Wale World: Mixtape about nothing rated one of the best on hot new hip hop

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Mixtape about nothing rated one of the best on hot new hip hop

Hip hop dx did a mixtape wrapup and wale made the list.... yay for wale

Wale - A Mixtape About Nothing (Mixed by Nick Catchdubs)

Wale been kept the DMV in peoples mouths for 2008. Everything from his numerous collaborations, mixtapes placements and his off the wall Hip Hop interpretations of Seinfeld on A Mixtape About Nothing. To even manage to get a couple Seinfeld characters to co-sign (Elaine) was a feat in itself while intertwining certain episodes to correlate what he was trying to say on the tracks. Wale started the year, most notably with "Nike Boots" [click to view] and the phenomenon of Weezy F. Baby blessing the remix. Then he appeared on The Roots' Rising Down [click to read] album alongside Chrisette Michelle on the track "Rising Up." A Mixtape About Nothing showcased Wale and his range. As much as he could hang with veterans like The Roots, he also showed he could kick it with Lindsay Lohan, while still keeping your ear to his "Perfect Plan." "The Kramer" shows Wale speaking about a subject most notably challenged by Nas on Untitled [click to read]. "The Crazy" shows Wale asking himself why he is not understood or over peoples heads."Artistic Integrity" even caught the eye of Rik Cordero [click to read] who proceeded to bring a video to him. Now while, Wale displays and embodies the portrait of the future of Hip Hop, he also has a wide range that spans from the Mark Ronson cosign, to him jumping on beats not normal to your usual hip-hop rapper (see: Duffy). A Mixtape About Nothing did a good job of reaching fans outside of Hip Hop while still maintaining the core element that keeps fans wanting more. The bigger the range your music spans, the more chances for success, and Wale is definitely on his way.

HERE IS THE FULL ARTICLE

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Wale and how he came up

Wale was born on September 21, 1984 to Yoruba Nigerian parents in Washington, D.C.^[1] He grew up on 6000 Peabody Street in Northeast DC and moved to Largo, Maryland as a teenager.^[2]. He attended seven different high schools in Washington, D.C. and Maryland^{[citation needed]}; finally graduating from Quince Orchard High School in 2001. He played tailback on his high school football team.^[3]

He went to Robert Morris College and Virginia State University, and then Bowie State University but dropped out in 2004 to pursue music full-time. Before music became a viable source of income, Wale worked day jobs at Sprint, Up Against The Wall and Downtown Locker Room.

Career

2006

"Dig Dug (Shake It)" became popular in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. It was also very popular in eastern North Carolina. The song became the most requested song by a local artist in D.C. radio history and Wale was the first local artist to get any BDS spins since DJ Kool in the early 1990s. The song was included in Wale's first mixtape, Paint a Picture.

In July 2006, Wale hired Daniel Weisman, a former club DJ and promoter, as his manager. In September 2006, after dropping another go-go influenced single, "Breakdown", sampled from Huck-a-Bucks "Sexy Girl", and a mention in The Washington Post.^[4] Wale released his first non-go-go original single, "Uptown Roamers." On Thursday September 14, 2006, "Uptown Roamers" debuted on XM Radio Channel 66 and was played twice in one day. Both "Breakdown" and "Uptown Roamers" were on Wale's second mixtape, Hate Is the New Love.

In October 2006, Wale debuted three ringtones and two wallpapers on Jamster and performed at Howard Homecoming at Howard University, where he caught the eye of Def Jam A&R and Jay-Z's engineer, Young Guru. Later in October 2006, Wale, performed at Bowie State University in Bowie, Maryland for their homecoming concert.

In November 2006, a feature ran on AllHipHop.com's Breeding Ground ^[5] about Wale. The day before Thanksgiving, Wale took the stage between Lil Wayne and T.I. during the Southern Invasion tour at the Verizon Center.

In early December 2006, Wale won the award for "D.C. Metro Breakthrough Artist of the Year" at WKYS' Go-Go Awards ^[6]. On December 15, The Fader magazine associate editor Nick "Catchdubs" Barat visited Wale for an interview and photo shoot which appeared in the March 2007 issue of The Fader^[7].

Wale has an upcoming promotional campaign with Remy Martin and XXL Magazine. He has also been linked to boutique streetwear brands The Hundreds, 10 Deep and Good Bully, as well as lifesyle brands Stussy and LRG.

2007

In January 2007, Wale released a new single to radio called "Good Girls" produced by Gerard Thomas and Demario Bridges for TeamMusicGroup ." Daniel Weisman gave the song to Mark Ronson and on February 23, 2007, Ronson began playing the song on his East Village Radio show ^[8]. A week later, at Ronson's studio, Wale recorded a freestyle for Ronson and in exchange, Ronson put Wale on an unreleased remix of Lily Allen's "Smile" which appeared on a number of music blogs around the world on March 13th, 2007 ^[9]. In April of 2007, Ronson asked Wale to join him on a UK tour to promote the release of his newest album^[10]. In June of 2007, Wale signed to a production deal with Ronson's Allido Records.

