WASHINGTON, D.C.—It’s barely an hour after Wale has left the White House grounds, where over the course of some six hours he spoke on an education panel alongside the First Lady, performed for a group of 150 college-bound students and was introduced to that same group of kids by Barack Obama. We’re sitting at a table inside Bourbon Steak at the Four Seasons Hotel and the enormity of the day is just starting to rinse over him. We ask him how he’s processing the past few hours.

“I don’t know if it really has already,” Wale begins. “I probably have to go to my room, chill and soak it in right now. I just spoke to my father, he was a 15-hour a day cab driver in southeast, northwest, all over D.C., during one of the biggest eras of drugs. So he knows where we come from. When we lived in a one bedroom apartment right there on Peabody and then we moved to Montgomery County, a two bedroom in Section 8. All that.”

“When I sent him a picture of me and the President of the free world, it was mind blowing to him. He still can’t really believe it. His elation over it, it gave me a perspective.”

To put things into perspective for you, this is why we spent the better part of the day at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: Wale was invited by the White House to join E! News’ Terrence Jenkins, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Brown University Student Manuel Contreras and Michelle Obama to speak at the Beat the Odds Summit. The summit was convened by FLOTUS’s Reach Higher initiative, and the platform is designed to celebrate these children—many of whom came from at-risk backgrounds, be it urban, rural, foster, homeless, immigrants, special needs, etc.—and offer advice on how to be successful in higher education opportunities, which many of them will pursue this fall.

That Wale was a participant despite his credentials not matching up to the of the panel speakers is not lost on him, nor Obama.

“While Wale is fabulous, he is also a very talented exception to the rule,” she told REVOLT.

Still, his mix of candor, earnestness and wit makes him a hit. While Duncan and others spoke about life inside the classroom, the Maybach Music Group rapper dished on life on the quad.

“College, essentially to me, was taking the training wheels off my life,” he said earlier, a line that resonated with many of the prospective collegiates.

And it’s true. This will be the first time for many students that they’re responsible for their own lives, from mundane tasks such as laundry to more important things like attendance and studying. There’ll be no easy way to bilk points like class participation.

Not that this group of kids needs any handouts. Many are impressive, including Amadou Bah, an Atlanta student who will be attending Stanford in the fall. He’s amassed over one million in scholarship money, which, he told us is the least he could do for the sacrifices his parents made for him and his younger brother.

Bah’s humility and sense of duty is something that the President wants to tap into with his wife’s campaign.

In a true rock star moment, Obama popped in and surprised the students, drawing cheers and screams louder than I’ve heard at any concert.

He gave a 10-minute speech that centered around the theme of opportunity, which he explained lie in front of all the students having overcome so much already in their lives.

“When we see young people like you, we want to make sure you’re mindful of these problems, you will work together in a unified fashion to make even more progress, that you don’t ignore these issues,” the President exclaimed. “But you also have confidence, that if you are willing to work hard, if you are willing to dig deep, if you are willing to make sacrifices, and if you are willing to embrace the values that are best in us, there’s nothing that’s going to stop you.”

And in perhaps a comedic rock star moment, Obama then introduced Wale’s performance by looking for the MC and telling everyone in the East Wing room, “I don’t rap. I like rap, but I can’t rap. Well, I had enough rap to get Michelle to marry me.” Mic. Drop.

It was a picturesque day, this afternoon in the Nation’s Capital, the kind that gets grafted onto postcards; and while Wale was still looking for perspective on the entire day, in the moment, he was introspective. Clearly, he was also appreciative of the opportunity that just passed.

“We don’t know if or when we’re gonna have another Black president,” Wale explained. “We’re almost spoiled now because it happened and he’s at the very end of his second term, it’s our reality. But if you take it back eight years, it’s like Pac said, “We not ready to have a Black president”. Now look, a rapper is performing a song that samples Dwele singing We’ll be Alright, and all the kids are singing it. All the people who aren’t familiar with my music are like, wow, this is a moment. Just to have that, it’s crazy. To be a part of that, you know what I’m saying. I go in and out of doubting myself, or more so people’s understanding of the message. So to have that moment it was very fulfilling to me.”

Tune in tonight (August 18) at 7:30 pm ET/ 4:30 pm PT to watch the premiere of Keep it 1600: Wale Goes To The White House. REVOLT goes behind the scenes as the MMG rapper meets the Obamas, performs inside the East Wing and inspires the minds of tomorrow. For TV listings, visit www.revolt.tv/request-revolt.

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