Wiz Khalifa on Weed, Creativity, and Wellness

I once dropped my cell phone into a toilet at a strip club.

"Freakin' fuck!" I said, pacing the two feet of the stall, trying to weigh my options. How did this happen, you ask?

I was covering Wiz Khalifa's album release party there for a magazine, had several free drinks, and had to pee. I had slipped my phone in the back pocket of my jeans, which was not smart, but I was not of sound mind at the time—not because of the drinks (I have the tolerance of an Irish bouncer) but because I had clearly caught contact from one of the cigar-sized blunts Wiz was smoking. I decided to take the L and left the phone floating sadly in what I assumed was sperm-ridden toilet water.

I clearly cannot handle weed like Wiz Khalifa. He is basically a rapping, walking joint. His brand has been immaculately built on that reality. While some science still side-eyes the correlation, Wiz touts marijuana's effects on his creativity and on his physical and mental health. He even has his own brand of vape pens. So basically, he's paid to continue his indulgent and bud-centric lifestyle with ample incentive.

While the manner in which weed affects our health has been debated since the days of charas-smoking deities in 15th century BC Hindu scriptures, recently expanded legalization has allowed for a shift from the term "stoner" to "marijuana health advocate." And while Wiz tends to stay away from labels in general, he shares with us the way weed affects his mind and body, along with his take on wellness and his superior body image.

How does smoking affect your creativity—your songwriting, specifically?

Smoking just helps to free my mind, slow my thoughts down and think about everything not only in a more poetic way but in a more creative way in general. Just taking my realest ideas and being able to put [them] on paper. It just makes it more vivid. And like I said, I'm able to just relax and be free. I like to smoke before, during and after I'm making music.

You're a storyteller on a lot of tracks—especially on Khalifa. Do you think smoking makes artists like you more open and vulnerable as far as sharing your personal thoughts?

I would definitely say it makes you more vulnerable and open to sharing personal thoughts. Back in the day people just got stoned and had dope conversations—that's how a lot of songwriting began and how a lot of great concepts came to be. So for me, I just enjoy some weed and being free open to [share] a message if you're trying to say something and get a point to get across as well.

What is your personal creative ritual when it comes to weed?

My main ritual is to roll out six at a time. I've been doing that ever since I met Snoop. He was like, this is just the thing to do. You always gotta have six rolled. So as soon as I wake up, I roll six of them. When I get to the studio, I roll six. If I show up to a video set, I gotta have six of 'em rolled. And that's when I start.

What's with the number six?

I don't know. It's just a comfortable number of joints to have. You're going to smoke a few to the head. You're going to smoke a few with the homies so six is just a really good number to not have to keep rolling up over and over and over again.

Would you get thrown off if you had seven in front of you?

Oh nah. It's all good. Sometimes we roll 20.

Do you feel like the vape has a different impact on your creativity versus a regular joint?

I wouldn't necessarily say it affects my songwriting; I just think when you get high off a vape it's a different type of high. I like to mix the two. One doesn't really outweigh the other one. It just depends on the day. Sometimes you just wanna get super baked and light some crazy shit but sometimes you want to keep it regular and do it how you always do.

Which one gets you super baked?

I wouldn't say the vape gets you more baked, but when you're doing both at the same time…like, I'm always going to be smoking flowers. But if I'm smoking flowers and I hit the pen, it's definitely going to take me to the next level.

Your current concert tour is called the Wellness Retreat. What made you name it that?

We wanted everybody to feel good about everything—music, pot, and getting away with having a good time. It's me and Snoop hitting up a couple of cities that we didn't get to hit up on the High Road tour and we're going to do our joint set, but a little smaller [scale].

I was looking through your Insta earlier and realized that I rarely ever see you with a shirt on. You seem to have a great body image.

I totally do. You know me growing up kind of skinny, I wasn't looked at as the preferable body type when I was younger. Girls were kind of into bigger guys and stuff like that. But I always had confidence. Still, even [after] all the food that I ate, I never gained any weight. I just don't gain weight, you nah mean? As far as working out and staying healthy, I always try, because the older you get the more things start to affect you. The stuff you eat, your environment, lack of sleep and stuff like that…so I feel like throughout the years of me being conscious of that at an early age, it kept me in the game body-wise.

How is smoking weed linked to your other wellness habits?

I feel like everybody I know has different regimens. I know some people smoke weed and go crazy and eat everything. Or they smoke weed and drink pop and eat chips and their bodies look kind of crazy, but I've never been one of those dudes. I just think being conscious of what goes in and out of your body is [important]. And me smoking—I think that's probably the worst thing that I'm trying to do to my body: Put smoke in there and have it come out. Alcohol's pretty bad too. So it's like, those two things—those are the worst things I'm really trying to do to myself. Other than that it's going to be building myself up and making [myself] feel better.

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