Cole at the 1stBank Center on Tuesday, Oct. “We share the same, like, theories and philosophies on making music.” “We’ve been friends for a long time, good friends for a really long time,” Wale says of Cole. Wale, who will have a new stage set for the tour and will be backed by a live band, sees this as a compatible tour package. Cole on a fall tour that runs through Oct. Wale is promoting The Gifted by opening for J.

“Heaven’s Afternoon” is a raw rap tune that is brightened by a background string melody. “Gullible” comes with a melodic vocal segment from CeeLo Green. “Sunshine” is highlighted by soulful backing vocals that bring a strong melodic dimension to this hip-hop tune. Meanwhile, Wale also weaves a good deal of soul throughout the album’s 15 tracks. “Bricks” (which features vocal contributions from Yo Gotti and LyfeJennings) backs its dark, topical lyrics with silky strings and horns. “Golden Salvation (Jesus Piece)” mixes big-beat rap and a healthy dose of gospel. “The Curse of the Gifted,” for instance, is a fairly stark rap tune but is sprinkled with a few touches of jazz along the way. For this album, Wale wanted to show both his musical range and also have more of a focused, soul-infused sound.įor the most part, Wale achieved those goals, as he adds a variety of musical flavors to the rap sound that anchors most of the songs. Wale’s career was officially back on track. 2 on the Billboard album chart with first-week sales of 162,000 copies. He went to work on Ambition, and with an extensive multi-tiered marketing campaign launched ahead of the album’s November 2011 release, it debuted at No. Indeed, Wale plowed forward, landing a new record deal with Mayback Music Group, the label owned by superstar rapper Rick Ross. I was mad that it happened, but I didn’t think my career was in shambles or anything like that.” was always behind me, so I never was worried about that at all. I knew I was going to be alright,” he says. Wale took what for many artists might seem like a catastrophic setback in stride. Interscope wasn’t satisfied and dropped Wale from its roster. 21 on the Billboard album chart with sales of 28,000 copies. The album, though, became one of the few setbacks Wale has experienced. Wale continued to crank out mixtapes - three critically acclaimed ones - before the November 2009 release of his first album, Attention Deficit.

He followed up that song in fall 2006 with another single, “Uptown Roamers,” which got airplay on XM Radio and was included on Wale’s second mixtape, Hate Is The New Love.īy then, Wale had been discovered by super-producer Mark Ronson (known for his work with the late Amy Winehouse and Christina Aguilera, among others), and in 2008 this alliance paid off with a joint record deal with Ronson’s Allido Records and major label Interscope Records. So far, Wale has done a good job of achieving that overriding goal, as his career has, for the most part, been on a steady upswing.īased out of Washington, D.C., Olubowale Victor Akintimehin, 28, made waves initially on the vibrant local scene in 2006 with a single, “Dig Dug (Shake It).” It became the most requested song by a local artist in Washington, D.C., radio history and was featured on Wale’s first mixtape, Paint a Picture. “There’s a bit of competitiveness in me that makes me always want to challenge myself and do better than my last one,” he says. He wants to improve musically with each album as well.

As Wale sees things, it’s part of his nature to always want to outdo himself, and that doesn’t stop with album sales and commercial success.

1 on Billboard magazine’s album chart upon its release in late June. The Gifted certainly took a step in that direction for Wale (pronounced wah-lay), debuting at No. “I guess that’s what success is, doing better than the previous, or equally as well as the previous, album.” “That’s my biggest, like my spiel, is doing better than my last album,” Wale says. He named his second album Ambition, after all.Īnd on his recently released third CD, The Gifted, he touches on the subject on the more-or-less title song, “The Curse Of The Gifted,” saying, “Success is like a never-ending battle” and “to top all of my last shit is all that I ask of.” Rapper Wale has never made a secret of his desire to have each of his albums outsell the others and attain major popularity.

Wale the curse of the gifted lyrics