Interview: Wale Talks Reconciling With Kid Cudi, Being Hurt By Complex, & Thinking The World Hates Him

When Wale first started buzzing a few years back, he was seen as a member of hip-hop’s new class of cool. Just like Kid Cudi, Drake, and B.o.B, Mr. Folarin blew up after releasing acclaimed mixtapes (The Mixtape About Nothing and 100 Miles & Running) and fostering an alternative style that hip-hop fans who grew up on Kanye West were oh so ready for. He was signed to Interscope, graced the cover of XXL's Freshman issue, and got Lady Gaga on his first single. Everything was going according to plan.

But no plan ever goes according to plan. Things starts going wrong when Wale dropped his debut album, Attention Deficit, in late 2009 and sold a meager 28,000 his first week. For a while, his career seemed adrift. But then he got some unexpected help when Rick Ross reached out and signed him to Maybach Music Group imprint. With MMG’s debut album, Self Made Vol. 1, on the way—along with his sophomore set (he’s flirting with the title Artistic Integrity) on the horizon—there’s a renewed interest in the once promising MC. As the D.C. native gears up to become the star many once believed he would be, we sat down with him to talk about his upcoming Kid Cudi collaboration, his public perception, and why he wants to be known as the best rapper of 2011.

Interview by Insanul Ahmed (@Incilin)

How did you get cool with Cudi again?
Cudi just called me. He was like, “Man, I fucks with you man, you know?” We just had a real brother conversation. It was a long conversation but a lot of things needed to be said. Some of the things that he said hurt and I’m sure some of the things I’ve said or done probably hurt. The nigga told me what was on his mind and I respect that.

We handled it like men. That’s my man. We wouldn’t want to keep going on not being friends. I’m about to do my second album, Cudi is working on his rock album. We just felt like it’s time. Like, “Man, we used to be cool. We used to hang every day. Fuck all the bullshit.” We both had a little bit of turmoil in our lives, but we’re both in a happy place now.

We talk all the time now. We talk about what’s going on in life. The thing about me and him is we always talk about what’s going on beyond music. We always used to do that and now we’re back on that now. If you see our text messages, it’s like, “What’s up man? I just had a bad couple of days. It’s awesome man.” He’s like, “Me too nigga, I’m good though.” Shit like that. Cudi is my man yo. He’s one of my true friends in this game.

Will you guys be working together?
He’s going to be on my upcoming album. When we first got cool again, he said, “What have you been working on?” I said, “This song that I just got. You would sound good on it." The song is produced by this guy from France, Spiff TV actually brought me the beat. He recorded it from his iPhone, Ross’ producer mixed it down, and it sounds like a real song. He’s actually redoing the hook. It’s kind of a Camp-Lo vibe. I don’t want to call it what we say throughout the song which is, "Rolling, we rolling, we rolling."

Will you be on his album?
Nah because his is more rock-ish and he’s just in his zone right now. When Cudi’s in his zone, the best thing to do is let him be in his zone, and he’ll let you be in it when he’s not so intense.

Switching gears, you’re rolling with Maybach Music now. Do you worry about maybe alienating your original fanbase?
The music is the same though. ‘600 Benz,’ if you put that over a 9th Wonder beat or a Primo beat, I could rap the same thing. I’m trying to get my same message out there, but in a different way. ‘600 Benz’ is about aspiring. It’s about ambition, drive, and hustling.

My old fans know what I’m doing. I do records like “4 AM” [for my old fans]. I’m just a fan of music. I just like to participate in it all. I did a record with Stephen Marley and then did a record with Shawty Lo the next day. That’s just me. It’s hard to balance, but I just stopped trying to balance and I just make the music now. You’re either going to fuck with it or not. If you don’t, fuck you.

And that’s why I made a song called "Artistic Integrity" before, because it’s about what I want to do. I can’t give you the sound you want to hear because it’s the sound I want to make. If I want to talk about the fucking sex trade on a fucking Lex Luger beat that sounds "B.M.F."-esque then let me do that! That’s what I want to do. Just because I’m making a deep song about deep shit, it doesn’t mean I have to go be deep sounding.

I’m the deep-thinking, spend too much money on sneakers, member of Maybach Music. I’m not out there trying to do what Pill’s doing or Rozay’s doing. I am the deep-thinking, overly analytical–maybe sometimes emotional—but it’s that same emotional as ‘Pac for me. What they call emotional now, they call it whining.

I can’t say, "Oh, my community’s fucked up. The way they’re treating niggas is fucked up." They’re going to be like, "Shut up Wale. You’re whining." That’s just how it is. But I’m going to give you everything that I feel. Ross will tell you, I’m going to be honest like, “Yo Ross, I love this girl. I love her,” or “I got my heart broke by this girl.” I’ll tell the world whatever. It’s me.

You previously mentioned that “everybody knows the Wale saga.” When you look back on that now, how do you...
The irony in that is that everybody knows [the Wale saga], but the people that really know me, know that I’m just misunderstood. I always wanted to be this likable guy, but it’s like no matter what I do, I’m never going to be perceived as that. It’s just not in the cards for me. I’m a little awkward. I stepped off in the middle of the interview—not to be rude—but I just stepped off. I can’t control it. I’ll just leave. I almost want to get up there and holler [at those dudes over there] eating and come back.

I have a bad memory, I don’t remember everybody. I’m not good at that. J. Cole will remember everybody. People love J. Cole because of that. But I’ve gotten such a bad rap like, "Wale has a bad attitude." It’s not that. I’m just very to myself, I think 24/7, I don’t remember people, but I love the shit out of all these people.

I obsess over the Complex’s, the XXL’s, the RapRadar’s, the 2DopeBoyz. I obsess over their appreciation for what I’m doing because I feel like what I’m doing is great. When people don’t think it’s great, I’m like, "Why? How? We heard the same things?" And I just got the tag as "the guy who complains." It’s just, I’m very passionate.

The same way I defend my shit, I defend other music that I like in closed circles. And I’m also the dude who might flip out on somebody on Twitter. I’m a real person. That’s one thing you can’t say about Wale, that he’s going to give you a fake Wale. And I feel like one day my music is going to have that impact because I’m so passionate about my fans and about the genre.

It’s just so polarizing when you’re in it. It’s like, "How is niggas looking at us right now? Are we winning?" Sometimes when you’re winning you don’t even get to enjoy it because you didn’t even know you were winning this whole time.

Click next page to see Wale talk about being misunderstood and thinking the world hates him.