Wale’s “Pretty Girls” video has been a long time coming, but somehow I don’t think this is how Wale pictured the release going. While on the surface “Pretty Girls” is a fun but relatively unremarkable video, it’s sparked a raging controversy over the absence of dark skinned women. Oops. See more…

We don’t like to brag, but if Vegas took odds on which rappers are set to make it big, we’d be swimming in gold like Scrooge McDuck. With that in mind, we wanted to pause for a moment to reflect on the year that was, and look forward to the year that will be. After polling each of our staff members individually and tabulating the results, we’ve come up with a quick breakdown of the three artists that broke through the biggest in 2009, and two more that are set to blow up bigger than Oprah’s bank account in 2010. See more…

Every so often a beat comes along that ever rapper alive feels compelled to spit a freestyle over (I’m looking at you “D.O.A.”), and while these freestyles can quickly cross the line into “if I hear one more of these” territory, they secretly have a huge upside: the allow us to directly compare elite rappers. So if you don’t think that I hear Wale’s brand new “Say Something” freestyle this morning and immediately went to listen to Lupe Fiasco’s version as well, you don’t know me very well. Listen and download…

I can’t remember the last time a rapper had as much hype going into a debut album as Wale, and while his long-awaited album “Attention Deficit” isn’t perfect, it’s got more than a couple tracks that prove the man deserves all the hype he’s having heaved his way. In case you haven’t already copped the album, here’s something to kick your ass onto iTunes (or wherever), one of my favorite tracks “TV in the Radio” featuring K’Naan. See more to listen and download…

I haven’t seen this much buzz surrounding a once unknown, now almost supremely powerful man since Obama’s election. Ok, that’s a slight exaggeration, but the buzz surrounding Wale’s new album “Attention Deficit”, due to drop tomorrow, is huge, a level of interest that would have once been unthinkable for a D.C. artist. Ahead of that highly anticipated release date we present “OGz”, a typically lyrically dope track from Wale featuring drums from punk rocker/hip-hopper Travis Barker and production from Sean C & LV. See more to listen and download…

Around here we can never get enough Wale, so just two days after we brought you his “Pretty Girls Remix” we’re back to give the D.C. represented some more play with the release of his new track “Mirrors”, a boom-bap styles track featuring ill, stuttering rhymes from Wale and a feature from the King of the Trill Bun B. See more to listen and download….

Wale’s opened the door for the entire DMV region, and with singles like “Pretty Girls” blowing up it feels like it’s only a matter of time before the man’s a true hip-hop heavyweight. Joining Wale on the endorsed remix is Chicago-turned-fellow-DMV representative Soulstice and Akshan, who give the track a reggae bounce missing from the original. See more to download.

Just in case you’re one of the seven people in the world who hasn’t heard Wale’s new track “Bittersweet”, the DJ Toomp produced beat originated from “Bitter Sweet Symphony,” The Verve’s hugely popular
hit in the late 90s. But that’s just the beginning of the story. Dig a little deeper and you’ll uncover a tale featuring the Rolling Stones, stolen Grammy awards and the legal battle between art and business.