A POLITE REVIEW: EVERYDAY STRUGGLE EP 117 (WALE EPISODE)
So I’ve watched an episode of this show with DJ Akademiks and Joe Budden before and it was the episode with Lil Yachty which was a entertaining show because Joe Budden was the only nigga yelling and turning red over a 19 year old having fun but I liked the interview. I don’t listen to Lil Yachty’s music but I respected him after the interview was over.
I see Wale was on the show and I sat and watched it because they were debating about Wale album on the Yachty episode and it’s sales numbers so Wale being on the show I’m thinking it will be just like the Yachty interview. I’ll get to know him a little bit more and get some insight on what kind of guy he is because I have never watched a interview he’s done.
This episode was hard to watch. Really tough to watch. I don’t even know where to begin.
Out the gate DJ AK clears the air by saying he never called Wale corny and that the general public calls him corny. Wale responds asking “What people call me corny?” He also says that if we look for bad things such as people calling him corny then we’ll find it. Well yes that’s true with anything in life but a lot of people call Wale corny or lame. Akademiks wasn’t making that shit up. It’s true.
I was at SXSW 2 years ago and Wale was performing and I shit you not, a group of niggas behind me said and I quote “This nigga corny” while Wale was on stage then it started raining and the show was cancelled. I’ve seen him called lame and corny on my twitter timeline thousands of times and it’s not because I was looking for it. It’s just there. A lot of people don’t like him for whatever reason.
This interview was the perfect chance for him to really show a side of himself that he might feel we misunderstand about him and instead he did the opposite. It felt like he was trying to convince people how cool he is. When he equated his life to high school and started bragging about clothes during the episode that’s when I laughed because I finally understood why.
I now understand why people don’t like him. He’s like the Roman Reigns of rap kinda. Just like Vince MacMahon shoving Roman into our faces trying to force us to support and believe Roman is great. Wale is shoving himself into our faces and trying to force us to like his music and make us believe he is great.
I thought the interview was going to give me more insight about him and there was going to be a actual good conversation but we got none of that. It was a interview of a man in his feelings about another man opinion. Only good part of the episode was him shouting out my nigga Smino. That was it.
Not everyone likes you. It’s okay. Not everyone likes your music. It’s okay. You’ll live. You’ll prosper. The world keeps spinning. You have fans that fuck with you. Focus on them.
What I’m not understanding about this is that if DJ Akademiks is a nobody or “McDonalds” of hip hop media as he put it then why is he even doing the show? Doesn’t that bring down his brand? There was no honest conversation. Just a debate about pointless shit. This was the episode about nothing. Pun intended.
This was a good and bad thing. It was a good idea to do the show because like I said before it was a chance to show people that he’s not this super sensitive guy and he’s willing to hear other opinions and have good dialogue but it’s also a bad idea because people saw first hand how much of a arrogant dude he can be. All I took from this interview is that he has the arrogance and ego of Kanye West but with no albums in his discography that changed the genre like Kanye West.
The part where he was rapping a verse from “C.C White” during the episode was so forced and it was like he was trying to convince everyone that the shit he was rapping was so deep and we all HAVE to like it because of it’s concept but it wasn’t deep in my opinion. I didn’t think he was a better artist after hearing him rap or explain "C.C White.” The concept has been done before. Just let the music speak. He didn’t have to tell me it’s dope. If you have to convince me it’s great then there’s a problem. He acts like his artistry and views are LAW in this episode and it’s annoying as fuck.
J.Cole gets the same amount of criticism. Can’t tell you how many people say J.Cole music makes them sleepy but Cole does things that a lot of rappers don’t do he ignores his critics, unplugs from media, focuses on the love he gets, makes small adjustments, never forces his artistry on people and now he has one of the most crazy fan bases in music today. J.Cole's sales numbers are incredible now. Wale does the total opposite of what Cole does thus this is why you get this episode of “Everyday Struggle.
Do you think Tyler, SchoolBoy, Kendrick, Drake, Cole, Future, ASAP Rocky, Travis Scott, Gambino would have come on that show to convince the general public why they’re dope?
Fuck no.
A new artist like Yachty handled the show beautifully. He let people know “This is me. You fuck with me or you don’t.” He also showed remorse for things he said in the past and admitted he doesn’t know everything. YOU SAW HIM BE A HUMAN! That’s why I fuck with that kid now and I’m rooting for him. He came off as a LIKABLE person. Wale would sort of do some things like this in the episode like admitting he’s not a perfect man but seconds later he’d ruin it somehow. He has some narcissistic qualities especially when it comes to his music.
I guess Wale just wants yes men around him at all times and thinks that people can't have any objectivity without being labeled a hater or a bully. The way he views things is very weird. If this DJ Akademiks nigga was praising his album he wouldn’t insult this nigga or say he’s terrible media. Media is only terrible to Wale if they don’t like or recognizes his music as you seen when he spazzed on Complex years ago about an album list.
As far as the record sales go. Yes he flopped. He didn’t wanna admit it on the episode but It is what it is. Push the album. Tour. Recoup as much as possible and go harder next time. Shit happens. We all stumble. We always say numbers don’t matter when it’s bad but when it’s over 300K all we talk about is numbers. We gotta talk about the good and the bad that’s how we improve. 28,000 is bad for him considering the fact I thought he was one of the more popular artist. There’s obviously a disconnect somewhere in his fan base and he just doesn’t want to admit or acknowledge it. At this point with how many albums he has made he should be headlining stadiums but instead he’s regressing. I listened to the “Shine” album 4 times just to see if it was dope and in my opinion it’s underwhelming given the skill set that he has.
Akademiks remained professional I’ll give him that but that nigga was back peddling. If you say something or believe something stand by it. I just felt he didn’t go hard on what he believed and Joe Budden was basically a non factor on this episode. Honestly they didn’t need him there. He didn’t get much say at all which is rare cause he usually talks the most on that show.
The final thing I’ll talk about from this episode is the indirect threats. This was just flat-out corny when he did this. We know he don’t like Akademiks, that’s cool I’m not really a fan of that nigga either but don’t use Shy Glizzy name to threaten another man. Take your glasses off. Look him in his eyes and YOU tell him he can’t sell merch in D.C. Tell him directly he can’t do it cause you said so. Using Shy's name was lame. Shy beef with Akademiks is over him joking about some serious street shit where his life was on the line. Wale mad at that nigga over his music opinions. Big fucking difference. That shit wasn’t cool. If it’s like that then why even come to talk or explain yourself? He tried too hard to come off as tough to another man who wasn’t giving off that type of vibe or energy. It wasn't called for.
Wale can rap. He has skill. There is no disputing that. He’s a nice rapper. The response to Cole’s “False Prophets” was super nice. I just think it’s his attitude that turns people off to him and in my opinion he hasn’t put together a dope studio album yet. Mixtape? Yes. More About Nothing was a dope tape front to back. All of his studio albums have just been average to me though. I always give dude music a chance cause he can actually rap.
He says all these critics don’t matter yet he responds to these people who he say don’t matter. It doesn’t make sense. This episode made him look super insecure and entitled. If he’d stop telling us how cool he is, how many beautiful women he knows and how successful he is and let it speak for itself I think dude would be one of the top artists in the game. He just needs to stay away from ALL media and focus on the music cause all the social media and interviews are doing is giving people more reason to want to see him fail. The energy he gives off during this is so negative. He had a chance to win over the people he claims he doesn’t care for and he blew it.
God bless that man.
