, How Fly.^[32]

[edit] 2010–11: Mainstream success and Rolling Papers

Wiz Khalifa at SXSW in 2010

Khalifa released "Black and Yellow", his first single for Rostrum/Atlantic, produced by Stargate, which has received radio airplay.^[8][33] The single was peaked at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100; the title of the song refers to the colours of the City of Pittsburgh.^[34] Khalifa released his debut album with Atlantic Records in 2011.^[35] He appeared with Curren$y on the track "Scaling the Building" on producer Ski Beatz' 2010 album, 24 Hour Karate School.^[36] Khalifa's record label is Taylor Gang Records, named after his love of Chuck Taylor All-Stars^[8], and Taylor Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh, PA, where he graduated from.

On March 29, 2011, Khalifa released his first studio album, Rolling Papers. The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 197,000 copies in the United States.^[37] Shortly afterward on March 31, 2011 Wiz Khalifa performed at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia as part of the school's annual Dooley's Weekend.^[38] On June 26, 2011, Khalifa was nominated and won Best New Artist at the BET Awards of 2011.^[39] Khalifa collaborated with British rapper Tinie Tempah whom Tinie announced in an interview with Rolling Stone that his next single is to be called "Till I'm Gone" and would feature Wiz Khalifa and is to be produced by Stargate.^[40][41] The single and the video song were released at the end of June 2011.^[42]

Personal life[link]

Thomaz proposed to model Amber Rose on March 1, 2012 showing off the ring on Twitter.^[43] He is personal friends with Snoop Dogg, Juicy J, Yelawolf, and fellow Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller.^[44]

In March 2012, Thomaz purchased a 2.8 private wooded acres with a 3,891-square-foot residence in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, a small community southwest of Pittsburgh. The residence includes 5-bedroom, 4-bath eco-friendly, Brazilian Koa floors, stainless steel appliances, a separate guest house, and a lavish master suite with high ceilings.^[45] He currently resides there with his fiancée Amber Rose.

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• 2006: Show and Prove
• 2009: Deal or No Deal
• 2011: Rolling Papers
• 2012: O.N.I.F.C. ^[11][46][47]

Collaborative albums

• 2011: Mac & Devin Go to High School (with Snoop Dogg)
• 2012: TBA (with Taylor Gang)

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wiz Khalifa

• Official website
• Wiz Khalifa on Facebook
• Wiz Khalifa on Myspace
• Wiz Khalifa on Twitter
• Wiz Khalifa at MTV
• Non-commercial Wiz Khalifa mixtapes