As Wale gears up to release his new full length album, The Gifted, on June 25th, he stopped by Late Night With Jimmy Fallon to perform his new single, “Bad.” Featuring singer-songwriter Tiara Thomas, who has worked with the Maybach Music rapper in the past, and backed by The Legendary Roots Crew, Wale smoothed it out with this soulful track. His Jerry Seinfeld-featuring Album About Nothing is still in the works. Peep the video below.

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On Christmas Eve, Wale dropped the surprisingly dope mixtape with DJ Clark Kent, Folarin. He has now dropped visuals for the song, “Never Never” (produced by none other than Danny!). What does the Maybach Music Group rapper plan to release in the new year? A collaboration album with his longtime influence, comedian Jerry Seinfeld, of course! After putting out The Mixtape About Nothing and the follow-up More About Nothing, Wale has hit the studio with Seinfeld to lend some sort of assistance on a planned Album About Nothing. This is on top his third full length album, tentatively titled I Ain’t Perfect. Check out the video for “Never Never,” followed by a cllp of Seinfeld in the studio with Wale and Dj Omega.

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Wale addresses politics and political apathy over a sweeping disco/boogie rhythm track on this new jawn “Freedom of Speech” which he dropped on the interborg just a lil while ago, along with news of an impending mixtape project with soopaman DJ Clark Kent. The mix is called Folarin (that’s his government–Wale Victor Folarin–stay with me now) and slated to drop Christmas Eve (Dec. 24th). Musically speaking, this is clearly the best thing Wale has done in a minute. Politically speaking, I can’t say I agree with his sentiment at all but the POV he’s laying out here echoes so many conversations I have had over the last several weeks running up to the election that I have to give it a forward in the sense that he is speaking for the way a lot of people feel. Always love to see when rappers talk about what’s really going on and affecting people’s daily lives, instead of fantasy biz. Stream or download below:

>>>Download

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Stalley is still steadily churning out videos from his Savage Journey to The American Dream project. The latest treatment goes to the Wale and Anthony Flammia assisted track, “Home To You.” Block Beattaz on the production, while Shomi Patwary handles the direction.

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More-apalooza! Frank Ocean wasn’t the only talk of the (Chi) town this weekend. The homies Cee-Lo, J. Cole, Wale and Childish Gambino all came through as well do to their share of highlight-providing. You can find the video evidence of that bee-lo. How about all those people singing “Outside” in that Gambino clip?

The post Video: Cee-Lo, J. Cole, Childish Gambino & Wale Live At Lollapalooza appeared first on Okayplayer.

in collaboration with vitaminwater and The FADER uncapped concert series

Last week, we gave you a taste of what Wale & Santigold‘s recent concert in Chicago was like.  The performance, which was part of vitaminwater and The FADER’s uncapped Concert Series, was full of energy thanks to the amped up crowd and the show’s headliners.

Some official footage popped up in our inbox this morning and we just had to share after the jump!

Wale performs “Sabotage”

Santigold performs “Creator”

Peep footage from other “uncapped” shows on the official VitaminWater uncapped YouTube channel!

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Wale turned out the crowd at Roots Picnic (and I do mean ‘turned out’ in the fully gendered, panty-throwing and female screams sense of the term) and then built with the OKP TV crew backstage. In this segment the D.C. ambassador speaks on his go-go roots, ‘preciates on The Roots, Michael Jordans these rappers and then wipes his nose with these rappers. With those urgent matters out of the way, he then gets pretty candid about the challenges he currently faces in attacking his third album (currently slated for a December release, as he reveals here) ie the difference between the close-your-eyes, grindin’/savin’-for-that-Benz flow and the I-already-got-2-of-’em flow. Watch and get some life lessons on the meaning of “Ambition” along with your “Lotus Flower Bomb”s (full credits after the jump).

Allison Swank – Senior Producer
Emmai Alaquiva – Director | Editor | Producer | Cinematographer
Sinat Giwa – Production
Rory Webb – Production | Interview
Jordan Gilliam – Audio Management
Alex Goldblum – Data Management

Cinematographers:
Myo Campbell
Alex Gaylon
Riley Graham
Zach Isaac
Yahya Ismall
Rob Lee
Dominique Taylor

The post Okayplayer TV: Wale At Roots Picnic! appeared first on Okayplayer.

in collaboration with vitaminwater and The FADER uncapped concert series

For the Chicago stop in the Uncapped concert series, presented by Vitaminwater uncapped in partnership with The FADER, Santigold and Wale were next on the tour following the performance of Rick Ross and The-Dream in L.A. a week before. Heading to the unfamiliar venue, we were unsure of our direction in the West side, Chicago UIC area. But with every step, a few more stylish and trendy folks would pop down from the sky and lead us in the right direction. Lo and behold, the massive line of concertgoers assured us that we were in the right spot. With an attendance of almost 1000, we were slowly ushered into the vast space of The Marquardt Trucking Company where the show was being held.

