mgk, MOD SUN, y Wiz Khalifa

Born Derek Smith in Bloomington, Minnesota, Smith changed his first name to Dylan after turning 18, and adopted the moniker MOD SUN shortly afterwards. The performer’s earliest musical excursion came playing drums in the post-hardcore band Four Letters Lie, where he remained until 2009. That year he joined the band Scary Kids Scaring Kids as the drummer, where he was given the creative freedom to pursue his own interests and debuted MOD SUN as a opening act. It was therefore natural for Smith to continue to performing as MOD SUN following Scary Kids Scaring Kids’ disbandment in 2010.

The rapper’s debut release was the mixtape “I’ll Buy Myself” in 2009, followed by the subsequent mixtapes “Let Ya Teeth Show” and “How to Make A MOD SUN”. The following year, significantly raising MOD SUN’s profile, the rapper issued the EP “The Hippy Hop” and the single “Need That”. 2011 proved a busy year for the rising star with the release of the EP “In MOD We Trust”, the mixtapes “Health, Wealth, Success, & Happiness” and “Blazed By The Bell”, as well as the single “Paradisity”. In collaboration with The Ready Set, MOD SUN issued the single “All Night, Every Night” in 2012, which was succeeded by the EP “Hippy As Fuck” later that year. After another busy year in 2013, MOD SUN signed with Rostrum Records in 2014 who issued the hippy-hop rapper’s debut full-length album “Look Up” in March 2015.

Born to a military family, Wiz Khalifa’s early years were spent moving from country to country, never truly able to call one place home. This international upbringing has been reflected in the rapper’s music and found him success with his 2008 single “Say Yeah”, which featured Wiz Khalifa’s rap lyrics over a Eurodance track.

Taking inspiration from a variety of artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and Notorious B.I.G., Wiz Khalifa plays with a range of musical styles within his tracks, but all are equally melodic.

Known for cultivating a strong fan following from a grassroots level, Wiz Khalifa found his popularity continue to increase after the release of his free mix tape “Kush and Orange Juice”. The mix tape generated so much excitement from fans that it ended up being the number one trending topic on Twitter shortly after its release, and led the rapper to sell out every gig in his 2010 “Waken Baken” tour.

Moving away from Warner Brothers due to delays in releasing his material, Wiz Khalifa switched to Atlantic Records in 2010 and released single “Black and Yellow” shortly after. The single hit the number one spot in the US charts and earned him a Grammy and MTV VMA Award nomination.

The success of this single bolstered anticipation for Wiz Khalifa’s 2011 studio album “Rolling Papers”, which debuted at number 2 on the US Billboard charts. It wasn’t long before this success was repeated when Wiz Khalifa’s 2012 album “O.N.I.F.C” once again debuted in the US number 2 spot with single “Work Hard, Play Hard” reaching number 3 in the rap charts.

Unprepared to rest on his laurels, Wiz Khalifa formed his own record label Taylor Gang Records and has collaborated with Curren$y on a collaborative EP. Furthermore, Wiz Khalifa upped his own achievements yet again with the release of his fifth studio album “Blacc Hollywood” in 2014, which hit the number one spot in the US Billboard charts.