Been a wrap for a minute. His ego was his downfall and I honestly get it, but the success he found in his lane and the validation he got from people he admires (bro had Seinfeld, a fukking billionaire, doing outros/intros on his shyt and he even hosted a marathon iirc) should have been validation enough.
But I feel him. He's incredibly talented and everybody knows it, but I think his lyrical depth and persona makes him far less endearing than somebody like Cole who positions themselves with his fanbase. Cole had the same problem of being too artsy/rappy while trying to become mainstream until he found and settled into his lane with his core audience.
You can't consider yourself as a poet and expect that to push you to success alone. When he tries to do radio shyt with the right people, he hits it out the park but he seemingly doesn't want to do it or he burned enough bridges that he isn't able to. His catalogue is full of actual gems, like he legitimately makes better songs than a lot of people out right now; he's just so offputting that it's hard for people not into him to look into him
Like if Cole didn't have such a steady and dedicated fanbase, that he worked his ass off to maintain, then he would be in the same boat for the most part because social media would have you thinking people HATE Cole and the shyt he raps about. Wale never put that time into nurturing his fanbase and instead went on the offensive towards everyone
I feel for him. And it's wild seeing him go from being constantly hyped to this. My nikka was ahead of his time doing collabs with Gaga and shyt