Okay, let’s get right to it. Kai Cenat found himself in an awkward encounter with DMV legend Wale after not realizing who he was talking to.
Naturally, the meeting quickly went viral, sparking conversations about generational gaps in Hip Hop knowledge.
The subtle turned viral interaction began in a parking garage near the Peacock Theater, where the event was held. Wale, casually walking while playing a game on his Nintendo Switch, was approached by Kai Cena,t who asked about the game. Wale responded briefly and kept moving, but Kai admitted live to his chat that he did not recognize the rapper and was being friendly.
Get this, after viewers in the chat informed Kai who the guy was, he tried pronouncing the rapper’s name but landed on “Wally” instead of Wale. “Wally, oh my god, that was somebody crazy, the whole chat knows him,” he said, as a friend quickly corrected the pronunciation.
Kai then asked, “What he do?” to which his friend replied, “Rap,” even mentioning one of Wale’s biggest hits, “Lotus Flower Bomb,” hoping to jog Kai’s memory. Despite this, the realization didn’t quite click for the streamer.
“What he do,” he said. LOLLLL.
However, the footage of this exchange spread rapidly on social media, leading to a moment later that night when Wale approached Kai during his attempt to interview BET Awards honoree Snoop Dogg. “That sh*t making me look crazy now, just so you know,” Wale told Kai with a grin. “That’s making me look crazy, the exchange we had in the hallway. I mean, they running with it, but we’ll talk later.”
Fans weighed in because everybody has an opinion, with many suggesting Kai’s youth might explain the gap in recognition. One user on X wrote, “Kai is 23, Wale is 40 lmao. Can’t be hurt that a mf don’t know who you are. Everybody didn’t grow up being a ‘hip hop’ fan.” Another pointed out, “Diced Pineapples came out when Kai was 11, he just might not know you g.”
But as you can imagine, some felt that excuse did not hold water, given Kai’s familiarity with other artists from Wale’s generation like Drake and J. Cole. “Kai Cenat really just a jit cus you couldn’t have grown up on Drake and J. Cole and not know who Wale was,” said one observer, while another questioned Kai’s Hip Hop credibility. “I’m not the biggest Wale fan. However I do feel like ‘How the hell you in this rap culture sh*t And you don’t know who wale is at all’ You uncultured as a mf lol.”
Anyways, kind of refreshing if people do not know who everyone is in this hyper-connected culture, but we could be wrong.