[artist id="2990927"]Wale[/artist] released his debut album, [article id="1625979"]Attention Deficit,[/article] this past Tuesday, but the new MC has also had the benefit of touring with the [article id="1622982"]Hottest MC in the Game[/article] for the past two months. [article id="1622350"]He joined Jay-Z on tour[/article], along with [artist id="1162883"]N.E.R.D.[/artist] and [artist id="3216320"]J.Cole[/artist], for 24 dates, hitting up college campuses and arenas.

Wale said he got a chance to learn from the best.

"He's like the godfather of Roc-A-Fella, Roc Nation and Roc everything," he said. "He leads by example. Everything that he does, he makes good decisions. One thing that people don't understand is that he's like the hardest-working person in music, period. Not black music, not white music -- the hardest-working person in music, period!"

Wale said he's glad [artist id="1269"]Jay-Z[/artist] has had success critically and commercially with The Blueprint 3. He's seen Jay's hard work take him from [article id="1625196"]Yankee Stadium[/article] to [article id="1625304"]Canada[/article] to [article id="1625623"]Berlin[/article] and not miss a beat.

Wale, who is signed to Jay's Roc Nation, said he realizes he isn't the label's "go-to guy," but he's willing to play his position and make quality music. He thinks his grind is similar to Jay's when he first broke onto the scene.

"I told [Jay-Z], 'I feel like you in '94,' " Wale recalled. "Everybody's not screaming my name like they were for 'Pac and Biggie at that time, but I got a strong fanbase that's growing slowly and people know that my time is coming."