Amongst rap fans, or at least the ones I know, Wale happens to be a very polarizing figure. He is/was a member of a popular sneaker-collecting forum I’m a part of as well and has on occasion let the members get sneak peeks and even shouted the forum out on a couple of songs.
Even still with the “love” he’s shown, many rap aficionados contest that Wale isn’t that good of a rapper. There seems to be a bevy of reasons for it as well. Some of the popular reasons are that he doesn’t have enough street cred, he doesn’t have the lyrical prowess, he has no charisma and the most noted, he’s very sensitive to being criticized.
In terms of his popularity, signing to Rick Ross’ MMG label has done wonders for Wale. MMG’s ‘Self Made’ album was being bumped in the streets & e-streets heavily over the Summer and provided some bangers which included Wale, including the ‘Make It Rain (Remix)’ and its NSFW music video.
As far as Wale’s solo career goes, his MMG label has done a great job promoting his album ‘Ambition’ and while staying away from too many features, Wale included the likes of Rick Ross, Meek Mill, KiD CuDi, Miguel & Ne-Yo for his album which sold ~164k in its first week.
Now here’s where I’d like to get to my point. Though I think it’s great that Wale is finally turning his talent into success, a lot of which can be credited to his signing to MMG, I feel that this isn’t the rapper Wale would like to be.
In the Tumblr post previous to this, I posted a quote from Wale’s song ‘Legendary’ off Ambition ($11.99 on Amazon).
Hella proper, my garment game is propeller of choppa’
Cause I hella copped ‘em so I could be way flyer than all ‘em.
I aspire for awesome and that requires some flossin’.
Only way they gon’ listen, I find it highly unfortunate.
I understand that being signed to MMG brings with it a uniform that you have to uphold; spend lots of money, have sex with a lot of loose women, possess expensive cars, etc.
Even previous to being on MMG, Wale always liked to talk about lavish material items and loads of cash. Though it seems to have reached a new plateau and I think being on MMG has enabled the long standing theory that rappers are poor spenders and have not much else to talk about besides money & drugs.
However, I’d like to look at the contrast. You see that quote up there? I believe this embodies the kind of rapper Wale would truly like to be. He admits through the lyrics that he buys and flaunts clothes just to draw the perception that he’s “flyer” than others. And his ultimate goal is to be “awesome” which I analyzed to mean an elite rapper and in order to do so, he has to put on a facade of wearing expensive clothes, driving expensive cars, basically the mission state of MMG, and in doing so, that will be the only way others will listen to him with respect. And he sees the err in their ways as he admits he “finds it highly unfortunate”.
Lots of rappers are hypocrites, but I see it a lot in Wale. He participates in ‘Make It Rain (Remix)’ but ultimately wants to make songs such as ‘Ambitious Girl’ and ‘Lotus Flower Bomb’ while having to make songs like ‘Chain Music’ and ‘Illest Bitch’ in order to stay mainstream and relevant.
These acts are personified by lyrics Jay-Z directed towards NaS during their beef in 2000-01, “Is it ‘Oochie Wally’ or is it ‘One Mic’? Is it ‘Black Girl Lost’ or shorty owe you for ice?” (Blueprint 2). Nas faced this exact dilemma early and at the height of his career. His persona went from Nasty Nas to Nas Escobar and loyal fans were not sure how to feel. Ultimately Nas settled on his God’s Son persona sprinkled in with his street bravado. Clearly Nas is a unique case, who has struggled with this perceived identity crisis that has plagued him since the beginning of his career.
Wale is no Nas but is going through the same motions, it seems to me. After an undersold debut, which could have been shelved by everyone’s favorite rapper, Jay-Z, Wale’s sophomore effort has been a complete success and because of that he may not conform to the rapper he would truly like to be but instead keep up the facade of big money, big cars & Miami nights while carefully embedding his “conscious” raps.
Who knows, it may ultimately be the best business decision he’s ever made but you have to wonder if Wale would truly censor what he’d honestly like to say in order to reap the riches of Soundscans and MMG chains around his neck.
