Video: Wale – ‘The White Shoes’

Wale’s new album TAAN or The Album About Nothing drops tonight at midnight. The LP includes appearances from Usher, Jeremih, J. Cole, and SZA. Wale is expected to appear on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon tonight performing with The Roots. Take a look at the new visual below and be sure to get your copy of his new album on iTunes.

Wale also recently spoke with Billboard about drugs, depression and more. Take a look at some of what he had to say below and head over to Billboard to read the full article.

Billboard: What are you talking about on this album that hits closest to home when it comes to your life?
Wale: The music industry. You can say I’m sensitive, but music is why I live. Other people have kids or a strong woman in their lives; all I have is my music. I constantly work my ass off and I’m not in these magazines — all I can go by is the people and what they say. People ask, “Why do you check social-media comments?” But what else do I have, bro? I don’t get no major articles. Nobody talks about Wale like that. So what do you do when you’re busting your ass and taking pills to stay up and be able to provide the right energy, and you’re not seeing the proper response?

Billboard: What kind of pills?
Wale: My confidence was shot, so I’d be taking whatever to keep me in a good mood, to get me in the right mood for an interview. I’m not going into the details as to what I was taking, but there’s definitely something for that. Just like there’s a fuckin’ app for everything, there’s a damn pill for everything. Or something you can pour in your glass. I was depressed not being where I wanna be in my career when I’ve put the work in. I wasn’t sleeping. I was drinking all day and I didn’t have anyone to go to. I couldn’t fight it. Those are some of the demons I talk about on the album.

Billboard: What else have you been through?
Wale: Getting dropped from a label is only fun to people who can’t feel it. [Wale was released by Interscope Records in 2010.] Everybody was laughing at Trinidad James when he got dropped. Damn, what if you just lost your job today? What if your friend got shot at and crashed his car and wasn’t picking up the phone? I was in tears when Ross got shot at [in 2013]. He doesn’t even know that. I was scared. I was thinking the worst. He wasn’t picking up the phone. But I was seeing all these people laugh at him on social media. That’s my friend! Someone said [on Twitter], “I wish it had been you” when A$AP Yams died. What did I do to you? Is a retweet or laugh that important to you? I’m sensitive, okay? God gave me the ability to feel twice as much so I can write, twice as much maybe.

Billboard: Your last album hit No. 1. Do you think this album will get you the respect you want?
Wale: I gave this my all. I’m not trying to whine about being critically acclaimed or getting in the door, but it breaks my heart. Everyone says, “Be patient. It’ll happen.” But all signs are showing, “No, it won’t happen.” I’m okay with people not liking my music but provide an intelligent reason for why you like or don’t like something or you’re a hater or a dick-rider. This is my fourth album. I want some respect. I want to go to a party and not have Katy Perry tell her security to move me out of the fuckin’ way. We do the same thing. I know there’s no union in the music industry, but have some respect. I want people to be like, “Your album’s just as good as Kendrick [Lamar]’s or Esperanza Spalding or Beck.” I work just as hard as them.