As his recent move to Rick Ross’ Maybach Music imprint indicates, all has not been well since Wale singed with Allido/Interscope back in 2008. For some, the talent showcased on his numerous mixtapes just didn’t translate over to his major label debut, Attention Deficit. According to Wale, part of the problem was trying to operate within the constraints of his label. After there was a minor controversy caused due to perceived lack of diversity with the female models chosen for his “Pretty Girls” video, Wale and Tabi Bonney personally oversaw the followup video, “My Sweetie.” It seems that things only got worse from there.
“There was only one song funded, and [‘Chillin’] was the “song that they picked,” Wale explained to WPGC 95.5’s Free. “Chillin’ didn’t sound nothing like that at first. They did the record industry stuff, saying, ‘Oh we really love the record. This should be your first single. Just change this, this and this.’ It actually got changed the day it was mastered.”
From what he felt was a lack of input and support to only having 20,000 copies of his album shipped, Wale felt he had enough and amicably split from Interscope. He said a series of positive talks with Rick Ross led to his decision to sign with Maybach Music Group. Additional positive conversations apparently took place with Kid Cudi, as the pair ended their short-lived beef.
“We’re close friends, and the closer friends you are with somebody the worse the fights [can] be,” Wale added. “His circle is significantly smaller, but sometimes that’s what you need to do—reevaluate your circle.”
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After trading some verbal jabs in the press, Wale and Kid Cudi publicly reconciled on Twitter in February.
