Wale kicks off Spring Week to a packed Tishman

Before Wale even took the stage, the concert had the potential to be one of the best-attended concerts at Wellesley this year. Though SBOG has had issues with attendance this year, most notably at the Mates of State concert during Fall Frenzy, when the doors opened, Tishman already had more audience members than the total number of people who showed up for Mates of State. Opener Jon Hope began with a shout out to each class. He embodied a good opener – he was punctual, his music was the same genre as the headliner, he interacted with and pumped up the audience and he didn't overshadow Wale in the slightest. As Hope rounded out his set list with help from clips of old school female hip-hop and R&B artists, he talked to the audience about the need for a larger female presence in hip-hop. As he finished up his set, he tossed CDs into the audience as the mood changed to one of anticipation.

After several buffer songs while Wale's DJ got set up at the turntables, Wale took the stage in a jean jacket, green t-shirt, khakis and a knit hat. He tried to get the audience to sing lyrics back to him and was disappointed to find the majority of audience members unfamiliar with his lyrics. Between songs he attempted to teach the parts of songs he expected sung back to him. After the third or fourth song, however, he played to the audience in a different way, playing clips of songs he thought the audience would know. From Kelly Clarkson to Maroon 5 to Jay Sean, the audience sang back at Wale, who was happy to see everyone engaged.

Wale grabbed the hands of audience members, held the microphone up to the audience at large and didn't give up on teaching the words to his own songs. Unfortunately, the time between teaching lyrics and singing his own songs was often taken up by a distracting amount of talking. Due to the sound system and noise of the crowd, it was nearly impossible to decipher what he was saying. While the audience was starting to catch on to his songs, swaying and waving their hands to the beat, Wale spent so much time talking in between songs that excitement was lost and had to build up anew with each song.

The son of Nigerian immigrants, Wale was born in Washington, D.C. and gave a shout-out to each of his hometowns. The rapper has collaborated with Jazmine Sullivan, Gucci Mane, Weensey, Chrisette Michele and, of course, Lady Gaga and still makes the case that his music is personal. With all that in mind, it's probable that the majority of what he was talking about would have interested the audience, but it was frustrating straining to hear. As the audience grew more annoyed, the murmuring grew,and it became even more difficult to catch his words.

Despite the fact that Wellesley's audience appeared to be largely unfamiliar with Wale's music, everyone was more then happy to sing back newly learned lyrics and dance to the music. Though sifting through jumbled words and breaks in the music became a bit tiresome, the overall performance was a definite Spring Week hit.