Wiz Khalifa Goes Back to Warner, Third Time, and He Brought His Old Project Manager With Him

Wiz Khalifa is back in the Warner building. Variety reported this week that the Pittsburgh rapper signed with 10K Projects, the Warner-owned label, and put out a new single called "The Calm" through it the same evening. Variety also reported that an album is likely in the coming weeks.

Here's the part that matters. This isn't a cold signing. It's a reunion. Variety reported that the deal puts Wiz back with Marsha St. Hubert, his close friend and former project manager, who is now co-president of 10K Projects. That's how this business really works. Artists don't sign to logos. They sign to people they trust, and when those people move up, the artist follows.

St. Hubert said it straight in a statement to Variety: "I'm excited to welcome Wiz back home to WMG as we reunite to embark on a new era together at 10K Projects. From day one, Wiz has not only been one of the most innovative and talented artists I've ever worked with but one of the most stand up guys you can meet." She said the team was "looking forward to picking up where we left off and continuing to make history together."

Now the timing. Variety reported that on Thursday Wiz received 12 new RIAA certifications. The big one is a 16-times platinum certification for "See You Again" featuring Charlie Puth, plus two new Diamond plaques, meaning 10-times platinum, for "Black & Yellow" and for "Young, Wild & Free" with Snoop Dogg. You do not get a better press week to announce a deal. Somebody planned that.

For context, Wikipedia's entry on Wiz still lists "See You Again" at 14-times platinum, so Thursday's update pushed it two levels higher. That record was cut for the "Furious 7" soundtrack as a tribute to the late actor Paul Walker, and it sat at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 non-consecutive weeks. It is one of the biggest rap-adjacent records ever made, and it lives at Atlantic, a Warner label.

Which brings us to the history, because Wiz calling this "third times a charm" is not a figure of speech. Variety reported that he signed with Warner Records at 18, then moved to Atlantic Records four years later and had a long run there. Wikipedia's account fills in the steps: he started with Pittsburgh independent Rostrum Records, whose contract went into a short-lived joint venture with Warner Bros. Records in 2007, and his Eurodance-flavored single "Say Yeah" got urban radio play in 2008. He split from Warner Bros., independently released "Deal or No Deal" in 2009, and signed with Atlantic in July 2010.

Atlantic is where he became Wiz Khalifa the brand. "Black and Yellow," his hometown anthem for Pittsburgh, went to No. 1 on the Hot 100 and got two Grammy nominations, according to Wikipedia. "Rolling Papers" in 2011 peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. "Blacc Hollywood" in 2014 was his first album to open at No. 1. "Rolling Papers 2" in 2018 hit No. 2 again behind the sleeper single "Something New" with Ty Dolla $ign.

So when Will Dzombak, co-founder of Taylor Gang and founder of the William Gerard Group, told Variety, "3rd times a charm," he meant Warner Bros., then Atlantic, now 10K. "Having one of our close friends, Marsha, in the role of Co-president makes the team and projects that much better," Dzombak said. "We have been working together for over a decade and a half and pumped to share with the world everything we have in store."

Constance Schwartz-Morini, co-founder and CEO of SMAC Entertainment, which manages Wiz alongside Taylor Gang, called it "a full-circle moment." "Coming back to Warner at this stage in his career with Marsha, who has been an integral part of his journey from the beginning, makes it even more special," she told Variety. "There's such a strong foundation there, and we are so excited to win with the 10k team."

Let's talk about 10K Projects itself, because it's not some random imprint. Wikipedia describes TenThousand Projects as a label founded in 2016 by British executive Elliot Grainge, originally called Strainge Entertainment. It now operates under the Atlantic Music Group umbrella, which Grainge leads as CEO. So in plain English, Wiz is going back to the same family tree that holds his biggest masters, under the man running Atlantic's whole operation.

The record itself: Variety reported that "The Calm" was written by Wiz, Eric Dan, Kenneth Wright, Edward Murray, Mackenzie Stotts and Jermal J Harper, and produced by Wiz, Dan, Wright, Sledgren and Ricky P. Wiz has a writing and production credit on his own record, which tells me he's steering this run himself.

One more Warner detail that's worth knowing. TenThousand Projects Holdings is one of the 23 Warner companies that sued Luxottica, the Ray-Ban and Oakley owner, on Oct. 9 in Manhattan federal court over music allegedly used in social media ads without a license, according to the complaint. That case has nothing to do with Wiz, but it tells you the label he just joined is in the middle of Warner's push to get paid for every second of music brands use.

Here's my take. A 39-year-old rapper with a 16-times platinum record does not need a label for distribution. Taylor Gang could put out "The Calm" tomorrow on its own. What 10K offers is people, a marketing machine and a co-president who has run his projects before. For a veteran trying to land one more real album moment, that's the deal that makes sense.

What we still don't know: the terms. Nobody has said whether this is a one-album deal, a joint venture with Taylor Gang, or a full artist contract, and nobody has said who owns the new masters. We also don't have a title or date for the album Variety says is likely coming. When those details surface, we'll know whether this is a homecoming or just a good press week.