Yeah, I was once totally dismissive of Wiz Khalifa's first-class lifestyle rap. I wrote it off as tattoo/weed/shoes rap—stupid me, he don't rap about shoes; he raps about Louis Vuitton Damier luggage! For real, though, Wiz is an underground phenom like we haven't seen in years: Dude sells out all but a couple of his tour dates across the country, his mixtapes fly off the digital shelves, and he's got a nation of kids who never watched an N.W.A. video lacing Chucks and screaming Taylor Gang. He's savvy enough and so dedicated to his own movement that he turned down two looks that most of the thirsty fucks around here would have killed their favorite first-grade teacher for—namely, signing with Rick Ross and touring with Drake. Plus, he's a staunch pro-joint activist, which is near to my heart. Unlike some of y'all suburban thugs and your square-ass parents, I grew up around older folks chiefing on those Zig-Zags, and I never liked tobacco. This "blunt or nothing" weed ethic that's pervaded hiphop trips me out; "Keep the muthafuckin blunt in your pocket loc," remember that? In my opinion, die-hards cracking Swishers on the Fresh Coast means NYC won; way to go, shitheads. So the "paper plane" movement is a welcome bit of retro that all our lungs can breathe a sigh of relief at. Anyway, Wiz is coming to Showbox Sodo with Yelawolf on October 15, and it's been sold out for a month; you might be better off hitting the afterparty at Venom that night. (Ticketless young'ns should console themselves with Grieves & Budo, Type, Knowmads, and Griff J at the Vera Project the same day.)

Or maybe you're all grown and miss-me-with-the-kid-shit; well then hit up Bilal at Nectar on October 16 with Xperience and DJ Topspin, hosted by Choklate. Nectar is an awesomely intimate room to hear one of contemporary soul's most stirring voices, Bilal's Airtight's Revenge is sick, Xperience is a monster, Chok is dope for putting it together—and Tribal Music cofounder DJ Topspin reps soul in this city like no other. A truly world-class selector and blender with his ear to everything everywhere, Top is the motherfucking man.

Yo, I know the tall-can set has kinda backlashed on my girl M.I.A., but her last album, Maya, is a global-pop beast on the low—I'm hella gonna see her at the Showbox at the Market on October 17 with her girl Rye Rye, so go for yours.

Whatever you do, though, make damn well sure you come out screaming for the inaugural City Arts Fest, and the Blue Scholars, Brother Ali, Macklemore, Fresh Espresso, Mash Hall show at the freakin' Paramount on October 20—it's one for the history books. The Scholars will no doubt be doing a lot of material from their next LP, Cinematropolis, and it so far sounds like their best shit yet. The day of the show, Macklemore is rereleasing his and Ryan Lewis's VS. EP with remixes from Jake One, P Smoov, and Budo—now go crazy.