What is Wale’s Net Worth and Who is The Current Girlfriend or Is He Married?

Wale is an American rapper of Nigerian descent. He first rose to prominence in his hometown of Washington DC in 2006 with the song “Dig Dug (Shake It).” His fresh poetic lyrics quickly garnered him a fan following as well as frequent radio airplay. Thankfully, he was rapidly plunged into the mainstream.

His Background and Early Life

Wale was born Olubowale Victor Akintimehin (aka Ralph Victor Folarin) on September 21, 1984, in Northwest, Washington, D.C. as the only son to Nigerian parents who immigrated to the USA from Austria in 1979. His father managed to keep the family comfortable working as a taxi driver. For ten years, they lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Northwest, Washington D.C before moving to a bigger place in Montgomery County.

Wale’s early exposure to meager living motivated him to feed his ambitions. He played football in high school and aspired to become a professional footballer. With a football scholarship, Wale proceeded to college at Robert Morris University and later Virginia State University where he continued playing football. However, due to reasons related to his academics, Wale dropped out of college and turned his focus towards music.

His Net Worth and Music Career Earnings

Following his unrelenting effort to maintain his space in the music industry and to sustain his fame and finance, the Lotus Flower Bomb hitmaker has an estimated net worth of $4 million. He has been able to earn this much since he began his music career by releasing chart-topping albums and also diversifying his income base to other non-music ventures.

Over the years, Wale’s net worth has steadily progressed to get to what it is now. Below is an overview of how his overall wealth has increased

Wale officially started his music career in 2006, recording mixtapes. His first ever recorded song “Rhyme of the Century”, received airplay on the local radio. His popularity among the D.C locales surged after he signed with a local label and released the song “Dig Dug (Shake It)” which became his first hit.

The rapper’s popularity enjoyed exponential growth and while still in his debut year, he caught the attention of writers at the Washington Post. He began touring with English singer Mark Ronson in 2007 and signed a $1.3 million joint deal with his label Allido Records and Interscope, shunning record bigwigs like Def Jam, Atlantic, and Epic who at the time were scrambling to get his ink on their paper.

After releasing 5 mixtapes, Wale released his debut studio album “Attention Deficit” in 2009. The album peaked at #21 on the Billboard 200 and included singles that featured Lady Gaga and Gucci Mane.

Wale generated much buzz with the release of a couple more mixtapes before releasing his sophomore effort “Ambition” under Rick Ross‘ Maybach Music Group and Warner Bros following a new $4 million record deal. Thanks to innovative social media promotion, Ambition launched Wale to unprecedented heights. The album peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 and sold over 164,000 copies in its first week.

Ambition produced the hit single “Lotus Flower Bomb” which was nominated at the 2013 Grammy Awards for Best Rap Song. Wale supported the album with “The Ambition Tour” which grossed over $20,000 per night. The enormous success of the tour, as well as other concerts, saw Wale make his debut on Forbes‘ Cash Prince list with $5 million earned from playing 75 concerts within 12 months.

While working on his solo albums, Wale was also part of the collaborative album series “Self Made” by MMG artists. His third studio album The Gifted released in 2013 became his first Billboard #1 album, selling about 160,000 copies in its first week.

For his fourth studio album, Wale collaborated with ace comedian Jerry Seinfeld. The album titled “The Album About Nothing” was inspired by Seinfeld’s longstanding show and was a continuation of a series of mixtapes they had begun together. Like his third outing, it debuted atop the Billboard 200 charts but first week sales dipped to a mere 88,000 copies.

He continues to make new music and often surfaces on the news for the political contents of his lyrics.

Wale’s Highest Selling Music Albums

The Nigerian-American rapper and songwriter’s career which has spanned over a decade and a half has seen him turn out about 6 albums so far. From these albums, Wale has not only won awards like BET Awards and Soul Train Awards, but he has also earned handsomely a total of $17 million from album sales.

What else Gives Wale Money Aside Music?

Like other successful rappers, Wale has dabbled into other money-making ventures. In a 2012 interview with Forbes, Wale hinted that he has invested some of his earnings in some specific line of businesses which include:

• Vitamin bottled water
• Wrestling promotion
• Wrkng Title beanie
• Designer sneaker brand

Vitamin Water

Wale’s bottled water is known to be vitamin water labelled as Smart Water. Vitamin water investment has proved to be extremely lucrative for fellow rapper 50 Cent.

Wrestling Promotion

Wale is a big fan of professional wrestling who has made several non-competitive appearances in the ring and also made several references in his songs about wrestling. He’s a familiar face on WWE television, a host of WaleMania which comes up during WrestleMania weekends. He has also hosted rap battles on an episode of “Smackdown Live” between Usos and The New Day on July 4, 2017, he was a commentator on “205 Live” in 2018 during Noam Dar TJP’s fight, and lastly, in 2019, he escorted and introduced The Street Profits for their NXT Tag Team championship fight.

