Wale recently sat down with Complex for a wide-ranging conversation about the state of hip-hop culture, his 15-year career, and a lot more. During the sit-down with Jordan Rose, he answered a question about how he feels engaging with music discourse today and how social media has changed it.
"[For] the past 15 years, everybody's had an opinion on the Internet," the "Damage Control" MC remarked. "But now, I think they're so loud now. We're just in a room full of a gazillion people screaming. A million album reviews, 15 minutes after the album's out. A lot of hyperbole, man. Hyperbole has destroyed – irreparable damage to discourse on anything. Sports, football, basketball. Some people only understand hyperbole. It's either a classic or it's the worst. I think it's cooked us a little bit."
"They do it a lot more with music because it's subjective," he continued. "That might be one of my most frustrating things about music, or art in general. But especially Black music. People will be like, 'That's trash,' just because they don't like the person who made it. [...] You can say whatever you want about LeBron James. He got them four rings, he's the all-time leading scorer. [...] In hip-hop, you could write a song that has so much depth into it. But because the popular reactor or streamer hasn't dived into it, 'Oh, nah, that sucks.' It's hard to say [opinions] are valuable now."
Wale New Album
However, Wale's respect for streamers and other rap media was clear in the interview. Rather, he just wanted to make a point about the direction this type of general discourse is taking the art form in. The DMV artist thinks that all hip-hop media should go into projects without expectations, and especially without looking at other perspectives on them first.
Meanwhile, with new music like fiery and loose freestyles coming out these days, plus a new album on the horizon, Wale has a lot to share in 2025. We can't wait to hear what's in store, and we'll see what other reflections and conversations this sparks when it comes to hip-hop and discourse.
