So, way back in November, when Wale was just blowing up, I stareted writing this interview. I went through all the strain of writing the interview, setting it up, and writing it up, but vibe ultimately passed on it. So, here it is for you, cuz somebody might as well read it (If you make it to the end, there is a prize!):D.C. native Wale is quickly becoming a major voice for the Mid-Atlantic region. Take an emcee with deep ties to his community, and add Mark Ronson’s diligent hand and tutelage, to develop a unique voice the likes of which has yet to be heard in hip-hop. Wale has been building a career that is fueled off of determination. He’s one of the few rappers that can boast touring Europe before acclaim and you can bank that it’s based more on talent than connections. He has yet to drop a full length, but has mix tapes that draw as much attention as his Nike boots and tighter than status quo jeans, and least hood-wise. Throw in verses over Justice’s D.A.N.C.E remix, and it seems pretty certain that this voice won’t remain encapsulated in the eastern seaboard for long. Rightfully so, and with a lot to say on D.C. Go-go music, the industry as a whole, and the labels that support the industry he’s dedicated to taking over, he manages to work both willingly with the system and keep his guns drawn.
MS/ VM: What unique aspect do you feel you add to hip-hop?
Wale: Being from a different region; the mid-atlantic, or DC to be exact, ain’t nothing really come out of there with a lot of commercial appeal. It would be pretentious of me to say that I’m marketable, but I guess they call me marketable. I understand the concept of lyrics and song making. Lyricism and song making is rare in hip-hop, period, right now.
VM/ MS: Being a DC emcee, you have a large go-go element as a background. Do you and Mark and who ever else is responsible for your beat production, plan on drawing that into your beats, or do you have something else in consideration?
Wale: Oh yea, we’re gonna do it. Like I’ve said in every interview, the greatest advice Jay-z ever told me was to just make the best possible song you can make. So I’m just going to make the best possible music. If that happens to be something with Go-Go music, then we’re going to attempt it, but if I don’t feel like, in my heart of hearts its justifiable good- something that the people where im from can relate to, or it sounds watered down at all, then no one is going to hear it. But We’re going to try. We’ve been successful thus far, but the album is going to be a whole body of work, and its gotta flow together; one whole consistent picture with several colors.
MS/ VM: On the track "the People", from your A Hundred Miles And Running mixtape, you paint a vivid localized image of you being the liaison to the rest of industry- how do you see yourself connecting people?
Wale: This is how the ‘ambassador’ title came. I do a lot to help other artists. I help out producers; I have producers that did one of my first singles, and then we get to work with Rhymefest, Talib Kweli, Clipse, and the Entourage thing is a good look. My manager understands how important this is to my, and he takes producers that he likes and he tries to get them placement. That’s the type of stuff that I do. Me being the liaison, or ambassador, or whatever you want to say, that’s the thing that I’m trying to do. I can’t say that I’m going to kick down the door and everybody is going to get in, but I’m going to make it my duty to try and help other people out. Because there is money in this music business, and why not give out the opportunity?
MS/ VM: It's said that you have had a career prior to being signed that was almost as intense, in comparison to those with label deals. This is in terms of touring. What effects will that have on you as an artist? Do you think that it could potentially take away from some of the edge that comes with being a newcomer?
Wale: I could be bougie a little bit, in a sense, because I’ve done a lot before my deal, but its just going to make me work harder. Right now, I don’t have any resources. I have a couple of friends, and a manager, and collectively we sleep about 5 hours a day all put together. Basically, all we’re going to do is use our resources and go crazy on ‘em, you know? We have this person or that person’s phone book, we looking at more money, more opportunities, more Wale, more Mark Ronson, more Daniel Weisman, more Rich Kleiman.
VM/ MS: What can we look forward to on your album? Who are you working with?
Wale: Ronson is going to do most of the album, but JustBlaze is going to do some stuff. Young Guru is going to step away from the mixing boards and do a couple of things on the album. Kanye said…, me and Kanye talked and said we would do a couple of things together. I also want to do some things with Justice, and Calvin Harris, and Adam London. Calvin Harris’ got some things that I think could fit well with me and Mark’s sound.
MS/VM:
You seem to approach hip-hop in a way that isn't all hood-rap, but aware of all sides of the street- so to speak, if you had your way, how would you want listeners to classify you?
Wale: The thing is that I feel that the most successful people in this business are the people that is most comfortable in their skin. Like Jeezy is 100% a motivator, He lives what he’s talking about, while he lived it. I don’t go around glorifying it, but I understand it enough. I understand it from a narrative, because I have a lot of friends who grew up in that, and I grew up in that, and I just want to tell their story because they can’t rap, or just tell it a little better because I have more people listening.
