Wiz Khalifa plays EMU on Monday.

Double-platinum rapper Wiz Khalifa will perform at Eastern Michigan University’s Convocation Center on Monday, about a week after his new album, Rolling Papers, dropped. He is making his way to Ypsilanti on his “Green Carpet Tour.” He's joined by fellow Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller.

The MC broke into the mainstream scene with his double platinum hit single “Black and Yellow", which hit #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100. His breakthrough success has been accompanied by accolades from media like MTV News, which named him the “Hottest Breakthrough Artist of the Year” in 2010. He is on the cover of Rolling Stone’s “Hot List Special: New Faces 2011” issue for winning their “Hip-Hop’s Rookie of the Year” distinction.

Khalifa has also had numerous television appearances, including his recent interview with BET late night talk show host Mo’Nique and performance at BET’s 2011 "Rip the Runway" fashion show. Other than touring, Wiz is working with Snoop Dogg on an upcoming stoner comedy called "High School."

The 23-year-old has found a big audience in the last year or so, but he reminded Mo’Nique that he has been around for a while now: “I’ve been working for a long time, just on a smaller scale. My core fan base and my cult following, as people would call it, they’ve been knowing about me for about seven or eight years. I’ve been really putting out mix tapes and getting in some magazines and some publications and touring, and just putting in a lot of the groundwork that’s gonna be able to last forever,” he said.

Khalifa has released nine mixtapes since 2005, including the popular "Kush & Orange Juice" in 2010 and his newest, "Cabin Fever," which are available as free downloads. After his first album, "Show and Prove" (Rostrum 2006) was released, Rolling Stone named him an “Artist to Watch.” He released his second independently produced album,"Deal or No Deal," through Rostrum Records in 2009 after an unfruitful stint with Warner Bros. He signed with Atlantic to put out his newest album.

The strong fan base he has gained goes by the name of the Taylor Gang. (Wiz reportedly loves Chuck Taylor shoes.) With his breakthrough success, he seems to be enjoying his new mainstream fan base. “Now, I finally feel like with the hit and the cross over into the mainstream success that my new fan base is gonna get to grow and get to know me the same way the old fans know me,” he told Mo’Nique.

“Black and Yellow” put Khalifa on the map and boosted Pittsburgh, the home of the black-and-yellow-clad Steelers football team. The song became like a theme song that was played at games, and Wiz performed it at the AFC Championship game between the Steelers and the Jets.

Of Pittsburgh, Khalifa says; “We’re on the east coast, but we got more of a midwest location, you known what I’m saying,” he said to Mo’Nique. We’re close to New York and New Jersey and Philly and all those things. But we’re also really close to Ohio and the DMV area (D.C., Maryland, Virginia) and stuff like that. Then we got a lot of west coast influence. Our sound and what we’re influenced by, it’s a variety.”

In another interview, Wiz told the Riverfront Times (St. Louis) about how his varied musical influences impact his sound: “I grew up listening to everything, a lot of Bone Thugz N’Harmony, a lot of West Coast music, a lot of Snoop of course, a lot of stuff from down South too. I grew up on everything. That’s kind of what makes my style versatile as it is.”

His third studio album, Rolling Papers, hit stores and the web March 29. So far the three singles that have been released have all received a lot of play. Along with “Black and Yellow,” two other singles from the album have placed on the Billboard Hot 10:. “Roll Up” (Stargate) features singer Cassie and “On My Level” (Jim Jonsin) features Too Short.

An interesting feature of Khalifa’s creative process is that he does not write down his songs before laying them down in the studio. "Rolling Papers" was created more on the fly. He told Mo’Nique; “Writing kinda slowed me down and I feel like I got a more natural feel when I would just go in the booth and really just make it up as I go."

The new album’s title exemplifies Wiz’s unabashed enjoyment of cannabis. He readily admits to indulging in it. It has gotten him into legal trouble in the past. He was arrested at a show at East Carolina University after officers searched his tour bus.

Wiz talked about making a movie and soundtrack with Snoop Dogg in an interview with Rolling Stone at the recent SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. “Me and Snoop are working on a movie, 'High School.' It should be coming out pretty soon. We’ve got the soundtrack on with it too, which is a really big deal because it’s basically like me and Snoop’s album. It’s me and him going back and forth on songs the whole time."