Wiz Khalifa lands on the cover of lifestyle magazine Submerge, and in the cover story he talks the building of his record label Taylor Gang, how he built his machine from the ground up, and what it’s like to be rap’s most famous stoner. Interview, below.

When you were growing up, who were your favorite rappers, and with that, who did you mold yourself after?
When I was young it was Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, and then in my early teens I really got into Wu-Tang and more classic hip-hop. Then, when I was like 16, that’s when I got into Dipset. There were a bunch of rappers, but I was also into rappers movements. Cam’ron and all those guys, I just really liked their whole movement. I always loved Snoop, he never changed in my eyes. But yeah, out of all those, Cam’ron was my biggest idol. I still freak out when I see him.

And I see you got him on your new album.
Yup, and I’m still freaking out.

I really respect the fact that you don’t load up your albums with features and keep it simple with one or two.
Yeah, I try to keep it organic. These are people that I really have relationships with. I speak to Too $hort [featured on Rolling Papers] everyday, hit him with a text or whatever. We’re all friends outside of rap.

With all the success you’ve earned over the past couple years, how much of it was planned? 
Well, I’ve always wanted to be a guy that was known not only for making music, but also for having the best brand. I always wanted to be known for being more than a musician. I’m not necessarily trying do what everybody else has done, but do what I do best. I think through that I’ve been able to capitalize and make some good moves. I took the long road, took the time to go through and work out all the details, that’s what put us in the best position.

Head over to Submerge to read the rest of the article.