Wale Quotes

With 'Hip-Hop Saved My Life,' I attempted to make 'Kick, Push,' but for rappers. To give a real basic play-by-play of the life of a rapper before he makes it - if he ever makes it, because you can get stuck in that and be trying to make it for the rest of your life.

I've been an underdog all my life.

I want to be an example of a guy who made something of himself out of nothing. A guy who overcame the odds of a tough childhood, who worked hard, who didn't let his surroundings get the best of him and lead him to jail or the graveyard. Where I ended up - being a comedian, a TV star, and a movie actor - might be unique, but my story is not.

When I started getting so many haters and closed doors, I decided to prove that it could be done. I was a divorced single mother of three at the time and a size 12 - not your typical model artist that labels feel work for the music industry.

I've always felt like the underdog, and I'm comfortable with that label.

If you think about where I'm from, I'm not supposed to be singing in the first place. I'm not supposed to be alive right now.

I've always been an underdog. I feel like I beat the odds.

The American dream is Chance the Rapper, or 'little Chano from 79th' who hails from Chicago's Southside and became the first artist to win a Grammy without selling one physical copy of his album.

I was an underdog my whole career, but I knew I had the ability to compete with those guys.

I've been the underdog my whole career.

Initially, when I got into the world of music, I was treated like an underdog.

I got tired of everybody repeating the same phrases in the hip-hop world.

I just appreciate the love that I get and support from hip-hop.

There's a lot of guys out there that can play at this level, and sometimes they might be discouraged because they come from a small school or a tough situation.

I'd rather be the underdog than anything.

I like being the underdog. I like turning around and shutting people up when they tell me I can't.

You gotta flex. You gotta look good, bro. Especially coming from the outskirts and wanting to take over the whole Atlanta.

I'm always the underdog, but I don't mind that.

I look at Puff Daddy as somebody that gave me a chance to prove the whole world wrong. Cause when I used to think about rap, everybody would say, 'Well, you talk too slow,' or, 'You rap too slow,' when in reality, that was my uniqueness.

You're taught that it's not very likely for you to become successful... that odds are you're going to be a struggling artist for the rest of your life.

It doesn't matter what background you come from; it doesn't matter what your circumstances are - you can survive.

Nothing really comes easy to you when you're under-recruited, you're undersized, you're undervalued. It's a situation where you have to be better than the bigger guys.

I have a hip-hop podcast and get to meet all these rappers I love, so I feel very lucky.

I was born into long odds. I know what the David versus Goliath story is. My life has been that.

I take a lot of pride in beating guys like Kyle Dake or David Taylor or these guys who have been basically bred to do this from Day 1. The best camps, the best high schools, the best universities. I never had that. It's not necessary, but I never had any of the frills a lot of those guys had.