On June 24, 2007, Wale's "Ice Cream Girl" with TCB, was featured on the show Entourage, on HBO.

Wale often has prominent go-go band UCB join him for his shows.

Wale released his third mixtape, 100 Miles & Running, on July 11, 2007 as a free download on his myspace page. To date, the mixtape has been downloaded over 60,000 times. This mixtape includes features from Mark Ronson, Daniel Merriweather, Amy Winehouse, and Lily Allen. It was released on the same day as his performance at the Highline Ballroom, in Manhattan. The Highline show was to promote the US release of Mark Ronson's album and included performances by Mark Ronson, Wale, Saigon, and Daniel Merriweather. Jay-Z, Beyonce, Kanye West, Maroon 5, Clive Davis, Eve and Danny Masterson were all in attendance. There, Wale was interviewed by MTV News correspondent J.D. Tuminski for his first national TV feature, which was released on August 16, 2007^[11].

Wale performed "W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E.", from his 100 Miles mixtape, at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada.^[12].

Wale was also featured in the October 2007 issues of XXL^[13] and Rolling Stone ^[14]. The Washington Post profiled Wale on the front page of the Sunday Style section in the October 21st, 2007 edition. Wale is featured on the cover of URB's 150th issue along with French electro group, Justice.

iTunes released "Nike Boots" as a free download on November 13th, 2007 as its "Single of the Week." On Christmas Day 2007, Wale debuted the "Nike Boots Remix" featuring Lil Wayne and Green Lantern on his myspace page. Wale and Lil Wayne played a Nike Boots event called DC Stand Up at Ibiza Nightclub in DC on January 15, 2008 which was sponsored by Nike and Footaction.

In the November 30th, 2007 issue of Entertainment Weekly, Wale is featured as one of 8 people to watch in 2008 along with actors Simon Pegg and Rachel McAdams.

2008

On January 25, 2008, Wale and Mark Ronson, on Ronson's East Villagio Radio show, hinted that Wale was in the process of signing with Jimmy Iovine at Interscope Records and On March 12, he announced on 93.9 WKYS that he had signed with Interscope.

On February 1, 2008, Wale launched a website with his manager called Elitaste.com.

On April 29, 2008, the new Roots album, titled Rising Down, was released. Wale was featured on the song "Rising Up" along with Chrisette Michele. Wale's relationship with the Roots began when Black Thought heard a song recorded as a tribute to him on Wale's 100 Miles & Running mixtape and contacted Wale.

On May 30, 2008, Wale released his 4th mixtape, The Mixtape About Nothing,^[15] for free through www.elitaste.com and 10deep.com in collaboration with the streetwear brands Commonwealth and 10 Deep. 10 Deep also be releasing the "Serenity Now" tee in collaboration with Wale's release of this mixtape. Everyone who purchased the "Serenity Now" tee also received a hard copy of The Mixtape About Nothing. The majority of the mixtape was produced by DC's Best Kept Secret.

In the June issue of the German Hip-Hop magazine JUICE Wale announced that his upcoming debut-album will feature production credits from Mark Ronson, Kanye West, Just Blaze, 9th Wonder and the French electronic music duo Justice.

In the June/July 2008 issue of Giant Magazine, Wale announced he is making a new mixtape called Back to the Feature, which will be produced by 9th Wonder.^[16]

In a recent interview with Washington Post's Express, Wale announced that he was recording a song with Chrisette Michele called "Shades" for his upcoming album, which discusses inter-black racism. Wale also said content like in The Mixtape About Nothing will be on the album.^[17]

In a Elitaste interview, Young Chris said about Wale, "We’re ready to do a mixtape together; we ain’t got the name nor the DJ yet, but we’ve had some good talks and we’ll get that mixtape out."^[18]

Wale stopped into Travis Barker’s studio in August 2008 to rap a verse for Travis’ solo album, Travis then performed live drums on a Wale album cut, “G Told Me” produced by Sean C & LV (”Roc Boys”).^[19]

On October 9, Wale announced that he was going to shoot a video for "Nike Boots." Also on the same day, Wale released a remix of M.I.A.'s song "Boyz" via the Elitaste website.

On October 9th, a track titled "5 Minutes" featuring Skyzoo leaked. It is the first track off the LRG x Wale x 9th Wonder mixtape, titled Back to the Feature.

Wale also appeared on Interscope label mate DJ Greg Street's single Dope Boys which samples Hip Hop classic T.R.O.Y. alongside Lupe Fiasco and Kardinal Offishall. He will also appear in the video. ^[1]

On December 20th, "Chillin'" which is produced by Cool N' Dre, was leaked.