Wale (rapper)

Olubowale Victor Akintimehin (born September 21, 1984), known professionally as Wale (/ˈwɔːleɪ/ WAH-lay), is an American rapper. He first became known for his 2006 song "Dig Dug (Shake It)", which became popular in his hometown of Germantown, Maryland and led Wale to gain further local recognition as he amassed a number of follow-up releases. He signed a recording contract with English DJ-producer Mark Ronson's Allido Records in 2007, which, after a three-label bidding war, entered a joint venture with Interscope Records for US$1.3 million the following year. During this time, Wale's mixtapes and singles saw national attention as he appeared on MTV and various Black America-focused magazines.

Wale's debut studio album, Attention Deficit (2009) was under-shipped and thus underperformed commercially, but saw positive critical reception and spawned his first Billboard Hot 100 entry with its lead single, "Chillin" (featuring Lady Gaga). He continued gaining mainstream recognition with his guest appearance alongside Roscoe Dash on Waka Flocka Flame's 2010 single "No Hands", which peaked at number 13 on the chart and received diamond certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). He then signed with Florida-based rapper Rick Ross' Maybach Music Group, an imprint of Warner Records the following year to release his second album, Ambition (2011). Supported by the Grammy Award-nominated top 40 single "Lotus Flower Bomb" (featuring Miguel), the album saw further critical and commercial success, and peaked at number two on the Billboard 200. His third and fourth albums, The Gifted (2013) and The Album About Nothing (2015), both debuted atop the chart; the former was led by the single "Bad" (featuring Tiara Thomas), which peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains his highest-charting entry as a lead artist.

Wale shifted for a lighter, commercially-oriented approach with his next three albums: Shine (2017), Wow... That's Crazy (2019), and Folarin II (2021). They spawned the Billboard Hot 100-charting singles "My PYT", "On Chill" (featuring Jeremih), and "Poke It Out" (featuring J. Cole), respectively. Folarin II marked his final album with Maybach Music Group, and he signed with Def Jam Recordings in the following year of its release.

Olubowale Victor Akintimehin was born on September 21, 1984, in Northwest, Washington, D.C. His parents were both from the Yoruba ethnic group of southwestern Nigeria and came from Austria ^{[citation needed]}to the United States in 1979. Wale's family first lived in the Brightwood neighborhood of Northwest, Washington, D.C., and then moved to Montgomery County, Maryland, when Wale was 10. In 2002, he graduated from the Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg and moved to Largo in Prince George's County. Wale attended Robert Morris University and Virginia State University on football scholarships, then transferred to Bowie State University. However, he dropped out due to academic reasons. Wale's love of the game of football and the team then known as Washington Redskins has led to a longstanding rumor that Wale had a tattoo of tight end Chris Cooley. He is the cousin of actor Gbenga Akinnagbe, who is best known for playing Chris Partlow on HBO's The Wire. Wale's first recorded track, called "Rhyme of the Century", became his first song to be played on the local radio. In 2006, he was featured in the "Unsigned Hype" column of The Source magazine and later signed to a local label, Studio 43. The track "Dig Dug (Shake It)" became popular in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia and was a tribute to Ronald "Dig Dug" Dixon, who was a percussion player for the go-go band Northeast Groovers. The song became the most requested song by a local artist in Washington, D.C. radio history and Wale was the first local artist to get some 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 found representation in Daniel Weisman, a former club DJ and promoter who had no previous experience in management. Weisman had been tipped off about the rapper by a friend in Washington, D.C. and connected with him through Myspace. In September 2006, after dropping another go-go influenced single, called "Breakdown" (sampled from Huck-A-Bucks "Sexy Girl") has been getting a mention on The Washington Post, Wale released his first non-go-go original single, called "Uptown Roamers". On September 14, 2006, "Uptown Roamers" debuted on XM Radio Channel 66, where it was played twice in one day. Both "Breakdown" and "Uptown Roamers" were on Wale's second mixtape, Hate Is the New Love. The song "Breakdown" was featured on the video game Madden NFL 09. Wale won the award for "D. C. Metro Breakthrough Artist of the Year" at WKYS's Go-Go Awards in November 2006. 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. Manager Weisman told HitQuarters that the Fader feature, given the magazine's music/culture/fashion orientation, laid an important foundation for Wale to position himself as a "cool, smart, up-and-coming hip-hop artist who might be Drake".

In January 2007, Wale released a new single to radio called "Good Girls" produced by Gerard Thomas and Demario Bridges for TeamMusicGroup (LeTroy Davis). Wale later appeared on Mark Ronson's remix of Lily Allen's "Smile" and was a headliner on Ronson's UK tour that year promoting Ronson's second album Version. In June 2007, Wale signed to a production deal with Ronson's Allido Records. Wale released his third mixtape, 100 Miles & Running, on July 11, as a free download on his Myspace page. 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, Beyoncé, 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 on August 16. With Ronson, Wale performed "W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E.", a remix of Justice's "D.A.N.C.E." from Wale's 100 Miles mixtape, at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards in Las Vegas. The Washington Post profiled Wale on the front page of the Sunday Style section in the October 21, 2007, edition. He was also featured on the cover of the 150th issue of URB along with French electro group Justice.

In March 2008, Wale signed a joint venture deal with Mark Ronson's Allido Records and Interscope, joining Rhymefest and Daniel Merriweather as Allido artists. Epic Records, Atlantic Records, and Def Jam all competed to sign Wale. On May 30, Wale released his fourth mixtape The Mixtape About Nothing, heavily produced by Best Kept Secret. Wale said that the television show Seinfeld inspired The Mixtape About Nothing: "the TV show's 'honest dialogue' mirrors his lyrical style, which frequently references pop culture and politics while avoiding gangster-rap bluster". After signing with Interscope, Wale began recording tracks for his major label debut; in a 2008 interview with Express, a newspaper published by the Washington Post Company, Wale announced that he was recording a song with Chrisette Michele called "Shades", which discusses inter-black racism. Wale and rapper Young Chris of the rap duo Young Gunz also began plans for a collaboration mixtape. In September 2008, Wale was featured on a remix of Solange's "Fuck the Industry". He also appeared alongside Lupe Fiasco and Kardinal Offishall on Interscope label mate DJ Greg Street's single "Dope Boys" which samples "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)".

On June 19, 2009, Wale released his fifth mixtape, Back to the Feature, on which eleven of the tracks were produced by 9th Wonder, with contributions also coming from Mark Ronson and others. The album's title, a play off the name of the movie Back to the Future, referred to the fact that a lengthy list of rappers joined Wale on the songs, including K'naan, Tamere Guess, Talib Kweli, Joell Ortiz, Beanie Sigel, Currensy, J. Cole, and Bun B. The mixtape received positive reviews from Vibe magazine and website Pitchfork Media, but Colin McGowan of Cokemachineglow commented that it represented neither "a step forward or back [for the artist] so much as shouting-in-place." Wale did a guest performance on "Change", a song by the Australian singer-songwriter Daniel Merriweather. It was written by Merriweather and Andrew Wyatt and produced by Mark Ronson. It was released on January 30, 2009, in the United States and Canada, and February 2, 2009, in the UK (where the song peaked at no.8). The song is included on Merriweather's album Love & War. On September 13, Wale and the DC-based musicians of UCB (Uncalled 4 Band) served as the official house band for the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.