Wale Isn’t Chasing The Charts With ‘The Album About Nothing’

Wale's The Album About Nothing is on the way and the MMG-signee stopped by "The Breakfast Club" for an extended interview. Always outspoken, Wale delves into topics ranging from leaving Roc Nation, being "discovered" by Mark Ronson, bringing back the "old Wale" and working with Jerry Seinfeld. Check out the highlights below...

On Leaving Roc Nation: It was hard. I was there when it was S Dot Enterprises and it was brand spankin' new...It was hard for me. But to me, personally, they're going in another direction with sports. My day-to-day person was Rich Kleiman and he's working with Victor Cruz, Kevin Durant and Hakeem Nicks and he's got his own thing going on. I wish them nothing but the best.

On getting back to the "Old Wale": I'm kinda letting my core fans A&R the project. I'm zeroing in on things that made them grow to love me early in my career when I was doing "Mixtape About Nothing." I'm focusing on those things and not running away from those things anymore.

On Being "Discovered By" Mark Ronson: He didn't discover me. I was doing the local circuit...and he had had found one of my songs and played it on his show. He asked me to come in and freestyle, so I did and I was a young, hungry MC so I was asking him, 'What's up? I'm tryna get a record deal.' And he was like, 'We'll see.' Then, there was a girl named Leah Rose at XXL who called Rich Kleiman and said, 'You need to sign this kid, he's hot.' Rich Kleiman brought me back and said, 'Mark, sign him.' Then Mark started to hear the buzz and after Lil Wayne did the "Nike Boots" remix, he wanted to sign me. That's why Rich and I have always been tight....I wanted to sign with Def Jam or Capitol...But I signed with Mark at Interscope. That deal went left because...there were promises. He was producer of the year, he did Amy Winehouse's project and Jimmy Iovine thought he was going to come in and make hits for his artists. And he didn't. Who has to suffer because of that? That's how the game go.

On New Album: I work on all my albums up until the last minute....I don't have any features on it except Jeremih and Usher right now...I haven't reached out to nobody else. It's all me right now, I'm singing all the hooks.

On Meek Mill Situation: Ross didn't even acknowledge it...It's hard to speak to Meek right now because he's away but I talked to everybody in the [Dreamchasers] set...It came out of the blue. I was in Vegas the night before, I overslept, crawled to my plane, got to the hotel, watched 'Monday Night Raw' and went to sleep. I woke up and I thought it was a troll Retweet but then I saw the 'Don't even text me.' You never know what someone is going through but I still love him. I wish nothing but the best for him.

On Being Liked: I really don't understand....I got good records, I'm consistent, so what is it? You don't think I want to be more liked? Of course I do. I care that people feel a way about me....It's frustrating. How am I supposed to go back in the studio and write something knowing that it's going to fall short...It worries me. What am I supposed to do now? Am I supposed to write backwards?

On Working With Jerry Seinfeld For "The Album About Nothing": I keep it all the way funky with him and he keeps it all the way real with me...This is probably the richest dude I know and he's sitting there chopping it up about life and we share a lot of the same similarities and that's what the album is about. It's me and him talking about metaphors. We have these conversations and I go back and write music about them...I'm not chasing the charts with this album, I want to create a moment for hip-hop.

[The Breakfast Club]
Previously: Wale Leaves Roc Nation
Wale Featuring Jeremih "The Body"
PARTYNEXTDOOR Featuring Wale "Thirsty (Remix)"