So, after a bidding war, Wale signed to Interscope that March for a reported $1.3 million. By early 2008, it was time to call in the really big guns. The first of these was producer Mark Ronson (fresh off his Grammy-winning work on Amy Winehouse's Back to Black), who signed Wale to his Allido label, put him on tour, got him on a Lily Allen remix and the VMAs, and more. By the time it was published in March 2007, Wale was ringing out everywhere, and it was time for the big names to start swooping in. In December, Fader came through to do a story on the rising talent. That August, Wale got some serious love from the Washington Post (“A rapper by the name of Wale has figured out how to fuse a mainstream-friendly hip-hop sound with go-go in a way that could detonate a hip-hop trend branded with the three stars and two bars of Washington's flag,” they enthused). He eventually signed to a local label, Studio 43, for his 2006 mixtape Hate Is the New Love. The success of that first effort led to Wale being featured in The Source’s “Unsigned Hype” column, which upped his buzz and led to more music (including a popular tribute to a local go-go hero). The tune quickly got a ton of attention and airplay around the D.C. Wale’s very first song, “Rhyme of the Century,” came out sometime around 2004 (reports differ, with some placing it a year earlier, and some a year later).

He’s also seen the other side: poor sales, label issues, feuds, and bad press. The one constant is Wale, who, as he'd admit, can be his own enemy.īut he started out strong. He’s known the heights of success: gold albums, hit singles, critical love, and affiliation with the rap game’s biggest names. Shine's less-than-stellar showing is just the latest bump in a long road for the D.C. I put it on me, I don't put it on Atlantic.' He also shouldered responsibility for Shine 's first week sales, saying, 'I didn't create enough awareness like I should have. During Wale's appearance on Everyday Struggle Monday, he addressed his career-long commercial ups and down, acknowledging that he's been 'bitter' in the past, citing his angry phone call with Complex in December 2013. But Folarin’s excitement did not translate commercially, as the record moved just north of 25,000 units in its first week.

Wale the gifted underrated