A definitive timeline of the bromance between Bryce Harper and rapper Wale
A timeline of the Wale-Bryce Harper bromance
The year was 2011. "Moneyball" was still in theaters, Herman Cain was a presidential candidate and Bryce Harper had just turned 19 after humoring old fashioned baseball scouts by paying his dues in the Minors. Wale had just released his second studio album "Ambition," his first as a memeber of Rick Ross' Maybach Music Group.
Harper -- clearly impressed with the Wale album -- began using Wale as his walkup music and shamelessly reached out to the rapper requesting that he get a mention on the next project.
Just got off the phone with the homie Bryce Harper ... Good dude ..#goNats #DMV
- Wale Folarin (@Wale) June 18, 2012The next year -- in what might be the most D.C. thing to ever happen -- Wale gave Bryce some new walkup music when the two went shoe shopping and hung out at a Ben's Chili Bowl:
Kicked it wit the homie @Bharper3407 today .. Talked sneaks, Nats, hiphop , rg3 .. And my pitching skills! Ha
- Wale Folarin (@Wale) September 18, 2012On Christmas Eve of 2012, Wale fulfilled Harper's request by name-checking the outfielder on "Change Up," the first track of his Folarin mixtape:
Attire proper, Bryce Harper, though slightly darker.
Everybody go out and get the new @Wale mixtape Folarin! He's a beast on it! #FOLARIN #DCorNothing
- Bryce Harper (@Bharper3407) December 24, 2012@Wale I see you workin hard brotha! Hope all is well! Happy holidays to you and the fam! #DC
- Bryce Harper (@Bharper3407) December 24, 2012The following summer, Harper and the Nats hosted Wale in the S.E. quadrant of D.C., where the rapper threw out a ceremonial first pitch at Nationals Park.
In early 2015, Harper popped up in Wale's vlog documenting the Simply Nothing Tour. The two hung out when Wale played the House of Blues in Las Vegas, Nev., which happens to be Harper's hometown:
Most recently, TMZ caught up with Wale for one of those interviews where they ask someone famous about something super trendy. In this scenario, Wale is that someone famous and Bryce Harper is that "something super trendy."
The future, hopefully: Will Smith (the actor) gets his production studio, Overbrook Entertainment, to release a re-make of the much-maligned buddy cop film "Showtime" with Harper and Wale starring as a pair of Capitol Police partners tasked with foiling a heist of the Nationals memorabilia in the special exhibit at the Newseum.