Following Wale's announcement of his third album title and release date, the MMG rapper has popped up for several interviews. His most recent was in New York with Power 105's The Breakfast Club. Wale chopped it up with the crew about his beef with the Toronto Raptors T.V. announcer, his run-in with fans, the upcoming album, The Gifted, of course, and his love for everything '90s.
After chopping it up about fan-love and how it's sometimes difficult to handle, Wale discussed the differences between his last LP and The Gifted. "I made it for me, to be honest. I'm using a lot of things from the '90s that inspire me," he said, the first of many references to his love for the '90s era. The sneakerhead continued, "I'm using a lot of music, I use records like Late Registration as inspiration and Reasonable Doubt but had Reasonable Doubt been made in 2013, with what we know with technology and instruments and using instruments in hip-hop."
Wale also explained his album title, "It's just about honing your craft. I know a lot of people that rapped before I did and never got to where I made it," Wale said. "It's kind of like a message to our generation, I've seen less talented people get super far in things it's time for people that own these gifts to take that next step. Also, the backside of it is, this is my most personal album, like I'm talking about a lot of things that I probably ain't gunna answer in no interviews. It's just one of those situations where I want the people to digest it," he said of the album content.
He added how it was difficult for him to do those kinds of personal tracks, but he got them done with help from some marijuana. "I had to get high as hell to do some of the songs on the albums, 'cause my DNA won't even allow me to say some things or open up in certain ways."
As the MMG spitter continued to discuss his own new artist Tiara Thomas who is featured on his single "Bad," he once again brings up the '90s. The crew points out that it seems like Wale gets a lot of inspiration from the era gone by. Wale explains,"You gotta look at like..nobody really rappin' about emotion or feeling like that. Everything is autone. All the rappers using that Ace Hood/Meek cadence. It's like the same thing over and over," he said, when
Wale refused to be coaxed into answering any questions about MTV's "Hottest MCs" list, which he was not featured on this year, even with the Breakfast Club's many attempts.
Wale also discusses his waning love for sneakers, his upcoming beanie line and more. Peep the full interview below.