Wale

Rest assured, dedicated web 2.0ers: D.C. rapper Wale has not forsaken Twitter. One of the most committed Tweeters this side of Japanese schoolchildren, earlier this year, Wale swore off the message-posting website after a particular Tweet got him in trouble with influential U.K. journalist and blogger DJ Semtex. While interviewing Wale, Semtex read this on the rapper's Twitter page (2): "am i the only artist who hates doin interviews??" All [sic] aside, it stirred something of a controversy, although eventually he returned and still Tweets many times a day.

But most important, the man makes music. Really good music. Layered raps with brain-tickling punch lines and lengthy metaphors over production as close to home as D.C.'s go-go drums and as far away as Europe's dance delights. He's been cosigned by everyone from Jay-Z to Mark Ronson, and although his Seinfeld-themed Mixtape About Nothing made many year-end lists in 2008, it was a long while before his proper debut, Attention Deficit. It finally dropped on Allido Records/Interscope this past November, and it's officially in support of this album that he performs at Mansion this Friday.