Olubowale Victor Akintimehin (born September 24, 1984 in Washington, DC), better known by his stage name Wale is a rapper and producer Fusing DC’s proprietary go-go-genre with a streetwise Northern hip-hop sensation, he takes samples from all genres and mixes them together with lyrical skill In 2005 he released his debut mixtape Paint a picture, and has since released four more His debut album Attention Deficit released November 10, 2009
Wale was born to Nigerian immigrant parents in Washington DC He grew up on Peabody Street in Northwest DC and moved to Largo Maryland as a teenager, he attended seven different high schools in Washington DC and Maryland, finally graduating from Quince Orchard High School in 2001, he went to Robert Morris College and the Virgini State Universten on football scholarships, then Bowie State University, but dropped out in 2004 to pursue music full time, before the music began to pay the bills Wale worked day jobs at Sprint, Up Against The Wall and Downtown Locker Room
Wale emerged on the local DC hip hop scene with the help of WKYS-FM DJ Alizay Wale began to get radio play in 2004 with a single called “Rhyme of the Century”, which won Wale in June 2005 “Unsigned Hype” in the Source magazine, and his buzz began to grow
In November 2006 a function ran on AllHipHopcom’s breeding ground for Wale The day before Thanksgiving Wale took the stage between Lil Wayne and TI during the Southern Invasion Tour at Verizon Center
In early December 2006 Wale won the prize for “DC Metro Breakthrough Artist of the Year” at WKYS ‘Go -GoAwards December 15 The Fader magazine associate editor Nick “Catchdubs” Barat visited Wale for an interview and photo shoot which was published in the March 2007 issue of The Fader
Wale has an upcoming promotional campaign with Remy Martin and XXL Magazine He has also been linked to the brand store streetwear The Hundreds 10 Deep and Good Bully and lifestyle brands Stussy and LRG
In January 2007, Wale released a new single on the radio, “Good Girls” Daniel Weisman gave the song to Mark Ronson and February 23, 2007 Ronson began playing the song on his East Village radio show a week later at Ronson’s studio Wale recorded a freestyle for Ronson and Ronson in exchange for putting on an unreleased Wale reblandning of Lily Allen’s “Smile” which appeared on a series of music blogs around the world, 13March 2007 In April 2007 Ronson asked Wale to accompany him on a British tour to promote the release of his newest album in June 2007, signed Wale for a production deal with Ronson’s Allido records
, 24 June 2007 Wale’s “Ice Cream Girl” with the TCB appeared on the show Entourage on HBO
Wale performed “WALEDANCE” from his mixtape 100 Miles at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards in Las Vegas, NV
Wale was also featured in the October 2007 issue of XXL, and Rolling Stone, The Washington Post profiled Wale on the front page of Sunday Style section of the October 21, 2007 edition Wale is on the cover of URB Magazine 150th issue along medmed French electro group Justice
iTunes released “Nike Boots” as a free download November 13, 2007 as its “Single of theWeek “On Christmas Day in 2007 debuted in Wale” Nike Boots Remix “featuring Lil Wayne and Green Lantern on his myspace page Wale and Lil Wayne Nike Boots played an event called Stand Up DC at Ibiza Nightclub in DC January 15, 2008 which was sponsored by Nike and Foot Action
The November 30, 2007 issue of Entertainment Weekly Wale is featured as one of 8 people to watch in 2008, along with actors Simon Pegg and Rachel McAdams
12 March 2008 Wale announced at 9:39 WKYS that he had signed with Interscope
29 April 2008 the new Roots album entitled Rising Down was released featuring the last track Wale Wale’s relationship with the roots began when Black Thought heard the song as a tribute to himself on Wale’s 2007 mixtape 100 Miles & Running, and contactthe Wale
In the June issue of the German Hip-Hop magazine JUICE Wale announced that his upcoming debut – The album will feature production credits from Mark Ronson Kanye West Just Blaze 9th Wonder and French electronic music duo Justice
