Hungry For Mixtapes

No matter how dope your lyrics are, how big your chain is, or how good your live show may be, an artist is nothing without his or her fans. Especially an artist who depends on Internet buzz and underground love as he gets set to drop his debut album this summer. Yes Wale, I am speaking about you. Recently, Wale has begun to alienate his fan base by continuing to push back his highly anticipated fifth mixtape, “Back To The Feature.” With an original release date April 29, the epic mixtape that is rumored to feature all the members of Slaughterhouse, Talib Kweli, J. Cole, Curren$y and many others, was then pushed back to May 7. Wale even held a concert/release party at Poisson Rouge in New York City to celebrate the tape. Yet, May 7 rolled around and there was no mixtape to be found. People who attended the concert said that Wale never mentioned the tape at all. Now Wale is one of my favorite artists and, in my opinion, the best of the up and comers of 2009. But myself, along with thousands of other fans who have been waiting for this mnixtape for quite some time now, feel very slighted. When the original release date for the mixtape was given to us, it was by Wale in a video telling the crowd at a sneaker singing he attended that the tape was coming April 29. A few weeks later we found Wale telling us in an interview that the tape was being pushed back to May 7. It was disappointing, but at least Wale was letting his fans know what was going on. Wale’s manager’s website, The Elitaste, created fliers promoting the release of the mixtape in New York on May 7. Ever since May 7, us fans have heard nothing from Wale or Elitaste. No explanation for why the tape never came out after all the promotion that was done nor an update as to when the next, probably unreal, release date would be. The only news the public heard was a short message on Elitaste’s Twitter saying that the tape would “be out soon.” Thank you so much for that insight. It is almost like Wale and his management team don’t realize that there are thousands of fans wondering where the mixtape is and sitting around waiting for some new Wale to drop. Buzz is so important when you are a young artist, and Wale is squalling his right now. The frustration I feel over the lack of information about this new mixtape is going to turn me off of Wale, the tape will come out when it does and it will be amazing. But I cannot speak for other, more casual fans who may be checking out Wale for the first time. Wale’s last mixtape dropped in 2008, and in this internet era where Lil’ Wayne can drop 8 songs a day and Curren$y, fresh off releasing his debut album in April, can already have another mixtape ready for the end of May, it baffles me as to why this mixtape is taking so long to come out. The people are hungry Wale. You had better feed them quick before some of them go elsewhere for food.