Wale continues to push his brand and art forward, leaping into spaces that Hip-Hop traditionally has not found footing.
This Sunday, the Washington D.C. artist will perform his song “Feel the Power” live as Intercontinental champion Big E, the Powerhouse of Positivity, enters the ring during Night 2 of WWE WrestleMania 37 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
Big E has been using Wale’s track as his theme music since December and it was the soundtrack to his winning bout against Sami Zayn, that led him to his second Intercontinental belt.
While talking about Wale, Big E told Bleacher Report why his song was the best to come in on.
He said, “He’s one of my favorite rappers there is, but also to have my friend and someone who’s a huge wrestling fan, I was geeked just to be able to get him to perform.”
“To have him perform for me at home—Tampa’s my home—is incredible,” he said. “I’m so stoked about it. We’ve been trying to get Wale for years. We tried to get him at a ‘Mania a couple of years ago, but things didn’t work out. I’m so excited about it and I know he is, too, because as a big fan, it’s a dream come true.”
This is not the first time Wale became associated with the league.
Back in 2017, he popped out on SmackDown as the host for the New Day-Usos infamous rap battle.
He is known to have his own star-studded WrestleMania weekend and has also hosted to give his opinions on 205 Live.
“One of the things that I realized years ago is that so many of the rappers as a hip-hop head that I really enjoyed were big, massive wrestling fans,” Big E says about Wale’s work to bridge wrestling with rap music. “I thought, ‘Man, we should be doing so much more to connect those two bridges.’ I love that and that’s what he’s been doing: bringing the culture to WWE and I think it’s so dope.”
Other rappers that have also connected wrestling with Hip-Hop culture are Snoop Dogg, Machine Gun Kelly, Griselda’s Westside Gunn, Benny the Butcher, and Conway the Machine, and battle rapper, Th3 Saga.