Wrkng Title Beanies

Wale created his line of designer beanies in the fall of 2013 when he noticed a lacuna between “the street style and design fashion” at the time. Drawing inspiration from the trending sneaker culture, he was able to fashion out a line of knit beanies that reflected both the street and design fashion. His collection Wrkng Title started off with 5 different beanie styles that came in a variety of colors going by reports.

Bottle Rocket ASICS Gel Lyte Sneakers

Wale teamed up with Philadelphia retailer Ruvilla, and ASICS for a product called “Bottle Rocket.” The product is a designer sneaker that comes in America’s patriotic colors and was released on the 6th of July 2016 to commemorate America’s national day. The sneakers which have men and grade-school sizes had a starting price of $160 for a pair back in 2015.

Is Wale Married or Dating Anyone?

Wale is not like many music artists whose names and reputations have been soiled in the media as a result of their controversial love life. He has been associated with a few women in the past whom he dated but has now settled down with one woman, as it seems so though they are yet to walk down the aisle.

He Struggles to Connect Emotionally with His Daughter

The successful Nigerian-American rapper is currently not married but was in a relationship with his longtime girlfriend, Chloe Alexis Jourdan, a stunningly beautiful model who hails from Seattle, Washington. In case you are not sure who she is, check out Wale’s “Diary” music video below. There, she was featured as a lead.

Wale welcomed his first child with Chloe, a daughter named Zyla Moon Oluwakemi, on July 22, 2016, in a New York City hospital. Speaking in an interview with Billboard in 2015, the musician revealed that before his daughter’s arrival, they had earlier lost a child through miscarriage.

Speaking with Ebro Darden of atlantablackstar.com, Wale admitted struggling to connect emotionally with his daughter. He attributed this struggle to the emotionally distant upbringing he had while growing up. He further explained that he was raised up with fear and lots of control. Nevertheless, he stated firmly that his baby mother is an amazing woman. But what brought them together, wasn’t strong enough to keep them going.

His Rumoured Relationship with Serayah 

#NP https://t.co/hsvZVqyyEe ???????? @Wale

— SERAYAH (@Serayah) September 13, 2015

Back in 2015, there were rumors that Wale was dating actress Serayah Mcneill who played the role of Tina Brown in the Fox TV series, Empire. According to reports, the award-winning rapper was involved in a long-distance relationship with the young actress and while Wale lived in Los Angeles, Serayah resided in a Chicago house owned by the rapper, where Empire was being shot.

Part of what fueled this rumor was Serayah’s tweet of Wale’s song titled Spoiled at the time. However, a source close to the actress debunked the reports saying the duo were only friends and not dating.

Wale Acknolwdged His Relationship with India Graham 

After Serayah, Wale was reported to be dating the beautiful Michigan born model – India Graham. News about the duo first surfaced in the public after they were spotted together at the Center Stage in Atlanta, Georgia where Wale had a performance, and later that same evening, they headed for the musician’s after-party at Club Traffik.

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While speaking with NYC-based journalist, curator, author, and television producer Tidal Elliot about his album, Wale at a point in the conversation spoke with emotions about his girlfriend Indiana. He described her as one of the most beautiful, powerful, and inspirational persons he has met. He also acknowledged that he taught him the power of affirmation, how to love better, and how to be positive. He also revealed that she earns 6 figures for taking pictures.

The duo then let the public know about their relationship when they made an appearance at Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty Show which held on September 10 2019 in Brooklyn. Later on, they were spotted at The 2019 BET Hip Hop Awards in October as a couple in the VIP session. They also made a public appearance at the #SoulTrainAwards Red Carpet event later in November of the same year.

In recap, Wale has been in a total of 3 publicly known relationships at various times with

• Chloe Alexis Jourdan, an American model
• Serayah Mcneill, an American actress
• India Graham, an American model

From these relationships, he had one child born on July 22, 2016, a daughter with Chloe named Zyla Moon Oluwakemi.

Quick Facts

• Wale’s first song to ever be played on local radio was “Rhyme of the Century”, which also happened to be his first recorded track.
• After releasing 5 mixtapes, the Nigerian American rapper released his debut studio album “Attention Deficit” in 2009 but came into the limelight with his song, “Dig Dug (Shake It)”, which became his first hit.
• “Dig Dug (Shake It)” was so loved that it became the most requested song by an unsigned, local artist in the history of Washington D.C. radio.
• The rapper took the internet by storm following the release of his sixth mixtape, “More About Nothing”, which recorded more than 100,000 downloads in just 1:30 minutes.
• On August 16, 2007, Wale made his first television appearance on MTV.
• For any show he performs in, Wale receives a payment of $25, 000 and between $700- $2, 500 for concerts and organized events.
• Wale’s first-ever visit to his home country, Nigeria, was in December 2013 when he came for a performance at the unveiling of Johnnie Walker’s Step Up to the VIP Lifestyle campaign which took place in Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.
• This successful rapper, for reasons best known to him, dropped out of college to chase a music career.
• He is cousins with actor Gbenga Akinnagbe, an American actor, and writer, best known for his role in the HBO series “The Wire”.