Wale released his fifth studio album and is ready to SHINE even more than he already does. In fact, the 32-year-old rapper says he hopes his new album gives everyone out there a reason to smile, which also happens to be the title of one of the songs on SHINE that features his 9-month-old daughter Zyla Moon. "We all need a reason to smile, so hopefully this SHINE album could be somebody's reason to. There are a lot of positive feelings that I'm trying radiate on this."
This is Wale's fifth studio album, and he says his upcoming tour is going to be a celebration of all five records. "This is my fifth album right here. And it's just going be a celebration for it. Like, we really, really have arrived at five albums. We're celebrating how far we've come."
SHINE features 14 new songs, including collaborations with artists like Lil Wayne, Major Lazer, WizKid, G-Eazy, J Balvin, Travis Scott, Davido and Olamide, Chris Brown, and Phil Adé. And Wale explains to iHeartRadio the excitement of working with one of his favorite artists: Lil Wayne. "I'm one of the biggest Lil Wayne fans. We grew up on him. So, him doing a song with me on this album was incredible."
On Wale's Vision for SHINE & Wanting to Provide Relief Through Turbulent Times
Wale's SHINE follows his 2015 album The Album About Nothing, and describes the new record's sound as, "It just sounds like it's a party. I still offer that lyricism, more about my records, but it's more relaxed. It's more of a happy, relaxed album."
Speaking of happy and relaxed, Wale's vision for SHINE was music that is meant to be a "relief" in the midst of the turbulent times that are occurring around the world, currently.
"I just wanted fun stuff for the whole summer. Just fun stuff that you can listen to in your car, when your with your friends, when you're getting ready to go to the club and stuff like that. I just feel like what America is going through right now, and the world ... sometimes, it's too much to look at. Sometimes you need relief. And I felt like I wanted to make a relief album, almost. Like a Band-Aid, almost. Right now, I could make an album when I'm talking about all of the horrible things that are going on in the world, but I feel like coming from me right now, somebody who just had their first child, I wanted to come with something positive and just do the exact opposite of that."
On How He Featured His Daughter Zyla Moon On "Smile"
Wale welcomed his first child, his daughter Zyla Moon, into the world in the summer of 2016, and the little one already has a feature on his new album during a song called "Smile." He says that Zyla is learning to talk, and even likes to sing ... in her own way. He says of incorporating her into the song:
"She's always trying to sing. She's learning how talk now, and she's playing with her voice a lot. So, I just had her do a little bit into the microphone, and then, voila. She's on there. I bet she might be one of the youngest kids with a feature on the album."
On Writing & Recording "Fashion Week" with G-Eazy and Why Wale Chose Him To Collaborate With
"I wrote 'Fashion Week' when I was doing my last album, actually. It just didn't fit the concept of the last album. I've never heard a beat like that before. That beat is something that I can't compare to anything else. Christian Rich did that and I just was like, man, this sounds like some type of futuristic fashion show runway. And that's how it starts. And, I thought G-Eazy, he's a fly dude, he gets that lifestyle [and] what I was trying to embody on this, so I called him up."
Watch Wale & G-Eazy's "Fashion Week" music video below: