M.I.A. x Wale

I will let Wale's Elitaste team do the explaining on this one, since Hova just released a remix of this two days ago and it seems strange that Wale is hitting it immediately after:

So back in June of 2007 Wale met with Jay while he was still at Def Jam. On the way out of the meeting, MIA’s “Boyz” video came on TV and Jay jokingly said to Wale, “Man I should test you with that beat” as they were walking onto the elevator. He went and recorded to it the next day ... Well, with the recent success of MIA’s “Paper Planes” thanks to the Pineapple Express trailer, Interscope is re-releasing her album with “Boyz” as a single again. Interscope asked Wale to do a remix and I guess Jay-Z and Akon did ones too. Well now that Jay’s is out we thought, hey, let’s put this out with the verse Wale recorded 3 weeks ago and a brand new verse he recorded today.

Wale's version >> Jay's version

M.I.A. - BOYZ REMIX (FT WALE)

Wah-lay in Ehl-lay

New update and documentary on Wale in L.A. put on by Current TV, who just happens to be killing it in the viral video category right now. When you're done with that here's a new one from Wale off the seemingly rare mixtape The Beast of the Beltway. I am a huge Justice fan, so this is a welcomed sighting.

WALE FT JUSTICE - W.A.L.E.F.R.I.E.N.D.S


And how about he rocks two of my favorite beats off ANOTHER new mixtape...Jesus H Christ.

WALE - PSA

WALE - GET THIS MONEY

McFly?

After months of incessant internet bitching and complaining, a few leaks, and unending anticipation ... Wale's new album with 9th Wonder Back To The Feature is finally here.

And while I hate to be the bearer of bad news, this is no A Mixtape About Nothing. Maybe it's 9th's increasingly flat production, or a slew of features from high-end artists doing nothing special, or the four songs that are months old...it's hard to tell. The pieces aren't all there.

That said, we love Wale. And want to love this tape. And in some ways do. Like the collabo track with Wale, Mark Ronson, and K'Naan, who go together like Marty Mcfly, hoverboards, and Deloreans.

WALE FT K'NAAN - UM RICKA

Download:
WALE - BACK TO THE FEATURE MIXTAPE

Wollies

New Wale. Featured on the as of yet "first" single off the new Roots album Rising Down. The Roots got the hint from the negative fan blogroll that Birthday Girl wasn't cutting it. I guess Wale did.

WALE - STRINGS

WALE - ROOF

10.DEEP presents The New Deal

My peoples are at the 10.DEEP event tonight (Im too burnt from the Wale & Kid Cudi show last night), but Im going to live vicariously through this new 10.DEEP mixtape which dropped today. There is a ton of fire on this one and I highly recommend the free download.

Remember that these are the people who brought you the first Kid Cudi and Wale mixtapes. Including brand spankin new exclusive material from Wale, Jay Electronica, Blu, Brother Ali, Kid Cudi, Charles Hamilton, Jay-Z, and Santogold. These 10 DEEP dudes have taste that is almost as good as my own.

A taste:
WALE & DANIEL MERRIWEATHER - POT OF GOLD

Download the mixtape:
10.DEEP presents The New Deal

Wale x Apple Juice Kid

Apple Juice Kid is a relatively new name on the production scene, but within the last year has produced the new Camp Lo EP, as well as that excellent Miles Davis remix project. He's flexed skills mostly on jazz beats thus far, but is proving with this new African dance beat for Wale that he's got much more fire in the future.

Got more green than Whole Foods.
- Wale Faloren

WALE - MY SWEETIE

Roll With A Hund'ed

New Wale just keeps rolling out. Loving this beat. Mixtape About Nothing drops May 23, and is the most anticipated mixtape release since the beginning of time.

WALE - ONE THING ABOUT A PLAYA

Previously:
∆ Too much Wale to spell out

Paint A Picture

Old Wale from the early demo mixtape Paint a Picture. Just to get a taste of how he was equally dope way back. I figure it's applicable because Wale rhymes about Michael Phelps, and is probably the only cat to do so to date.

In the near future after we lose most olympic events, most MCs will be forced to rhyme (positively) about Chinese athletes and government officials, so we need our hip-hop nationalism now.

WALE - SPECTACULAR

Lyrically Inclined

New Skyzoo ft. Wale. Wait for Wale's verse in the middle here ... dude destroys this beat. MONSTER FLOW.

SKYZOO FT WALE - LYRICALLY INCLINED

Wale x Curren$y x 9th Wonder

Off Wale Falorin's new potentially magical album with 9th Wonder Back To The Feature, which will feature Talib Kweli, Bun B, Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, and others.

9th lends his hand to a beat that breaks out of his usual slow horns for some tablas with a bit of that Waleezy Go-Go, and Curren$y comes correct yet again. If you don't remember Curren$y, here's TFC pitch.

WALE FT CURREN$Y - WORDPLAY

A Mixtape About Nothing

Today's the day. It's well worth the wait. This mixtape marks the beginning of an epic career. I feel very strongly that this is first new artist of our time who is creating genuinely timeless hip-hop. And it has Elaine from Seinfeld on it saying: "I'm up on Wale's mixtape. Doesn't that make me cool mothafuckaaaa?"

