Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Wale’s Seinfeld-Inspired LP Debuts at No. 1

Mazel tov to Wale and co-conspirator comedian Jerry Seinfeld! The rapper’s newest record, “The Album About Nothing,” inspired by the canonical sitcom of the ‘80s and ‘90s featuring Seinfeld himself, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart this week.

Between physical copy purchases and digital sales and streams, The Album About Nothing totaled 100,000 movements in the week ending April 5, according to music sales measurement service Nielsen Music. Throughout the album, Seinfeld contributes both original and sampled spoken-word segments. In fact, The Album About Nothing’s newest single “The White Shoes” opens with a monologue by Seinfeld about when a lady once stopped him on the street to tell him, “I’m glad you’re stickin’ with the white shoes.” Wale chuckles in the background, and as the synthesizer keyboard chords begin to fade, he launches into his own narrative about bein’ fly in white sneakers.

The unlikely pair has actually worked together since Wale’s 2008 effort, “The Mixtape About Nothing,” and their friendship reached the critical masses through Complex’s 2014 cover story. That collection of samples and tracks on “The Mixtape” used Seinfeld episode titles as inspiration and actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who played Elaine Benes, even had a shout-out on tape.

Wale’s fourth studio album The Album About Nothing is available now via Maybach/Atlantic, yada yada yada.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.