Inside there was quite a magnificent set up, complete with Maseo of De La Soul greeting us with a killer DJ set of the new and old. Vitaminwater took the décor (and the recycling) into their own hands with plastic bottle caps spelling out The FADER, labels and more bottle caps were used for a giant replica of a cassette tape. Gold spray painted bottles constructed the elaborate boombox hanging on the wall, and empty Vitaminwater bottles and caps made the “velvet rope” partitions throughout the venue, amongst a few more sculptures of Vitaminwater artwork. The bar was beautifully lit with the colors of the Vitaminwater rainbow, crowded by the patrons who were eager to take advantage of the free Vitaminwater and beer being handed out.

Check out video from the “uncapped” concert series on YouTube!

Up first and right on time was Santigold, looking as stunning as ever. With her two supporting dancers on either side of her, Santigold knew to bang out classics from her self-titled album “Santigold” to kick off the set. Songs such as “L.E.S. Artistes”, and “Say Aha” brought on the energy from the crowd, and you could tell that she fed off of that. Relatively unfamiliar with her newest album Master of My Make-Believe, I was unsure of what to expect. Well, she did not disappoint in the slightest, even letting half of the audience join her onstage for a spell. “Fame” and “Disparate Youth” had the crowd going, but things really got crazy when “Go!” was performed and the crowd lost control.

After a small hiccup of technical difficulties, Wale was up next. He was psyched and ready to go, using every bit of energy he had for the entire set. His performance of “Bag of Money” had everyone swaying and singing along in succession. Wale threw Vitaminwater into the crowd, surely to stop patrons from fainting with sheer excitement and eagerness for his next song. Towards the end of the set, Wale brought Melanie Fiona onto the stage to blast “Beautiful Bliss” over the speakers. “Wale killed it!” was heard throughout the crowd as we exited the warehouse.

All in all, the show was a clear win. Vitaminwater and Fader pulled out the stops and I’m eager to follow the rest of the Uncapped concert series to see what other musical rabbits will be coming out of their hats. What a crowd. What a set. What a night.

– Parri Finister

The post Recapped: Santigold & Wale Live In Chicago 6/14 appeared first on Okayplayer.

First of all, let’s talk about these ill capers. And by ‘ill capers’ I mean: The mind-blowing live performances, collaborations, DJ sets and spontaneous raves that unfolded during the 5th annual Roots Picnic on Philadephia’s festival pier at Penn’s Landing last weekend. And by ‘talk about’ I mean: Beam the sights and sounds of this ill Okayplayer TV recap directed by Emmai Alaquiva (full credits after the jump) directly into your brain. Because if we actually sat here and talked about every mind that got blown over those 2 days–the historic convergence of De La Soul, Yasiin Bey & The Roots onstage, the rain-soaked mini-freaknik that will henceforth be forever known by people that were there simply as ‘Diplo-tent’ (ex: “Were you at Diplo-tent? That sh*t was crazy!”), the shout-every-word percapella of Rakim x The Roots performing Paid In Full in full, and so many more–we would be talking for like 2 weeks. Luckily, you can relive it all in about 3 minutes and 41 seconds above–and stay tuned for more highlights to come!

Allison Swank – Senior Producer
Emmai Alaquiva – Director | Editor | Co-Producer | Cinematographer
Sinat Giwa – Production
Rory Webb – Production
Jordan Gilliam – Audio Management
Alex Goldblum – Data Management

Cinematographers:
Myo Campbell
Alex Gaylon
Riley Graham
Zach Isaac
Yahya Ismall
Rob Lee
Dominique Taylor

The post Okayplayer TV: 5th Annual Roots Picnic Recap! appeared first on Okayplayer.

There goes Round 1. Ding! Here goes Round 2. Technically, Part 2 of our Roots Picnic 2012 photo recap, this time the black-and-white edition from ill photographeur Mel D. Cole of Village Slum. Amongst those of us who were along for the ride, the word ‘epic’ was used to describe the weekend; a perfect storm (sometimes literally) of crowd-surfing energy, rap legends and forward-looking music of all kinds. Mel’s lens goes a long way toward capturing that epic quality, a pleasure to look at whether you were there or not. To really recreate the experience, scroll through these beauties in rapid succession while DJ Low B’s Official Roots Picnic mixtape in the background–instant desktop concert.

Danny Brown + Mr. MFN eXquire = Rock star sh*t.

Pon De Speakerbox (Diplo during Major Lazer’s set on the main festival stage)

Diplo letting off during Major Lazer’s Set.

Philly girls represent.

The post Photo: Roots Picnic 2012 Recap, Part 2! appeared first on Okayplayer.