Wale Talks His New Album “The Gifted” With Shaheem Reid

Wale is getting ready to release his third studio album, The Gifted, on June 25. With “Bad” serving as the first single, the D.C. rapper decided to give a little bit more information about the project.

During “The Round Up” with Shaheem Reid at Quad Studios in New York, Wale said that he’s been listening to Kanye West’s Late Registration album for inspiration. He noted that “Touch The Sky” was his favorite track from the album. As he puts it, The Gifted will showcase him elaborating on certain topics and going deeper in different concepts.

Sonically, Wale has featured live music and instrumentation on the album and plans on challenging himself as an artist. He also revealed “Bad” was originally supposed to feature Rihanna, but felt Tiara Thomas was suited to help produce the single.

Wale and Reid break down one of the album’s tracks as well. Watch the full interview above to learn the story behind “Sunshine," as well as find out why Wale named the album, The Gifted.

Previously: Shaheem Reid Interviews Jadakiss for Life+Times’ The Round Up