Olubowale Victor Akintimehin was born on 21 September 1984, in Washington D.C., USA of Yoruba Nigerian descent, Known simply as Wale, he is a naturalized American rapper, singer who came to notice in 2006 when he released his first song entitled “Dig Dug (Shake It)”, which immediately became popular particularly in the Washington area, and which was also a good start to building his net worth.
So just how rich is Wale? Sources indicate that Wale is progressing well in his career spanning less than 10 years, with an estimated net worth of $7 million.
Wale Net Worth $7 Million
Wale initially planned to pursue a career in football and attended Robert Morris University and Virginia State University on football scholarships. However, academia was not for him, and neither did his football progress as he had hoped, so he dropped out and shifted his focus towards music, and soon became recognized locally. In 2006, “Dig Dug (Shake It)” was released and Wale’s successful attempt at making music saw him discovered by a British producer, Mark Ronson, and in 2007 he was offered a recording deal with Allido Records.
Within a year, Wale released several mix tapes under their label, received the award of “D.C Metro Breakthrough Artist of the Year”, and participated in Mark Ronson’s UK tour, appeared in the media, and was featured in several magazines. A year later in 2008, he was signed to both Allido Records and Interscope, the latter offering him $1.3 million for his contract. In 2009, Wale released his debut album entitled “Attention Deficit” containing singles that appeared in the official music charts: “Chillin” peaked at #99 on the Billboard Hot 100, “Pretty Girls” reached #56 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, while the song “World Tour” was critically acclaimed. The album as a whole peaked at #21 on the Hot 200 Billboard chart with 28,000 copies sold, establishing Wale’s position among the successful artists in the music industry, and considerably boosted his net worth.
Wales career progressed steadily, and in 2011 he signed a recording deal with the Maybach Music Group, a label belonging to another famous rapper, Rick Ross, with whom he recorded and released a compilation album entitled “Self Made Vol.1”, which turned out to be highly successful, selling 58,900 copies during the first week, and debuting at #5 on the US Billboard 200. Wale then went on to record his solo albums, and later that year, he released his second studio album “Ambition”, which surprisingly enough, received a mixture of both positive, as well as negative reviews. However, despite some criticism, the album peaked at #2 on the US Billboard 200, selling 164,000 copies during the first week; again, his net worth benefited considerably.
In 2013, Wale released his third studio album entitled “The Gifted”, which mainly received positive reviews from both critics and the audience. The album featured guest appearances from such famous artists as Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Ne-Yo, Rick Ross and others, and sold 323,000 copies in the United States alone, and peaked at #1 on both US Billboard 200 and US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Album charts.This success also increased his net worth.
Wale has also been nominated for and won many awards: he was nominated for Grammy Awards, BET Hip Hop Awards, won Nigeria Entertainment Award for the Best International Artist, as well as Soul Train Awards for Best New Artist and Best Hip Hop Song of the Year 2013 – such recognition does no harm to his rising net worth.
In addition to his successful music career and stable income, Wale has invested in the water brand called “Smartwater”, a subsidiary company owned by The Coca-Cola Company, with revenue of $350 million in 2006. Hopefully this and other investments will prove worthwhile assets, adding further to Wale’s wealth.
