Artist Spotlight - Wale

DMV's own Wale (pronounced Wall-A) is now a bonafide rockstar! Actually he's like a rapstar, but you get the idea. Since the release of his third mixtape, 100 Miles and Running, over two years ago he has continuously blessed us with great music. Whether it is the Go-Go inspired "Breakdown", the thoughtful "The Kramer", or the lyrical re-thinking of The Roots instrumental "Work" Wale has always kept it entertaining. Now signed to Mark Ronson's Allido Records and managed by Jay-Z's ROC Nation one can only assume that his career is just now really blossoming. Now I used to question how sick he was on the mic. When I heard 100 Miles and Running I liked it, but mainly because of the beats and because I could tell he was having fun making the music. I wasn't ready to give the kid too many props. Then I heard The Mixtape About Nothing and I could tell that Wale had stepped up his lyrical game. Not to mention all the Seinfeld clips, references, and the totally F'n cool Julia Louis-Dreyfus appearance. That mixtape was one of the best thought out pieces of work I'd heard in a while. Fast forward to earlier this year when I heard that Wale was coming out with a new mixtape with tons of features from other rap artists. I was really anticipating that joint because the idea sounded cool. So after MONTHS of waiting Wale finally dropped Back to the Feature on June 19th featuring artists such as Talib Kweli, J.Cole, Curren$y, Joell Ortiz, Peedi Peedi, Bun B, Big Sean, and Jean Grae. I was very impressed by this effort because all the guests brought something to the table. This wasn't him saying that "I know a lot of people and I'm gonna show off my connects!" It was more of a "Let's get a lot of talented people together and make some dope music!" Wale's debut album, Attention: Deficit should be released on September 22nd of this year. It features his current single "Chillin" featuring Lady Gaga and production by Cool & Dre, Mark Ronson, and Sean C & LV. I'm hoping for some Go-Go inspired tracks because he is really the only dude I know that can flow over a Go-Go beat and still make it sound cool. He has free downloads to all three of his mixtapes via MySpace so check the kid out if you haven't already.

My Personal Wale Soundtrack:

Bonafide
Chillin' featuring Lady Gaga (video below)
The Artistic Integrity
W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E. (video below)
Hot Shyt featuring Peedi Peedi, Young Chris, Black Thought, and Tu Phace

http://www.myspace.com/wale
http://www.walemusic.com/