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.

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/

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