Wale (rapper)

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Wale

Background information
Birth name	Olubowale Folarin
Born	September 21, 1984 (1984-09-21) (age 23)
Origin	Washington, DC, United States
Genre(s)	Hip hop
Occupation(s)	Rapper
Years active	2005-present
Label(s)	Allido Records/Interscope
Website	[[1]]

Wale (pronounced wah-lay) was born Olubowale Victor Akintimehin but known as Wale Folarin, on September 21, 1984), is a Washington, D.C. area hip hop artist who has recently gained national and international attention for his mixture of hip-hop and go-go music. He is the cousin of Gbenga Akinnagbe who portrays the character of Chris Partlow on the hit HBO series The Wire.

1 Early years
2 2005
3 2006
4 2007
5 2008
6 Mixtapes
7 Songs
8 Featured Songs
- 8.1 Nike Boots
9 References
10 External links

[edit] Early years

Wale was born to Nigerian parents in Washington, DC. He grew up on Peabody Street in Northwest DC and moved to Largo, Maryland as a teenager. He attended seven different high schools in Washington, D.C. and Maryland, finally graduating from Quince Orchard High School in 2001. He went to Robert Morris College and Virginia State University on football scholarships, and then Bowie State University but dropped out in 2004 to pursue music full-time. Before music started paying the bills, Wale worked day jobs at Sprint, Up Against The Wall and Downtown Locker Room.

[edit] 2005

Wale emerged onto the local DC hip hop scene with the help of WKYS-FM's DJ Alizay. Wale began getting radio play in 2004 with a single called "Rhyme of the Century" which got Wale in the June 2005 "Unsigned Hype" section of Source magazine and his buzz started growing.

[edit] 2006

In early 2006, Wale released a single called "Dig Dug" which was an homage to Ronald "Dig Dug" Dixon, a former member of legendary go-go band, the Northeast Groovers. A small controversy arose over the usage of the Northeast Groovers sample and Dixon's namesake. However, after realizing Wale was a fan of the group, the riff ended.

"Dig Dug" became popular in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia, collectively known as the DMV (in recent times). 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. A white label 12" of "Dig Dug" appeared on various DJ websites and soon, DJs from D.C. to Atlanta to Los Angeles were playing "Dig Dug."^{[citation needed]} Wale followed up with the single "1 Thing About A Player," another go-go influenced song that samples the Backyard Band's "Keep It Gangsta." Again, the song was popular in the region and caught the ear of New York rapper Jae Millz. Jae Millz would eventually appear on the remix to "1 Thing About A Player" in late 2006.

In July of 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^[1], 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.

In October of 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 of 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^[2] 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 ^[3]. 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^[4].

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.

[edit] 2007

In January 2007, Wale released a new single to radio called "Good Girls." Daniel Weisman gave the song to Mark Ronson and on February 23, 2007, Ronson began playing the song on his East Village Radio show ^[5]. 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 ^[6]. In April of 2007, Ronson asked Wale to join him on a UK tour to promote the release of his newest album^[7]. 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 30,000 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^[8].

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, NV. ^[9].

Wale was also featured in the October 2007 issues of XXL^[10] and Rolling Stone ^[11]. 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 Magazine'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.

[edit] 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.

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

On March 12, 2008, Wale announced on 93.9 WKYS that he had signed with Interscope.

On April 29, 2008, the new Roots album entitled Rising Down was released, featuring Wale on several tracks. Wale's relationship with the Roots began when Black Thought heard a song recorded as a tribute to himself on Wale's 2007 mixtape 100 Miles & Running and contacted Wale.

On May 30, 2008, Wale released his 4th mixtape, The Mixtape About Nothing,^[12] for free through www.elitaste.com and 10deep.com entitled "The Mixtape About Nothing" in collaboration with the streetwear brands Commonwealth and 10 Deep. 10 Deep will also be releasing the "Serenity Now" Tee in collaboration with Wale's release of this mixtape. The majority of the mixtape was produced by DC's own 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.

[edit] Mixtapes

Hate is the New Love - 2006

Paint A Picture - 2006

100 Miles & Running - 2007

The Mixtape About Nothing - 2008

[edit] Songs

"Dig Dug (Shake It)"
"Uptown Roamers"
"One Thing About A Playa"
"Ice Cream Girl"
"W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E"
"Back In The Go Go" (Featuring Bun B & Pusha T of Clipse)

[edit] Featured Songs

"Rising Up" The Roots featuring Wale & Chrisette Michelle

[edit] Nike Boots

"Nike Boots" (Original Version)
"Nike Boots" (Remix) (Featuring Lil Wayne)
"Nike Boots" (Dipset Edition) (Featuring Max B, Freeky Zeeky & Lil Wayne)^[13]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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