Olubowale Victor Akintimehin, better known by his stage name Wale, is an American rapper from Washington, D.C. He rose to prominence in 2006, when his song “Dig Dug (Shake It)” became popular in his hometown. Wale became locally recognized and continued recording music for the regional audience. In 2008, Wale signed to Interscope Records for $1.3 million, and his debut album Attention Deficit was released in 2009 with the singles “Chillin,” “Pretty Girls,” and “World Tour.” The album, although under-shipped, received positive reviews from critics in early 2011. Wale signed on with Rick Ross’ Maybach Music Group, where members of the label released a compilation album, Self-Made Vol. 1, on May 23, 2011. His second studio album, Ambition, was released Nov. 1, 2011, with mixed reviews. His third studio album, The Gifted, was released on June 25, 2013 to mainly positive reviews; it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. He was nominated for BET’s Best New Artist award in 2010. In 2011, he was nominated for BET’s Best Collaboration, and he won the award for Best Club Banger for the song “No Hands.” He was also nominated for Best Hip-Hop Video and Perfect Combo in 2012 for the song “Lotus Flower Bomb,” and in 2013 he was nominated for Best Album of the Year and Best Lyricist of the Year.
Back in 2011, Wale was the first mainstream artist to shut down the music downloading site “Hulkshare” with his album “Ambition.” It started when he reached one million followers on Twitter and used the social media site to build widespread anticipation for the Nov. 1, 2011 release date of Ambition. All of this promotion for the album led to renowned file sharing site “Hulkshare” to be shut down in the first four seconds of posting the link.
Wale’s forthcoming album, The Album About Nothing, is scheduled to be released March 31. The Maybach Music Group rapper originally made the announcement via Twitter in December, shortly after releasing his collaborative mixtape with A-Trak, Festivus. TAAN will serve as Wale’s fourth album overall and third underneath the MMG imprint. His label boss, Rick Ross, confirmed during an interview with Billboard at the Grammy Awards that the project should arrive on schedule. The Album About Nothing features 14 tracks, including the previously released “Girls On Drugs,” “The Body,” and his latest offering with Usher, “The Matrimony.” In addition to including Jerry Seinfeld’s commentary, the album will also include features from SZA and J. Cole.
For the release of his next album, Wale has changed things up and decided to have three different album covers. A week before he drops his fourth album, The Album About Nothing, the DC spitter has unveiled the third cover for the project. In his own words Wale described his third album cover saying, “This third cover was all my idea. This is essentially what the album is to me, a moment of clarity and a moment of expression. This cover is me staring blankly into nowhere. Jerry [Seinfeld] is not there, he’s in my mind. This album is of Jerry speaking as my conscious. The evil voice and the positive voice, he is both of them. Maybe I’m talking to myself. Maybe I’ve lost my mind. There lies a story.” It takes a huge part from the “Seinfeld” series, as he actually was at the Diner where many scenes were recorded from the hit show and is his all-time favorite T.V show. He actually met Jerry Seinfeld following a stand-up show a few years back, and they’ve since struck up a friendship that led to a full collaboration on the new album. The songs on Nothing were built from conversations between the two, and Seinfeld shows up to provide insight during interludes and introductions. “Jerry is like the conscience of the album,” says Wale. So as the anticipation builds for the album’s release on March 31, it combines an idea of life and some personality traits about Wale as well so be on the lookout for The Album About Nothing in stores soon!
Marcelus Council-Jones is a third-year student. He can be reached at MC785844@wcupa.edu