Wale Joins Jay-Z's North American College Arena Tour

Wale Joins Jay-Z's North American College Arena Tour

TOUR KICKS OFF TOMORROW OCTOBER 9TH AT PENN STATE UNIVERSITY ALBUM ATTENTION DEFICIT NOW SET FOR NOVEMBER 10TH

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- After being hailed as "the greatest new rapper since Jay-Z" (GQ, June 2009), Wale will be featured on hip-hop giant Jay-Z's new tour North American College Arena Tour. The tour will make 24 stops at a mix of college campus arenas and traditional venues across North America kicking off at Penn State University on October 9th. To coincide with that exposure, Attention Deficit (Allido/Interscope), the much-anticipated debut album from Wale--the first D.C. rapper to gain national attention in more than a decade--will be released November 10, 2009. Wale, who most recently performed as the house band with legendary go-go band UCB at the VMAs, has been catapulted onto hip-hop's center stage.

The 25-year-old D.C.-born son of Nigerian immigrants, Wale previously issued a series of acclaimed, go-go/rap mash-up mixtapes that gained notice and airplay in the DMV (D.C.-Maryland-Virginia) and beyond. In 2007 super producer Mark Ronson--responsible for new luminaries such as Amy Winehouse--began playing Wale's "Good Girls" on his East Village radio show. Soon after, Ronson added Wale to a remix of Lily Allen's bubbly pop record "Smile" and recruited him for a U.K. tour for his latest album. Wale also turned "D.A.N.C.E." from French electro-house stars Justice into a hip-hop banger renamed "W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E.," which he performed at the 2007 VMAs.

In 2008 Ronson signed Wale to his and Rich Kleiman's Allido Records and subsequently to its joint venture with Interscope. That year, Wale appeared on The Roots' single "Rising Up" from their Rising Down album before remixing his own "Nike Boots" track to feature Lil' Wayne. Most recently, Wale inked a co-management deal with Jay-Z's Roc Nation and this summer headlined his first tour, which sold out a number of venues.

Along with Ronson ("Mirrors" feat. Bun B, "90210"), producers on Attention Deficit include Cool and Dre ("Chillin'" and "World Tour"), Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio ("Warrior" feat. K'Naan), Sean C and LV ("OG"), and Sleepwalkers ("Diary" feat. Marsha Ambrosius).

Proclaimed "The Great Rap Hope" by The Washington Post (October 2007), Wale fulfills his promise as an innovative new voice in hip-hop with Attention Deficit.

Ticket and tour information are available at LiveNation.com. Tour dates are listed below (dates and venues are subject to change):

   Date       City                   Venue    Oct 09     State College, PA      Penn State/Bryce Jordan Center   Oct 10     Cincinnati, OH         N Kentucky U/Bank of Kentucky Center   Oct 13     Edmonton, AB           Rexall Place   Oct 14     Calgary, AB            Pengrowth Saddledome   Oct 15     Kelowna, BC            Prospera Place   Oct 16     Vancouver, BC          General Motors Place   Oct 17     Seattle, WA            KeyArena   Oct 21     Ypsilanti, MI          Eastern Michigan U/Convocation Center   Oct 23     Philadelphia, PA       Wachovia Center (Powerhouse)   Oct 24     Providence, RI         Dunkin Donuts Center   Oct 25     Amherst, MA            U of Mass/Mullins Center   Oct 27     Baltimore, MD          1st Mariner Arena   Oct 28     Columbus, OH           Ohio State/ Value City Arena the                                      Schottenstein Center   Oct 29     London, ON             John Labatt Centre   Oct 30     Montreal, QC           Bell Centre   Oct 31     Toronto, ON            Air Canada Centre   Nov 01     Ottawa, ON             Scotiabank Place   Nov 07     Fresno, CA             Fresno State/Save Mart Center   Nov 08     Los Angeles, CA        UCLA/Pauley Pavilion   Nov 12     Champaign, IL          University of Illinois/Assembly Hall   Nov 19     Albuquerque, NM        Tingley Coliseum   Nov 20     El Paso, TX            U of Texas at El Paso/Don Haskins Ctr   Nov 21     Lubbock, TX            United Spirit Arena    For more information on Wale, please visit www.walemusic.com.  

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Interscope Records

CONTACT: Fairley McCaskill, Office, +1-310-865-9634,
fairley.mccaskill@umusic.com, or Yvette Gayle, Office, +1-310-865-6278,
yvette.gayle@umusic.com, both of Interscope Records

Web Site: http://www.walemusic.com/

---

Profile: International Entertainment