Watch out Jay-Z: Jerry Seinfeld is rap's new secret weapon

Alice Jones' Arts Diary

Jerry Seinfeld has collaborated with Wale on his new album (Getty Images)

Forget Kanye’s Messianic stylings, there’s a new rapper in town – and his name is Jerry Seinfeld.

The comedian, 59, appears on Wale’s new album The Gifted alongside guest stars Rihanna, CeeLo Green and Nicki Minaj. Earlier this week, the Washington rapper posted a video of the pair’s recording session on YouTube (above). “This is the greatest day of my professional life,” he says, shaking hands with Seinfeld over the mixing desk. “Got my favourite human being in the studio, telling jokes.”

Seinfeld appears at the end of The Gifted on “Outro About Nothing”, a segue into Wale’s next release, The Album About Nothing, on which the comedian will also star. His contribution, recorded in one take, has him barging into the studio where he is told by Wale to come back later.

Wale previously sampled the Seinfeld theme tune and a voicemail from Julia Louis-Dreyfus (who played Elaine) on The Mixtape About Nothing. Seinfeld liked it and the pair met backstage after one of his shows in Philadelphia. “He’s a very wise person – he’s probably the richest person I know so his perspective on everything is different”, says Wale of his new collaborator. “I love to hear his insight. When you’re in the rap community… the maximum is Jay-Z as far as winning in life goes. Seinfeld is on another level of success outside of music.”

Seinfeld is not a hip-hop aficionado though his wife and children are big fans of Wale and he and the rapper share a common “irritation” with the world, he told The Washington Post.

“The whole thing is hilarious to me. If he can really do this, if he can make this actually work, musically, I think it’s fascinating. There is a music to comedy. There’s a rhythm. There’s a timing. Obviously… There is some correlation. If he can bridge it, I just think it would be the coolest thing.”

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