Despite not being signed to a major label, he was met with positive press from a number of sources, ranging from XXL magazine to The New York Times.Īfter a bidding war that included offers from Epic, Atlantic, and Def Jam, Interscope finally grabbed Wale for its roster in early 2008. Wale struck a production deal with Ronson's own imprint, Allido, and released the 100 Miles and Running mixtape that summer.
Smart use of the Internet and MySpace was also a big factor in his success, as it helped über-producer and DJ Mark Ronson (known for his work with Amy Winehouse, Christina Aguilera, and Rhymefest) to catch wind of the go-go MC in 2007. like the popular "Dig Dug," a tribute to Ronald "Dig Dug" Dixon of go-go band the Northeast Groovers. Many of those records sampled from '80s go-go - a rawer, percussion-driven offshoot of disco originating in D.C. In 2006, Wale signed with the local start-up imprint Studio 43 and enjoyed a string of hits in the D.C./Maryland/Virginia area that year. This landed him in the Unsigned Hype column in Source magazine the following year.
He got his first airplay circa 2003/2004 with "Rhyme of the Century," thanks to the help of a local radio DJ who believed in his potential. The music bug had already bitten him hard, though, and soon he quit college altogether to turn to a recording career. He attended both Robert Morris College and Virginia State University on football scholarships, and eventually transferred again to Bowie State. Although the family moved to Maryland when the future rapper was ten years old, Wale was mostly raised in suburban D.C. in 1984 to Nigerian immigrants who'd arrived in America five years earlier. Olubowale Victor Akintimehin was born in Washington, D.C. In the 2020s, he has added to his discography with an EP, The Imperfect Storm (2020), and his seventh album, Folarin II (2021). The rapper closed out the 2010s with Wow.That's Crazy (2019), his fourth solo full-length release to enter the Top Ten of the Billboard 200. The proper full-length studio releases were supplemented with numerous mixtapes, featured appearances on hits by the likes of Waka Flocka Flame and Rick Ross, and starring roles on multiple volumes in Maybach's Self Made compilation series. These hits, such as "Lotus Flower Bomb" and "Bad," supported albums that regularly landed near or at the top of the Billboard 200, including the chart-topping The Gifted (2013) and The Album About Nothing (2015). Most of the major singles that ensued for him, however, were melodic slow jams spread across the tail-end of the 2000s and well into the late 2010s. The self-proclaimed "Ambassador of Rap for the Capital," Wale (pronounced "wah-lay") was able to transcend his status as local sensation and become a national rap contender using go-go-inspired hip-hop as the vehicle for his clever wordplay and music.
0 kommentar(er)