And I’m comfortable; I live in the Washington D.C. suburbs at this particular time in my life, and I’m comfortable. I’ll go on TV, cuz its not like I’m out there flippin’ birds or nothing, but more or less, to define me in one sense: I’m not out there doin’ it, but if you need it, I can make it happen. I’ll call my man, you know what I’m saying? It’s a narrative. I feel like I’m the one that everybody wants to know, but my hands are clean. That way I don’t feel like im contradiction, in any sense. I’m not trying to poison the kids, or anything like that, but at the same time I’m not trying to save the world either. That’s not my fight. My fight is to make great music, and to motivate people, and for people to understand my story and my train of thought. If in the process, I write a record, and at that point in my life I feel like somethins’ really on my heart, then I’m going to express it, and hope that people relate to it, as they have to all the rest of my records.
MS/ VM: What albums have defined your youth; hip-hop or otherwise?
Wale: Most of the go-go music that came from 92’- 99’, that’s been the soundtrack of my whole growing up. Also Doggystyle, Bob Marley & The Wailer’s Greatest Hits, the first or second Jodicie album, Kris- Kross’ first album. Just anything I could my hand’s on; Tribe, [Camp lo’s] Uptown Saturday Night, albums like that.
MS/ VM: Are there other, non-musical aspects of your life that you pull on for creativity? Family, politics, cultural (ie fashion, art, etc).
Wale: I’m around positive people, like chilling with my manager and my friends, Zay, Dan, my girl, my family, people like that. They re-inspire me to be the person that I am, the person that I write. Being around a whole bunch of people that need favors is not the life I want to live. That’s kind of the life that a lot of musicians choose. They surround themselves with a lot of people that need stuff, and I surround myself with a lot of people that I need. I need my people, my friends, and my family.
VM/ MS: Black thought has had a big influence on you as well-what is it about his style that you like?
Wale: His flow, man. It’s just his flow is so confident, so amp’d, and I hear he’s got a memory like an elephant. He just memorizes everybody’s lyrics verbatim, and his style is so cut and dry and straight to the point. It’s just his whole aura when he raps, like Jay got it. I don’t like saying Jay anymore because I know him pretty good, now. I don’t like saying “Oh Jay is such an influence on me”, even though I told him last time we were together, I was like “Man, I really look up to you”, but I was drunk. So I don’t really know Black Thought, I ain’t even met him, so I can say that, til I meet him, then I’ll have to say somebody else.
MS/ VM: How did you develop your flow?
Wale: It derived from a lot of different things. Like, Jay, both the members of Camp Lo, Lil’ Wayne, Lupe; I take from everything. I feel like that’s how you get good at what you do. Kobe takes from Jordan; Jordan was still playing when Kobe was playing.
Everybody takes from everybody. Like when I played football, I modeled my game after Berry Sanders and Warrick Dunn, those are the people I look up to, so I took from both of them.
VM/ MS: Being a native of the D.C. area, what do you think on the popularity of the 930 club?
Wale: You ready, for this? I’ve never been to the 930 club, I probably dove past it, or maybe I was there on a drunken night or something like that. They have “go-go” there, but I’ve never been to a go-go at the 930 club. Only clubs that I know for- real, for- real is that Mark Bonds got it on smash and Abdul got it on smash. That’s where I go when I go out, but go-go could really be anywhere.
MS/ VM: With some of the music that you use as a beats, you move outside of traditional hip-hop, and this has been said to cross over into your fashion as well. How would you respond to being categorized as a “blipster”/ “hipster”?
Wale: I don’t even know what a hipster is. You ain’t gonna find no hipster in D.C. or Maryland, period. I feel like I embody; for the most part maybe I might dress differently than a lot of people, but the way I dress is the way a lot of people my age is dressing now back home. Secondly, I don’t even understand what a hipster is, like I can’t wait till I get an opportunity to see what that person in Complex Magazine meant, cuz I kinda took that personal.
Just cuz I’m working with a white producer, does that mean I’m a “blipster”, or whatever that is? It’s like, are you serious? I like MUSIC. That’s the first thing you should hear when you hear about me. You should be like “He’s eclectic.” I wanna rap on everything, anything that sounds good. There isn’t anybody you can hear the beat to that “D.A.N.C.E” and say it’s not a great beat. Just because I ain’t tryin to rap on snap music, what does that mean? Hip-hop beats just don’t inspire me that much anymore. If you ask any of the top producers, candidly, what they think about the production going on in Hip-hop music, they’re going to tell you that it’s uninspiring. So when you hear something fresh, which is like our music, or you hear somebody rap on some Euro-dance music, then you’re like “Yea!” If that makes me a hipster then you know, give me some bellbottoms or whatever they wear.
Download his smash mixtape for freeeee, here!
