Wale reveals details of 'Seinfeld' mixtape

First Harlem rapper Cam’Ron proclaimed his love for Curb Your Enthusiasm, now this: Late next month, Washington, D.C. up-and-comer Wale plans to release The Mixtape About Nothing, an entire set of hip-hop cuts inspired by Seinfeld. (Check out a preview of the mixtape’s cover art at left.) “I think I’ve seen every episode, like, 30 times,” Wale said when EW.com called him at the NYC studio of producer Mark Ronson (Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen) yesterday. Wale says he’s particularly partial to the show’s controversial 1997-98 swan song. “The last season is very underrated. A lot of Seinfeld fans be like, ‘Oh, the last season is so over-the-top.’ I’m like, it’s about reinventing!”

Wale played us an early snippet of a song called “Hype” over the phone. The meditation on celebrity opens with a lengthy sample from one of Jerry Seinfeld’s Season 7 stand-up monologues: “I love it when people are complimented on something they’re wearing, and they accept the compliment as if it was about them…” Wale also exclusively revealed to EW.com that his team recently convinced Seinfeld alum Julia Louis-Dreyfus to record a brief skit (or “drop”) for the mixtape. “She’s not [in character as] Elaine — she’s Julia Louis-Dreyfus,” explains Wale, who hasn’t had a chance to hear the skit yet. “It’s something crazy, something comical.” (Louis-Dreyfus’ reps did not reply to requests for comment.) No word yet on whether Wale’s tunes inspired the actress to break into that notorious “Elaine dance”…

UPDATE: Julia Louis-Dreyfus replies via email: “Wale is my favorite artist because he’s the only one who ever included me in a mixtape — hear that, P. Diddy?”