On Friday (April 28), Wale excited fans with the release of his fifth studio album, Shine. Upon its debut, the DMV representer hit the media circuit to share insight on the soundscape and much more.
During a previous sit-down with Hot 97, the “Bait” rapper dived into a few personal topics including the birth of his first child and J. Cole’s past shoutout on “False Prophets,” particularly these lyrics: “And I know he so bitter he can’t see his own blessings/Goddamn, ni**a, you too blind to see you got fans, ni**a/And a platform to make a classic rap song/To change a ni**a life, but you too anxious living’ life/Always worried ‘bout the critics who ain’t ever fu**in’ did it.”
When asked by Ebro Darden if Cole’s lyrics helped to change his internal outlook, the MMG cohort said, “I think it helped other people more than me for real…it opened me and his relationship more. We’re closer than we ever been at this point. He’s one of my emergency numbers if something happens to me. That’s a real friend right there.”
The interview later segued to a transformative subject: the start of new life. In July 2016, Wale welcomed his first child, Zyla Moon Oluwakemi. The 32-year-old revealed that he cried once his baby girl entered the world, adding, “She’s so alert. She’s alert to the fact that she’s nosey. Two things that I never thought I would see in a child is being shy and being observant.”
Wale added that he was in the studio when he received the call that his baby’s mother was in labor “and 40 hours later,” the nine-month-old was born. “No medicine, nothing, that’s a real superhero,” he added. “Women can do some amazing things.”
Revisiting his daughter’s birth also meant revisiting a previous miscarriage that the mother of his child experienced. “I thought about the miscarriage more than the new birth, than the new pregnancy every time…I talked to my therapist and he said you’re like this because you’ve dealt with disappointment so much in your life, so much disappointment,” he said. “From things I went through from being locked up in sixth grade, being released from my first contract, from artists doing this and that and the third.”
Throughout the 37-minute interview, Wale also points out the importance of Go-Go music, social media’s ills, MMG and more.