Stream Wiz Khalifa & Curren$y’s Collaborative Album 2009
A decade ago, Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y were major-label refugees trying to figure out what their careers would be. This was a whole different era of the rap internet, when mixtapes were moving away from being slimline-cased CDs sold on street corners, when they were just starting to flourish on websites like DatPiff. And in the summer of 2009, Wiz and Curren$y joined forces to release How Fly, a smooth, effortless, endlessly listenable collaborative mixtape. Today, they’ve done it again.
After How Fly came out, Wiz and Curren$y went on vastly different career paths. Wiz leveraged his surging mixtape popularity into becoming a straight-up pop star, one with multiple #1 hits. Curren$y, on the other hand, stayed underground, cranking out music at a dizzying pace and maintaining his cult-hero status. (Fetti, the collaborative 2018 project he released with Freddie Gibbs and the Alchemist, was well worth your time.) But fans have never stopped asking for Wiz and Curren$y to reunite. And now they have.
Today sees the release of Wiz & Curren$y’s new collaborative album 2009, a warm and nostalgic callback to what might be the best work of either guy. On first listen, the new album is just as smooth as you might hope. It’s got guest appearances from Ty Dolla $ign and Compton rapper Problem, and beats from producers like Dame Grease, Harry Fraud, Cardo, and DJ Fresh. More importantly, it has Wiz and Curren$y sounding like they’re really enjoying rapping together again. Stream it below.
And while you’re at it, stream the original How Fly:
2009 is out now on Jet Life/Atlantic, and Wiz and Curren$y are heading out on tour together this summer.