The Undefeated‘s Martenzie Johnson did a feature piece on the rapper Wale, a notorious wrestling fan who has hosted WaleMania every WrestleMania season for fans and wrestlers alike. The article touches upon Wale’s early wrestling fandom and how he’s one of the major artist’s leading the way of incorporating the “one true sport” into the hip-hop genre. Wale, along with producer Emilio Sparks, like many wrestling fans, shared in the plight of once being closet fans. Quotes from the two are below as well as former WWE writer, Kazeem Famuyide:
Kazeem Famuyide on Wale championing the way of pro wrestling into hip-hop:
“I’ve seen Wale at a ton of courtside games at the Wizards, the Cavs and a bunch of other games. He’s been at ringside for probably just as many WrestleManias or SummerSlams or Raws,” said Kazeem Famuyide, a former WWE writer who has been Wale’s close friend for nearly 10 years. “We always kind of joke around that there’s not really any Spike Lees in pro wrestling, and I kind of feel like Wale’s kind of that when it comes to WWE.”
Wale on how he initially incorporating wrestling into hip-hop:
“When I did the Razor Ramon joint, I didn’t even think about the regular rap fans,” Wale said of a 2014 freestyle in homage to retired wrestler Scott Hall. “And if I did, it was in passing; it was like … it’s not even for them, they not going to understand it. And to some extent, I don’t even think the die-hard wrestling fans, the good ol’ boys wrestling fans, would understand what I was saying. It was just for whoever get it, get it.”
Emilio Sparks on how the hip-hop viewpoint has changed regarding wrestling:
“I think it was, ‘I’m going to be a closet wrestling fan because I’m too cool for the room to say I like pro wrestling,’ ” said Emilio Sparks, a producer at Sirius XM Radio and host of the Wrassle Rap podcast. “And then something changed, and now everybody who’s anybody who watches wrestling — whether you’re a tastemaker, DJ, producer, influencer, rapper, rock star, EDM DJ, whoever — they’re into pro wrestling and they make it known.”
Wale on if he’s working on new music:
“This is the era of not really having a big ol’ release date and all of that, a four-month buildup and all that,” he said. “We’re coming when we’re coming.”
On not getting to see his daughter as much as he’d like:
“I ain’t got it all figured out like a lot of my peers,” he said. “I wish I did, but I don’t, so I’m trying to figure things out and try to make sure she’s straight, make sure that she got whatever she needs, even if that means I can’t see her as much as I want to.
“I wish I had a private jet that I could get on whenever I wanted to and go see her, come bring her to me. But it ain’t like that right now. Everybody’s path ain’t the same.”
On what he wants his future to hold:
“It’s hard to explain. A lot of people are like, ‘Wale thinks he’s on this level, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,’ and it’s like if you take out how you feel about me or whatever and just let the music speak, what makes it different than this or that? That’s supermainstream or supersuccessful? And I’m not going to say I’m not successful, but at the same time, anybody in my shoes, that put the work in that I did and got the accolades that I have, would probably be like, ‘Yo, something ain’t right. That ain’t adding up.’
“At the end of the day, that’s a problem I got to try to fix, if I’m going to fix it, or just step down.”
