Before the elements of Afrobeats were sprinkled upon various Billboard Hip-Hop/R&B chart entries, Wale released singles like “My Sweetie” and worked with WizKid on “My Love.”
Before Bad Bunny and Travis Scott were jumping into WWE rings, Wale was hosting WaleMania, and Andscape’s Martenzie Johnson was writing headlines like, “How Wale became hip-hop’s No. 1 wrestling fan.”
Before media outlets were putting
To say that Wale was the absolute first artist to live in the intersection of Hip-Hop and wrestling or to incorporate Afrobeats and other adjacent genres into his music would be shortsighted because an elder statesman of the culture will always point you to a pioneer who flew under the radar or a foregotten luminary. However, it would be irresponsible not to acknowledge that he is a pioneer of his generation, or more specifically, the graduating class of The Blog Era. As conversations about “The Big 3” or hypothetical Mount Rushmores dismantle timelines, names like Wiz Khalifa, Big KRIT, Wale, Big Sean, and others are often overlooked or dismissed. But with Wale’s new single, “Mirroronnabenz,” his accomplishments and achievements are hard to ignore.
More than a month after the song debuted on Flight Club, “Mirroronabenz” arrived on the internet. Produced by BNYX of the Working on Dying Collective, the single serves as a self-affirmation anthem draped in the rhythms and grooves of Afrobeats, Rap, and R&B. Lyrically, Wale dances around the Everything Is A Lot single as he details setbacks like having his football dreams crushed at Bowie State and not receiving the flowers he felt he earned with “Lotus Flower Bomb.” Still, through the ups and downs, Wale uses the track to remind himself that he is exactly who he thinks he is.
“Mirror, look at me, no, mirror, look at me/They try and bite your style, they walk out with crooked teeth/Don’t self-sabotage, know the opps a click away/If you ever need to talk, know I’ll always be in your face,” he raps.
Wale will not only be around to remind himself that he is a trendsetter, but he’ll also be around to showcase his skills to the world. His eighth studio album, Everything Is A Lot, drops on November 14, 2025. Also, he is set to host the second annual Gifted Week in November, and he recently announced that he’ll be executive producing a new series about the life of Wayne “Silk” Perry.
