Wale sat down with Ebro Darden for an interview on the heels of his new album “Wow… That’s Crazy,” being released on Oct.11. And one of the things he talked about was how the lack of affection he received from his Nigerian parents growing up affected how he relates to his daughter.
The DMV rapper and his ex-girlfriend Chloe Alexis welcomed their baby girl Zyla Moon on July 22, 2016, and he said the challenges involved with making a connection with his little one came as a surprise.
“I never really talk about this with my daughter, but we talk about our kids all the time, personally,” said Wale. “My baby mother is an amazing mother. But me, I struggle sometimes.”
“I didn’t know I was going to struggle connecting emotionally to a baby girl,” he added. “I try. I do feel it but expressing it is so different. I didn’t realize until I started talking to people and seeing professionals, you weren’t raised like that. Sometimes how you were raised don’t come to fruition until you’re raising somebody.”
Wale then gave specifics about how he was raised, which he said involved a lot of fear and control.
“My mother never send me to school and kiss me on the cheek or kiss me goodnight,” he told Darden. “It’s really just a fear, but also we love our parents and we respect them, but it’s more like ‘Did you sweep the floor before I come home from work?’ You ready for school tomorrow?’”
Wale has made a reputation for talking about his personal struggles, whether in song or in interview. And he’s also opened up about how difficult it is for celebrities to maintain proper mental health.
In August, he suggested that record labels should give artists mental health benefits when they sign contracts, because he feels stardom comes with its own set of unique problems.
And earlier this month, the 35-year-old told his fans all that he’s sacrificed between his last album “Shine” in 2017 and now. Wale changed record labels since his last project and went from Atlantic Records to Warner Bros. Records.
“I been an open book to y’all on here for better or worse,” he tweeted on Oct 10. “I been through so much since my last project … I lost over an M on some legal stuff. I lost friends and almost my sanity. But y’all held this thing together.”
