#TBT: Wale

That Wale is signed to Maybach Music Group, the gaudiest label in all the land, belies his humble origins as a first-generation Nigerian-American whose bold, lyrical, heavily go-go-flavored style bridged the gap between backpacker and radio rap and became an instant sensation in his native Washington D.C.

Wale's acclaimed mixtape run from 2005 to 2009 culminated in the release of his debut album Attention Deficit. In this week's installment of #TBT, we revisit the celebrated opening act of Wale's career.

Wale's debut mixtape Paint a Picture immediately made him one of the most popular artists in the DMV. On "Rhyme of the Century," he spits over five minutes of unadulterated bars, truly establishing imself as a "young black African Orson Welles" with the pen, though more striking was his charisma on the mic. "Who is this guy???" - people listening to "Rhyme of the Century" in '05.

Rapping over catchy dance-electronica- tracks was heavily in vogue among the backpacker set in the mid-'00s (see: Chiddy Bang). One of the defining tracks of this trend was Wale's freestyle over Justice's "D.A.N.C.E."

Sidebar: that new Justice single is pure heat.

"Nike Boots" was a somewhat unorthodox choice for Wale's first single as an Interscope artist. It is a solemn promise to unite the entire DMV under the banner of Wale, and proceeds to name drop every hamlet, town, neighborhood, and major thoroughfare in the region over the course of three verses.

A reflection on Michael Richards infamous 2006 N-word-laced tirade at the Laugh Factory, "The Kramer" argues that Richards' line of thinking is not uncommon in the United States, that racism tends to get expressed in more subtle, insidious ways, and that America is a country of wolves in sheep's clothing.

On "The Perfect Plan," Wale puts rappers like Soulja Boy on trial. The crime? Ringtone rap, a formula "devious yet so simple" that is diametrically opposed to everything Wale stands for. He rejects material wealth, rapping "Respect has grown inferior to fucking Soundscan / If that don't sound bad you should ban me."

This is probably the only rap song ever to reference Rick Mirer.

"The Manipulation" is a classic angel-on-one-shoulder, devil-on-the-other inner dialogue. Wale is at the club, working on some girls, and he's having trouble reconciling the "money over honey" side of him with the side that wants to teach women about "equity and real estate." It's no "Guilty Conscience," but what is?

Like DC, Baltimore has a very specific, provincial musical tradition. Despite the fact Baltimore is less than an hour up the road from DC, Wale wasn't getting much play up there.A rap over a cliche BMore club beat, "The BMore Club Slam" is a tongue-in-cheek effort to gain traction in Baltimore.

"Mama Told Me" (2009)

"Sorry momma" track is one of hip hop's greatest tropes. On "Mama Told Me," and much of Attention Deficit, Wale combines his signature go-go drums with cinematic strings and horns for his most expansive sound to date. 

"90210" (2009)

On "90210," a wistful synth line represents the lost innocence of a girl who moved to Beverly Hills with dreams of becoming a celebrity, only to develop bulimia and a cocaine addiction and become a sexual pawn. The song is rich with pathos and covers a topics that tend to be stigmatized in rap.

Though "Pretty Girls" didn't do much damage on the charts compared to some of Wale's later singles, it is bombastic, swaggering, and empowering and I have never seen girls so collectively hyped at a concert as when I saw Wale perform this track like five years ago.

It also features one of Gucci's best guest verses ever. "She from Rhode Island, Atlanta, I reside in."