Wale: Artistic Integrity

D.C bred M.C.; Wale obviously knows the importance of swagger and bravado in hip hop. Every verse he has released since his early mix tape days have been dripping in confidence. He nonchalantly runs through his metaphor heavy rhymes with a sing song half whine vocal timbre that plays with rhyme delivery in a hip hop climate that has become too reliant on a conversational flow. His unique flow, and penchant for rocking the latest kicks, denim and t-shirts that are very likely to pop up on the front pages of HYPEBEAST has the music media scrambling to lump Wale in with every new MC that seems to shop at the same sneaker shops as him. Wale addresses this issue on “Artistic Integrity” one of the stand out tracks from his Seinfeld inspired new release “The Mixtape about Nothing”. The track splices a monologue from Costanza and Jerry over a soaring beat accented with bongo drums. The video directed by Rik Cordero boasts a guest appearance from one of the stars of “The Wire” and Wale’s cousin Gben Akinnagbe.