Ladies and gents, Wale has arrived.

After a few years of putting in work on a regional & underground level, his music was thrust into the spotlight with the release of several critically acclaimed mixtapes. And now, the D.C. spitter is ready to take it mainstream with his Attention Deficit album around the corner.

Even though his world has grown larger & his options expanded, Wale is steadfast in his determination to stay an individual in a world of collaborations and co-signs. Early one morning recently, he got on the phone with the Crew’s David D. to talk about this dilemma, the reception to his single, “Chillin” and which character from The Wire he is most like.

15-wale01

Wale: Hello?

TSS: Hey, Wale?

Wale: Hey, how you doing man?

TSS: What are you up to right now?

Wale: I’m on my way to New York from D.C. right now. (Brief yawn) I got a couple of photo shoots to do and interviews.

TSS: I hear you yawning, they wearing you out man?

Wale: Yea, man, I didn’t get home till late. We had a crazy show in D.C. last night.

TSS: Yea, I ran into you here at the Jugrnaut in Chicago a few weeks ago. You were doing an in-store and you seemed pretty tired then too. Has the tour kind of taken its toll on you physically?

Wale: Absolutely. I got two shows tonight and one tomorrow in New York. It’s been a lot of tough work.

TSS: Have you looked at this like boot camp for the tour you’re supposed to be going on with Jay this summer?

Wale: I think this is actually the hardest part right now. It’s just a lot of early flying. (Simulates a yawn) Going to bed late. Not eating right. Y’know, just eating whatever you can get your hands on because everything is closed.

TSS: Now, your “Chillin” video recently came out then didn’t come out and as soon as it came out you went to Twitter to kind of explain it. Do you feel like you have to justify a single like that to your core audience?

Wale: Naw, I mean. Not necessarily explain it. I think it’s important just in case everyone is not hip to what’s going on. I just gotta get them a little hip to it because some people understand what’s going on and some people don’t. Sometimes you gotta throw a little bit out there to say “look” so people get it now.

TSS: And you have this “Family Affair” video also coming out at the same time. Is this to reach some sort of balance to reach that side that doesn’t get it?

Wale: Naw, that’s what I do. Mixtape About Nothing is kind of my niche. I’m the creative song-writing guy. Or the go-go party record guy. I want to do something different because the concept of this album is attention deficit. It’s left. Or not necessarily left. It’s just to bring you in my world.

I feel like that was the best way to do it, because most people send out an invitation to go party and get the most popular girl to send out invitations. When you hear the album, you’re gonna hear a lot of those records that are like “wow, that’s an amazing record.”

TSS: It looks like you have Slim Charles from The Wire in the video.

Wale: Yeaaaah. Well, I grew up listening to him and his band growing up. He’s in one of the biggest bands (Backyard Band) in D.C. history. So, I grew up watching him and we became cool like three years ago. It was kind of a no-brainer when I got the record. I saw the treatment and I knew who I wanted to play that role.

TSS: How closely did you follow The Wire?

Wale: Oh, I’ve seen every episode.

TSS: Which character from the show is Wale?

Wale: Probably Michael. The new guy. The leader, still. You got all the Marlo’s and the Slim Charles’ and the Omar’s and he does his own thing. He’s not really influenced by that. And you can tell he’s about to take over and do his own thing. So I’d probably compare myself to him.