THE HIP-HOP ARTIST HAS AN UNLIKELY MUSE: JERRY SEINFELD. NOT THAT THERE IS ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT.

When you think of rappers referencing moving pictures the usual suspects are titles like Scarface (Future), Hoodlum (Gang Starr) or The Wire (Eminem). But Seinfeld? Yes, emanating from speakers around the block will be The Album About Nothing, Wale’s fourth solo studio output inspired by the ‘90s sitcom set in New York City’s Upper West Side. It’s not the “summer of George” it is the winter of Wale. Seinfeld’s cultural impact doesn’t just currently touch upon Wale’s music, it has informed the fashion movement called “normcore.” The New York Times fashion pages describe the style as, “Dressing like a tourist—non-ironic sweatshirts, white sneakers and Jerry Seinfeld-like dad jeans—is the ultimate fashion statement.” We styled Wale with subtle elements of normcore but there were no Manssieres, Urban Sombreros or Puffy Shirts. Here’s how to embrace the seminal sitcom without looking like a hipster doofus. THE MAESTRO “I just can’t wait for The Album About Nothing to drop. I am excited for it to get out so that I can go out and perform it.” MASTER OF MY DOMAIN “I’m singing most of my own hooks. I feel like I am growing as an artist and I’m not trying to be needy with putting other people on.” THAT’S GOLD, WALE! GOLD! “With this album I’m appeasing my fans trying to make sure they are fucking with what I am doing. I’m going back to things from topics to rap styles that I used to do earlier in my music career that I built my fan base from.” SHRINKAGE “I was inspired by how Jerry would take a small idea and then blow it up. In the way he does dialogue I do lyrics. Jerry is even impressed by how I take one sentence and blow it up into something completely different.” SEINFELD, YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD! “What I respect the most out of Jerry is that he is a very consistent dude.” LITTLE JERRY SEINFELD “He is in the entertainment business and I listen to him in the same way that I listen to the old hustlers from around-the-way. He is very wise and a very successful man that everybody should listen to.” THE WAIT OUT “I’ve only been getting tattooed for four years now. I always wanted them I always saw people with tattoos around-the-way, but I didn’t just want to get them. I wanted to have money to get the top-level guys. And when I did get the money I went to Nikko [Hurtado] and went to Randy from Tattoos by Randy. I just go to guys who really live and die for this tattoo stuff.” PLUNGE WORTHY “I got the Dead Presidents from the movie. That is about a whole, taking what you have to do to live tip. I have The Penalty of Leadership. I have the Scarface line, ‘I often wish I could save every one but I’m a dreamer.’ That was big, he was the first person to get on where I’m from. A lot of people look to me like I’m the savior to fix everything and I have spent so much of my life to do that.” NOT A VAN BUREN BOY “I’m so dark that you don’t even know I am tattooed until you see me up close. But I’ve got tattoos of Martin Luther King, Muhammed Ali, Malcom X, Tupac and Biggie—people that give me an indescribable feeling when I think about them.” JUST REMEMBER, WHEN YOU CONTROL WIKIPEDIA, YOU CONTROL…INFORMATION “Some troll keeps putting that I have Chris Cooley [former Redskins player] tattooed on me. You delete it and they bring it back—it’s so stupid.” INKSAPPEAL “I love tattoos on girls, mostly on the neck and the upper-breast.” MAN HANDS “I don’t know how far I am going with this tattoo thing. I might do my hands if I have some children or something like that.” GIDDY-UP “For right now I have Nikko working on my next piece and I am excited to have The Album About Nothing to come out so that my fans can be fucking with what I’m doing.”