PROFILER- Meet Olubowale Victor Akintimehin

Olubowale Victor Akintimehin

Olubowale Victor Akintimehin (born September 21, 1984), better known by his stage name Wale, is an American rapper from Washington, D.C. He rose to prominence in 2006, when his song "Dig Dug (Shake It)" became popular in his hometown. Wale became locally recognized and continued recording music for the regional audience. Producer Mark Ronson discovered Wale in 2006 and signed him to Allido Records in 2007. While signed to that label, Wale released several mixtapes and appeared in national media including MTV and various Black-American-focused magazines. A song called "Ridin' in That Black Joint" was featured in the popular video game Saints Row 2's soundtrack in 2008.

In 2008, Wale signed with Interscope Records for $1.3 million, and his debut album Attention Deficit was released in 2009 with the singles "Chillin", "Pretty Girls", and "World Tour". The album, although under-shipped, received positive reviews from critics. In early 2011, Wale signed with Rick Ross' Maybach Music Group, where members of the label released a compilation album, Self Made Vol. 1 on May 23, 2011. His second studio album, Ambition was released November 1, 2011, with mixed reviews. His third studio album, The Gifted, was released on June 25, 2013, to mainly positive reviews; it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. His second Billboard number one album The Album About Nothing was released on March 31, 2015.

Wale (who is a Nigerian American) was born Olubowale Victor Akintimehin on September 21, 1984, in Northwest, Washington, D.C.His parents were from the Yoruba ethnic group of the southwestern Nigeria, and both of them came to the United States from Austria in 1979. Wale's family was first living in Northwest, Washington, D.C., and then moved to Montgomery County, when Wale was at the age of 10. In 2002, he graduated from the Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and moved to Largo, Maryland in Prince George's County. Wale attended Robert Morris Universityand Virginia State University on football scholarships, then transferred to Bowie State University. However, he dropped out due to academic reasons. Wale's love of the game of football and the Washington Redskins has led to a longstanding rumor that Wale had a tattoo of tight end Chris Cooley. He's also the cousin of an actor Gbenga Akinnagbe, who is best known as for playing Chris Partlow on HBO's The Wire. Wale's first recorded the track, called "Rhyme of the Century", which became his first song to ever played on the local radio. In 2006, he was featured in the "Unsigned Hype" column of The Source magazine, and later signed to a local label, Studio 43. The track, called "Dig Dug (Shake It)" became popular in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia, and was a tribute to Ronald "Dig Dug" Dixon, who was a percussion player for the go-go band Northeast Groovers.The song became the most requested song by a local artist in Washington D.C. radio history and Wale was the first local artist to get some BDS spins since DJ Kool in the early 1990s. The song was included in Wale's first mixtape, Paint a Picture.