Jackson Free Press

Wiz Khalifa is probably the hottest rapper in hip-hop today. Source magazine recently named him Rookie of the Year, and MTV named him the Hottest Breakthrough MC of 2010. "Black and Yellow," his current record, has spent time at No. 1 on the iTunes hip-hop chart and in the top 20 on Billboard's Hot 100 list.

The artist's music resides in that post-Drake space of modern hip-hop, where melodic song structures merge with a tough, yet endearing exterior. His previous tour this year, "Waken Baken," sold out 55 venues in 60 days.

On Dec. 18, Wiz Khalifa brings his blazed-out rhymes to Club Fire for a special performance. Often, Jackson catches artists when they have passed the peak of their emergence. Tour stops here tend to be an afterthought. Next time Wiz Khalifa stops in Mississippi, it will most likely be in a much larger, less intimate venue.

Chris Cajoleas, who is responsible for bringing Wiz Khalifa to Jackson, started Lost Legend Entertainment in 2006 to bring these kinds of shows to the Jackson area. Cajoleas, a 20-year-old international-business major at Mississippi State, has been booking shows across a number of genres coast to coast for the past four years. But being a Jackson-area native, his passion is growing the music scene, especially hip-hop, in the city.

"I am going to do my part to keep contributing to this movement in hopes that it continues to grow and blossom," he says. "The Jackson area has the potential, people and desire to thrive. It's just a matter of bringing everyone together to make it work."

Part of this, as he sees it, is changing the attitudes of artists and their representatives when it comes to booking shows in Jackson.

"Being from Mississippi," Cajoleas says, "you already have a wall to break down when approaching an agent about his or her artist due to the stereotypes on entertainment down here. That's something I know I can't change alone, but I am hoping to change as much as I can regarding that mindset and stereotype."

Cajoleas sees his work as being akin to the things people like Ron Chane, Josh Hailey and Kamikaze, and clubs like Martin's, Hal & Mal's and Freelon's have done: work hard to change people's perceptions about the possibility of Jackson as an artistic and music destination for touring musicians.

In the midst of Jackson's renaissance, things are beginning to change as promoters, artists and agents see the potential here, thanks to the work of Cajoleas and his contemporaries. Bringing Wiz Khalifa here at this point in his young career certainly helps that cause.

Wiz Khalifa performs at Club Fire Dec. 18. The all-ages show starts at 7:30 p.m. and features MiMOSA, and Mississippi's Big K.R.I.T. and B.O.M.B. Squad. Advance tickets are $22 at http://www.fireclubjackson.com or $25 at the door.