WALE

I think my lore is a little tricky sometimes. There's pockets of stuff that people don't know. People don't know that I was running with Mark Ronson, Amy Whitehouse, Lily Allen, and Daniel Merriweather. As soon as I dropped out of school, I went straight to London. People don't know about how I came up in DC before a lot of the blogger kids made it. I was a local celebrity when I was a kid. I don't think a lot of people know the motion I was having in DC, Maryland, and Virginia before they even heard of me. It's just little pockets of stuff that I wish people knew about.

Yeah, exactly. And I was the first person signed to Roc Nation. I was managed by them. A lot of people also don't know about the Glastonbury stuff, the Valerie video, stuff like that. A lot of the seeds planted around that time are coming to fruition now because you see me in the studio now.

Yeah, we was outside. I was working at Downtown Locker Room, which was the biggest shoe store. We was hustling while I was on the clock. I was giving my CD out and then on Sundays we'd go to Platinum Club. Everybody that was outside around that time knew me as the one with all the shoes and who goes to rap at Platinum. So I was really, really outside. That's really all I knew.

NikeTalk is when I got introduced to trolls and shit. I was taken aback when they started ganging up on me there. But a lot of my core fans that weren't from my area were on NikeTalk. But on NikeTalk, they were just so creative. People were just so creative with their shoes and how they photographed all of their stuff. That was a highlight. That was simpler times. We took it for granted. I just remember how the sneaker community felt like a real community. You had people that were rivals, but we were all in the same super sneaker world going to the skate shop to get to a pair of Dunks that nobody knows about other than people in the sneaker world. That was the golden era of sneaker culture.

He actually gave me some really good advice. On one of my first mini tours, I went to Australia. Mind you, I don't even have a record deal at this point, and this is before social media was really a thing. He was like, 'Man, everything is changing right now. Back in the day, all we had to do was XXL, The Source, and photos for our album rollout and that was it.' He was thinking about how now there are so many things coming up with blogs and all of this stuff. He was like, 'This shit going to be so treacherous soon.' Little did I know, you know what I'm saying? Q-Tip is a good dude. We never got a chance to put nothing out originally, but we've had a couple of sessions. He's definitely somebody I look up to.

Everything's a lot. Everything's a lot in hip hop. Everything's a lot with music, everything's a lot with politics, everything's a lot. It's heavy. It's fucked. That's the best way to describe it. Well, maybe I'm a little too cynical, I don't know, because it's fun in pockets. I'm just so hyper-aware of things, so it's probably not as fun as it should be. But I'm working on getting to a place where I can really embrace the stuff that can be fun. I have a unique relationship with this whole industry, so I have fun, but sometimes it does feel like work, to be honest.

It ain't like a big old truth. When I'm writing, I just talk. It is not really contrived. I just come out and with it and then just go with it. No matter what I'm rapping about, I just try to get out what I'm feeling.

Yeah, for sure. I always felt like I had to prove my worth. Even now, where I'm from, there's not many people doing it. There's a couple of us, but I feel like I've got show my culture and where I'm from. Yo, we here too. Come fuck with me.

I've been ready to drop music. Over time the album has changed a lot. Life changed. My daughter's mother moved her life and got another baby. Now my mind is different. For the first time in my career I took time away because I changed labels and management and everything, but I also needed time to sit and watch everything. It goes back to what I was saying about being hyper-aware.

Yeah. I don't harp on it, but I definitely address how I'm feeling. I'm probably giving more of myself on this joint than I have probably ever, really. But I'm keeping it interesting.

It's up there. I've done a lot of interesting things, but it's up there. They gave me one in Maryland too, so there's one more left. I've got to get Virginia to get the Holy Trinity. But it was a good feeling, you know what I'm saying?I told my mother that they gave me a day and she was not impressed. She was like, 'Oh, that's good. So how's everything else?' So I don't never really get carried away with it, but it is cool.

Yeah but I'm not big on museums. I'm not as artsy as I might be. I ain't been to really none of the spots. What's the name of that monument? I've been one time in elementary school, but nobody from back home really goes to that stuff. When Obama was in the White House, I was in there a lot. I was pulling up, I lived there sometimes, but nah…what was the question again? I just thought about Trump and my mind went blank.

I got my eyes on one place I haven't performed, but we are going to hope that we can do it this year. MGM was fun. Kennedy Center was fun too. But coming up it was Platinum. I was barely old enough to get in here when I was performing. DC had a legendary run of clubs. Gilbert Arena's birthday party was a legendary night.

It was a time because everybody wasn't there. Currency was more in the sneaker world, and then you got Clark Kent, DJ AM–God rest their souls. Fat Joe got his shit too. But yeah, at the time it was kind of niche. It was kind of like being an anime fan, you know what I'm saying? I forgot what VMAs it was, but I wore a Dr. Romanelli Jordan joint and I had some 4's on, and I saw Kanye in the hallway. I had met him only once or twice before, and I think around that time, my shoes were hard to get. I remember Kanye was like 'Yo, where you get those from?' I was like, 'Flight Club.' I don't even know if he knew what Flight Club was, but I remember for the Glow in the Dark tour, I bought my joints with my little money and I got 'em to him. Thinking back, it was really hard to get 4's. But now every couple of months you going to get the same joints.

Yep and I gave it to him. I believe it was a size 12. I remember it was in DC at the Merriweather Post Pavilion. Never forget it. Yep.

I think we changed. It might be like some Dior sneakers. When we were coming up, we were wearing the Red Nats hat with everything. People were like, 'It doesn't match,' but that was our thing. As far as my style, I was considered kind of alternative at that point. Supreme and Moschino was my thing. Obviously a Nike Boot or a Foam is always going to be a timeless sneaker back home.

See, I'll give New York Air Force One. Y'all can have that. But Foams, Nike Boots, New Balance: those are our three things. Philly and New York, they could fight over the Air Maxes.

They remind me of a couple of shoes from back in the day. I've always been an advocate for basketball sneakers to be worn with clothes, and I'm seeing the trend now. Harden be wearing his shoes. Shai be wearing his joints. I don't think Shai has taken off since All Star. He is wearing 'em with everything. But in DC that's all we knew. I didn't even know that people didn't wear basketball shoes until I started coming out to Fairfax. I would see all the skaters just wearing Vans and skate shoes, and nobody would wear LeBrons with their clothes. But in D.C. and Maryland, that was our thing.

I wouldn't say they're mine. I haven't had a shoe yet, but we knock on wood, and we hope for the best. Nike's been good.

I'd build off the Foam Max. I know where fashion is going, so I think I can do some interesting things with that. But somebody will probably see this interview and do it. That's how it normally works.