‘I Want to Express a Certain Level of Vulnerability’

In 2025, a lot is going on in the world at any given moment — and Wale has prepped an apt soundtrack for that phenomenon. On Nov. 14, the Grammy-nominated D.C. rapper will release his eighth studio album, Everything Is a Lot, via Def Jam.

The Billboard chart-topping MC’s new album promises to tackle the myriad stresses, life developments and global pressures he’s encountered in the four years since his last studio LP, 2021’s Folarin II. That album, a sequel to his career-shifting 2012 mixtape of the same name, housed the J. Cole-assisted “Poke It Out,” Wale’s most recent Billboard Hot 100 entry (No. 73).

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“One of the underlying things is how heavy everything is in the world around me, my personal life, and the industry,” he exclusively told Billboard. “I carried all of that with me and got it out of my system through this project.”

With an expansive soundscape courtesy of producers such as BNYX, Salaam Remi, Kel-P Vibes, Go Grizz, Streetrunner, Emil and Genio, EIA will include bluesy lead single “Blanco,” which Wale debuted live at Dreamville earlier this year, and “Where to Start,” which samples SWV’s classic 1992 hit “I’m So Into You.” The 16-track set, recorded primarily in London and Los Angeles, will also feature genre-bending collaborations with a yet-to-be-revealed roster that includes buzzy names across R&B, hip-hop and Afrobeats.

Everything Is a Lot also serves as Wale’s first full-length release under Def Jam, following six albums and over a decade with Rick Ross’ Maybach Music Group, an imprint of Warner Records. During that stint, Wale followed up his 2009 Attention Deficit debut studio album with four Billboard 200 top 10 projects, including the No. 1 albums The Gifted (2013) and The Album About Nothing (2015). After a semi-public falling out with MMG, particularly with Meek Mill, Wale signed with Def Jam in 2023, marking a new chapter in his two-decade career. “The industry is a completely different place than it was four years ago,” he reflects. “They had a purge, and a lot of people lost their jobs.”

Across Everything Is a Lot, Wale’s primary goal was “to express a certain level of vulnerability.” To do so, he leaned on soulful samples and bluesy Western influences, the latter of which shine through on “Blanco,” the first song he completed for the forthcoming LP. “It’s never as contrived as people think,” he says of the album’s varied production and strikingly honest tracks like “Lonely.” “If I’m in the mood to write something, I just get to it. It’s all about capturing that feeling in the moment.” On “Fly Away,” Wale samples Maxwell’s classic, Grammy-winning “Pretty Wings” for a moving number about “abandonment and attachment issues,” underscoring his commitment to confronting discomfort on the record.

“It’s always been hard to keep people’s attention,” Wale says. “That’s why my first album is called Attention Deficit. It’s become increasingly harder in this day and age, where fans are rewiring themselves to only like what the algorithm tells them to like. It’s an uphill battle, so it’s a blessing to be in the conversation still.”

Check out the full tracklist and album artwork for Wale’s Everything Is a Lot below.

Wale, EIA

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