The Vermont Cynic:  What is the Inspiration for all of your songs?

Wale:  Just everything around me, everyday situations; I just wanna show everybody I am normal, I am just like you.

VC:  When did you start rapping?

Wale:  When I was about twelve years old, maybe eleven.  I realized I like to put wordstogether, you know, writing stories and poems.

VC:   In “Artistic Integrity” you allude to the ways that fame can change an artist and his life and relationships. How have you experienced that in your life and career, and how do you cope with it?

Wale:  That’s pretty much the most non-fiction piece I ever wrote, I mean, it’s verbatim what’s going on. 

I got “Artistic Integrity Part II” coming out on the new album. 

Basically, it’s like fame has a cost and the price is everything.

VC:  You mean in your day-to-day life? 

Wale:  Yeah, you really can’t do the things that you normally could and would want to do.

VC:  What has been the biggest obstacle in your career?

Wale:  Trying to prove that I belong here because I from somewhere that no one else has come out of.

VC:  How’s the new album coming?

Wale:  I am hoping people will dig it. 

Its really about, like I said, the normal plight of a human being —  like, life is ADD; no day is the same as the last.

VC:  What is your pr-concert routine? And is this your post-concert routine?  (pointing to the women’s tennis playing on the flat screen TV in the corner of the bus.)
laughter —

Wale:  Nah, I am actually going to lay on my bunk right after this interview, I just wanted to sit down for a while. 

I don’t really have a routine. I just chill: take a nap before, take a nap after.

VC:  Tonight, you played with a live band. Is that the regular for you?

Wale:  Nah actually I do some with the DJ, but sometimes I like to do the tour with the band, you get that funky rock and roll effect going.