Wale: Actually Worth the Hype
The buzz surrounding the 23-year old Washington DC rapper Wale has grown pretty loud in the last month or two. Everyone from Entertainment Weekly to Rolling Stone and XXL have profiled the guy. Hell, Urb even put him on the cover of their150th issue (Though I’ll admit that when I saw Wale surrounded by the creepy French biker-looking dudes of Justice, I thought that he was the token black member of the Ed Banger crew. Turns out, not so much.) So forgive me if I’m a little late to jump on the bandwagon. To be perfectly forthright, the phrase “Mark Ronson protege” didn’t exactly make me rush to check Wale out. Nothing against Ronson, he’s got a great ear. But as a rule, I don’t take hip-hop recommendations from people in fedoras. It generally works out to my advantage. This is the rare exception.
If you haven’t heard of Wale yet, be prepared to hear a lot more about him in the future, with rumors already swirling about a possible signing with Jimmy Iovine and Interscope. Judging from his excellent mixtape, 2007’s 100 Miles and Running, Wale’s one of those rare rappers capable of transcending the increasingly nebulous boundaries between the worlds of the commercial and the underground. Black Thought is his favorite rapper. He raps over everything from old Camp Lo instrumentals to “D.A.N.C.E,” name-dropping Zack Morris, mocking Soulja Boy and even managing to get Lil Wayne and Evidence to appear on the “Nike Boots remix.”
The Good Doctor Zeus (who you should all be reading by now) compares Wale to a cross between “Lupe Fiasco at his most accessible, Kanye West, Lil’ Wayne and Devin the Dude“ and those camparisons seem pretty dead-on. If you’ve often found yourself wondering where all the talented young rappers are (and yes, this is probably a valid question to ask), download Wale’s free mixtape below. He’s proof-positive that every now and then people who wear fedoras aren’t all bad.
Download:
ZIP: Wale-100 Miles and Running Mixtape (Left-Click)
MP3: Wale ft. Lil Wayne & Evidence-”Nike Boots Remix” (Left-Click)
February 4th, 2008 at 9:26 am
weiss, i’m actually surprised it’s taken you this long to do a write-up on wale. but, yes, i also saw the urb magazine cover and was like, “they’ve got a black dude on ed banger? all i need is a mixing board, and there’s hope for me, yet!” but, in all seriousness, wale is probably the best rapper around that’s poised for mainstream success.
and speaking of taking hip-hop recommendations from kids in fedoras, have you listened any of crooked i’s “hip-hop weekly” freestyles, yet?
February 4th, 2008 at 10:59 am
[…] a move that proves Weiss of POTW does not listen to the SRO monthly indie mix hotness, he posts today about his like for the yet to […]
February 4th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Yeah, but Black Thought’s his favorite rapper? That doesn’t bode well, does it? I’ve always thought that the Roots could have been great had it not been for Black Thought’s very uneven skillz.
February 4th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
In theory, it probably doesn’t bode well, but to be to be fair to the kid, I actually think he’s a lot more entertaining that Black Thought ever was. Technically though, Thought’s a good model to follow, I don’t think many rappers can handle 16 bars better than Black Thought. For me, The Roots always worked better when Thought had a foil like Malik B and Dice Raw or the collaborations with Common, Q-Tip and Mos Def on Illadelphalflife, which is still by far my favorite Roots record.
February 4th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Roberts:
Black Thought is an emcee’s emcee.
I don’t know what you mean about uneven. He absolutely killed “Game Theory.” He’s not flashy, just solid as hell. If you mean uneven in the sense of charisma and swagger, well Jim Jones is good for that. But Thought is a master of live shows, off the head freestyles, and has countless bangers under his belt on a technical level. And the Roots really piss me off..
February 4th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
[…] http://passionweiss.com/2008/02/04/wale-actually-worth-the-hype/ […]
February 4th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Man, that Nikeboots song fucking sucks. To join the debate, Black Thought kills this guy.
February 4th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Not to get into a debate between Black Thought and Wale because their night and day different but…
Black Thought is certainly a very, very solid emcee on wax but he’s transcendent live which in some respects is an aspect of emceeing that is almost forgotten these days. I’ve seen the Roots twice and Thought tore down the house.
February 5th, 2008 at 11:51 am
I’m still trying to decide whether or not I’m just convincing myself to like Wale b/c he’s one of the very few rappers around who seem interested in experimentation while still maintaining a solid grasp of more traditional boom-bap elements - like the joint where he raps over Lily fucking Allen is easily the worst thing on his tape (although “Rehab” is pretty awful too) but I have to give him credit just for being willing to try it - though on the UK collaboration tip it’d be way more interesting to see him get a beat or two from a big name grime producer like Wiley or Jammer. Also, after half a dozen listens or so his rhymes start to wear thin, cause he’s not actually saying that much - I mean I’m not trying to criticize a free mixtape that was in my top 10 hip hop releases for 2007, just saying a lot of it’s ear candy. Thus I’m kinda dubious that his rhyming would stand up minus sugary pop hooks - whatever, clearly dude is intelligent and I hope that he proves me wrong and comes out with an official album that’s just as good.
February 7th, 2008 at 11:58 am
wow