The Ralph Lauren of Hip-Hop

By Broadside Correspondent Carlos Perez

Following a year of unparalleled popularity on the underground hip-hop scene, D.C.'s native rapper Wale (pronounced “Wah-lay”) enters 2008 as the blogosphere's darling emcee. Having been raised in and around D.C. his entire life, the self-proclaimed “rap ambassador to the nation's capital” prepares to drop his highly-anticipated fourth mixtape, “Wale Presents...A Mixtape About Nothing,” a Seinfeld-themed mixtape, this month.

Wale has a handful of tracks that DMV natives have become familiar with, but it was his remix of “D.A.N.C.E.” by French DJ super-duo, Justice, aptly titled “W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E.,” that brought his name to the attention of tastemakers worldwide.

“You know the world is 5 percent tastemakers, 10 percent early adopters and everybody else is followers,” Wale said. “I got that 15 percent and that 15 percent nine times out of 10 stick with you.”

But although Wale has acquired an avid online fan base, he has yet to establish himself as a big-name artist, with his only forays into the mainstream coming in the forms of featurettes as the up-and-coming artist through media filters such as MTV, Rolling Stone, Fader and The Washington Post. However, Wale is not worried.

“Followers, we can filter out them and just keep getting different followers every time, but as long as the tastemakers and early adopters are into you,” he said, “you know your music will remain, your product will remain. It’s like Polo.”

Twenty-three-year-old Wale, whose full name is Olubowale Victor Akintimehin, is the son of Nigerian immigrants and is currently a resident of Bowie, Md. Born in D.C. and raised in the suburbs, Wale was a standout athlete in high school, receiving several offers to play football in college. However, Wale dropped out of Virginia State University, Robert Morris College and Bowie State.

”Football is something I love to do as well, but I couldn’t see myself lifting, going to the weight room every day,” Wale said. “I hated lifting weights.” His lack of interest in the weight room has not translated into his hustle in the music industry.

Signed to a production deal with ‘Producer of the Year’ Mark Ronson's Allido Records, Wale has still not settled on signing a record deal. While he boasts on mixtapes and interviews that he has simply not come across a deal that allows him enough control of his artistic creativity, he refuses to be pigeonholed into today's ringtone-driven hip-hop.

“I just think the music is disposable; can't really say it's bad music ‘cause people are listening to it and are downloading it and whatever,” Wale said, “but it’s kind of getting one-sided, is all.”

It is difficult to disagree when one looks back on the slew of recent hits, thrusting artists into the post-TRL era of listeners. Looking for a quick hit and a million, upcoming rappers increasingly rely on a gimmick, be it a dance or a saying.

“Everybody is doing what they doing and nobody knows what they wanna be anymore,” Wale pointed out, “and you know the whole artist development thing is obsolete now. Everybody is just trying to do what they do, just doing anything. Artists are no longer entities or brands. They're just artists; they just rap; [They] don't really know who they are or what they are trying to be.”

But fear not, Wale's rise to fame is indicative of a movement towards bringing the focus of hip-hop back to the lyricism. Wale, Lupe Fiaso, Rhymefest, Common, Kanye West, many of which Wale himself admires, all bring something special back to the table and a shift from the media-saturated “gangsta rap” to a different conscious rap, what some have come to call hipster/backpack rap.

The difference between Wale and the rest of the other rappers is that they come from traditional hip-hop cities: Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Miami and Houston. By default, the success of future D.C. artists relies heavily on Wale's success now, and he does not shy away from taking D.C. on his back. “Everybody's hometown plays a major role...it's the foundation on what you stand,” he said, “cause that's where I'm at all the times. That's where the stories come from, where the slang comes from.”

D.C. consistently ranks among the top 20 cities with the highest crime rates, along with Richmond and Baltimore, and a poverty rate well above the national average. The lack of congressional representation, combined with the mirage of an increase in median family income due to upscale gentrification of the city, the District can be seen as a living metaphor for the inequalities still present in American culture.

It would seem fitting, then, that D.C. would be a hotbed for discourse and dissent, much like Inglewood and Compton were for the pioneers of gangsta rap back in the mid-‘80s. Why then is D.C. yet to be recognized?

“The D.C. scene is a lot less colorful,” Wale noted while in L.A. for the Grammy Awards. “Just everything is kind of dark in D.C., from the scenery to the personalities of the people in D.C. [D.C.] is really monotonous. [The] people in LA are a little more pretentious; they think they're more important to society.”

Wale's fresh sound is described as a kind of fusion between hip-hop and D.C.-bred go-go. The year 2007 was a busy, career building year for Wale. It began with a summer U.K. tour with Mark Ronson, who introduced him to the likes of Kanye West and Jay-Z. Last year culminated in a highlight performance at the MTV VMA awards and an iTunes single of the week for “Nike Boots,” which introduced him to the American mainstream media.

While his cocky character on the mic contrasts his rather constrained, humble persona, Wale brings focus back to the emcee in a producer-driven hip-hop era. Whether or not at this point 2008 turns out to be Wale's break-out year is yet to be seen, but one thing is for certain: Wale has something to say, and there are people around the world that are ready to listen.