Full mixtape download over at Elitaste.

A sampling of what's the hype on this one for those of you at work that need some instant gratification:

WALE - THE VACATION FROM OURSELVES

WALE - THE END CREDITS

Wahlay!

New Wah-lay Falorin* off his project with 9th Wonder Back to the Feature, which is already three weeks late from its scheduled departure of May 7th.

WALE - FAMILY AFFAIR

*Fun fact: Wale's real name is Olubowale Victor Akintimehin.

Brandy of the Damned

Guitarist and songwriter for the acclaimed group The Strokes gets the Mark Ronson treatment...with a little Wale thrown in for good measure. Definitely the kind of unusual matchup we would like to see more regularly.

And The Marathon Man is coming at the end of the week. It needs a test run. Literally.

NICKEL EYE FT WALE - BRANDY OF THE DAMNED

Take This Ring

If Wale could just drop an album already instead of chasing the white dragon with Lindsay Lohan I could stop digging up old singles that make me look like some sort of Stan.

WALE - TAKE THIS RING

Thought @ Work

Black Thought = Best MC in the game. Other suggestions welcome, though they will be immediately dismissed. Here is Thought ripping it up with 3 different verses like a total professional--1 take, 3 hooks, perfect. On top we have my man Wale dropping his own take on this one off 100 Miles and Running.

WALE - WORK

Say Hello To The Bad Guy, Mad Fly

Wale drops his first release since A Mixtape About Nothing. Ridiculous, as expected. Watch the vector on this cat's career...the graph is going to look like the first slope of Mt Everest.

WALE FT YOUNG CHRIS - WHOLE TIME

Check Your Factz

Mickey Factz is hitting the blogosphere harder than any new school cat right now other than maybe Wale* ... and is known in many circles as a part of the "hipster-hop" movement, particularly because of his propensity for hitting up electro beats, rocking that oh-so-prevelant retro 80s gear, and touring with The Cool Kids.

I have to say that I don't care what movement you're from, I am really amped on hip-hop right now, there is so much dropping lately that is showing extreme progression in sound and style. Hip-hop is dead only where it should be.

MICKEY FACTZ - BREATHE ANOTHER DAY


* Just wait for this Wale track Im going to drop on your noggin tomorrow. Best kept secret.

Hate Is The New Love

Wale rips two of the best beats of the last few years from Weezy and Hova. Off Hate Is The New Love mixtape from 2006 before he blew up.

WALE - HATE IS THE NEW LOVE MIX

Rip courtesy of mixmaster Elijah B over at Theycontrolus. Dope new album out now.

Wah Lay!

Can this guy stop completely killing it? Yesterday I copped his mixtape 100 Miles and Running (admittedly late), and "Nobody" is the only song I have listened to for 30 hours.

Switch the game up like Manning at the line. <-- Oh shit.

WALE - NOBODY
WALE - CAMP LO
.

Blogging Has Destroyed Hip-Hop In 2009

Recently XXL released a list of the top 10 "freshman" in the hip-hop game. Gracing the cover of the newest issues of granted, one of the more mediocre hip-hop publications, were Charles Hamilton, Wale, Kid Cudi, Asher Roth, Corey Gunz, Blu, Mickey Factz, Ace Hood, Currensy, and B.O.B.

For most of you following hip-hop blogs in 2008, these ten guys run the blog posting scene. Period. And in the minds of most hip-hop fans lately, they run hip-hop. How could they not when nearly every day there is a new homemade video in the studio, "freestyle" spit over a recycled beat, or mixtape dropped. It makes sense.

The truth is a mutually beneficial relationship has been built between hip-hop blogs and up-coming artists. The artists produce quickly and ship to the blogs, which have to produce content equally as fast to satisfy the appetite of obsessive fans with growingly shortened attention spans. It works something like popular news channels: there is such a tremendous need to provide new stories and new dialogue 24-7 that often the information provided is shabby, short, and empty. This leads to an uninformed audience accepting of whatever whatever.

While this moment is tumultuous for the music business (the death of record labels and the birth of god knows what), it is no excuse to add to the void with the praise of mediocrity. For these 10 guys to be the future of hip-hop is an anomaly that needs questioning.*

The fundamental problem is that XXL, and much of the hip-hop community at large, are taking their cues from the blogs. Which isn't inherently bad if the content remains focused. But it hasn't, and the quest for fast food entertainment has jeopardized the better artists. Artists who dip out of the scene for a good year or so to create a real album are penalized and forgotten, while those who produce quickly are rewarded even faster. And while everyone is of course waiting for a new Outkast or Nas song, they are so few and far between that their longevity isn't what it used to be.

There is a lot I have gotten from becoming a part of the blogging community and from the very blogs I speak of, but this just had to be said. It is a time of watered-down politics, music, and intelligence.

Let me just conclude with this: I can hardly swallow the economy, the war, the possibility of McCain. If you take away real hip-hop I'm not sure what we have left.

*Wale, Blu, and Kid Cudi have been rightfully excluded from all of this.