In response to J.I.D promoting his upcoming Lollapalooza appearance on Twitter, Wale jumped at the occasion to post a message illustrating A) a certain level of self-pity, and B) an unsubstantiated belief the festival's of the World have blacklisted him after consorting with each other.
Let me preface this by stating: Wale is a great rapper and a solid contributor to the culture on the whole, even though that's hardly my decision to make, or anyone one person I would imagine, for different reasons altogether.
https://twitter.com/_/status/1108436663661932547
While Wale's Tweet isn't exactly a news item on its own, it does help unpack a belief I've had, and he seems to have, regarding his work being underappreciated, to the point of rendering him disinterested in the process.
Peak Wale was a rapper-to-be-reckoned-with, and while people did initially take notice, he never switched his style with the changing of the guard, much like his MMG mentor Rick Ross, also stuck in his paradigm to varying degrees of success. But in the end, Wale and Rick Ross did become cult figures, one more than the other. So, all is not lost.
But therein lies the issue, a cult following doesn't always equate to a festival booking, where the multilateralism always wins over. If you're a niche artist, you might get booked at a niche event, but don't expect Lollapalooza to come-a-looking. Maybe that's the point Wale is touching on, hit us with your thoughts.
