Wale: Attention Deficit Review

After Kid Cudi's weird/good album, we now have Wale coming next out of the freshman pack. Definitely a much more straightforward hip hop album than Cudi, but will it be enough to stand out? The fact that Drake has stolen all the attention and wasn't even on the freshman cover of XXL last year makes it difficult for these guys to even have a chance.

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1. Triumph (prod. Dave Sitek): 3/5
This is what happens when you have rock/pop producers make hip hop beats. It's aaaalll right, but really, not very catchy. Thankfully it's short.

Choice lyric:
"She swallow everything like Kirby."



2. Mamma Told Me (prod. Best Kept Secret): 3/5
What's with the cheap chimes? Didn't Ja Rule use all of those already? This is also the same beat/sample that Dr. Dre used for Shit Popped Off by T.I.

I like Best Kept Secret's sound a lot, but I feel like he used his beat drum beats on the Mixtape About Nothing. Another kind of slow groove song that should have been in the middle of the album. Still waiting for Wale to start this album. Also, Wale seems to have trouble pronouncing a lot of words. Not as bad as Nelly, but still...

Also, bear witness to Wale stealing hooks and melodies worse than Kanye, Jay-Z, and Nate Dogg combined - "Mama said there'd be days like this"

Choice lyric:
"It's lonely at the top, so I'm playing solitaire patient."

Is he waiting for someone to play solitaire with him? Because that's always annoying.



3. Mirrors f. Bun B (prod. Mark Ronson): 5/5
Mark Ronson once again proving that he is the best white guy in hip hop. Such a great groove. And it's tough to argue with Bun B on any track. Plenty or great instrumentation, great pace. This should have been the opening track.

But why Wale, why are you stealing lame nursery rhymes hooks again? Bun B, check your boy.

Choice lyric:
"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the realest of them all? No, he ain't hard at all."
Seems like Wale's disagreeing with the magic mirror's choice. Sorry bro, mirror don't lie. And further, I'm pretty sure Wale's pissed that the mirror's saying he's the hardest.



4. Pretty Girls f. Gucci Mane and Weensey (of Backyard Band) (prod. Best Kept Secret): 3/5
Another distracting drum beat from Best Kept Secret- I like the Go-Go sound, but listening to Rich Harrison do the same thing on tracks like Beyonce's Crazy in Love, Best Kept needs to realize that less is more. Then again, the fact that he does it on Fruity Loops is pretty amazing.

Choice lyric:
Gucci- "Girls ride me like a Huffy." Huffy? Really? I'd rather walk my bike than ride a Huffy.



5. World Tour f. Jazmine Sullivan (prod. Cool and Dre): 4/5
Cool and Dre not pissing me off like they do with every Game song they do, and Fat Joe, and DJ Khaled....

The piano bit feels very familiar, but not in a bad way. And of course we get another stolen hook from Wale. What's the point of having the R&B singer on the track if she's not going to sing an original hook for you?

Also, the skatting that Jazmine does at the end of the song, isn't that just a knock off of the McDonald's I'm Lovin It jingle?

Choice lyric:
"I did justice to J.U.S.T.I.C.E." So says you. I think the song was all right on it's own personally. No one's going to the clubs to listen to Wale.



6. Let It Loose (Inhibitions) f. Pharrell (prod. The Neptunes): 2/5
Once again, a Neptunes beat you know you're going to hate from the trademark 4-count to start the track. At least at the end Pharrell gets his 90's Timbo on and plays with the melody a little bit. But this is just a miserable hook, complete with no name chick agreeing with everything Pharrell says. "Yeah we do."

Choice lyric:
"Facebook..... twitter......, pose...... click" Aw cool, I use those! Pictures, I can just imagine the pictures Wale's taking during this song that I can't see.



7. 90210 (prod. Mark Ronson): 1/5
And then you go and do this, Mark Ronson? Who is this song for? Girls who played Zelda in the 80's and now are bulimic?

Choice lyric:
"She don't eat a meal when a toilet's not in sight." Wale is very in tune with the issues plaguing the modern woman. I love that this follows that Pharrell song too.


8. Shades f. Chrisette Michele (prod. Best Kept Secret & Juju): 3/5
A nice beat, if a bit unmemorable and bland. But then again, it's another song about all the colors of women, although I think the hook is about guys. Wale might want to be careful here. This song might also just be about candy. I don't know if I've ever seen someone licorice-colored, red or black.

Choice lyric:
"Boy you're so beautiful." Kinda wish Wale jumped in on the hook here and ad-libbed "Girl I mean."




9. Chillin’ f. Lady Gaga (prod. Cool and Dre): 3/5
This song alternates between being awful and good throughout. Wale stealing two hooks here is pretty impressive. "My name Wale" = Souljah Boy book of songwriting. The more you say your name the better; naming a dance after yourself is even better. Maybe the next time I'm just chilling out, I'll be doing the Wale.

Choice lyric:
"You got a buzz like Chris Mullin." Because I'm a Warriors fan.




10. TV In The Radio f. K’Naan (prod. Dave Sitek): 1/5
Really could have done without ever hearing this song. Annoying woodblock beat, old and busted horns, but I guess K'Naan needs a little shine once in a while. This song can end as soon as it likes. Hey, there's goes. All right, next song.

Choice lyric:
"Fat rhymes- Roseanne bars." Tom Arnold is warming up a rap beef soon.




11. Contemplate (prod. Syience): 4/5
Sometimes you just need to sample a little Rihanna and take the BPM's down to 70 or so to get an album back on track. A lush sound, nice groove. It works because it doesn't assault you like some of the other tracks on this album.

Choice lyric:
"In the Viper Room with River Phoenix." I guess he needs a shout out once in a while, especially if his brother's trying to get into the rap game.



12. Diary f. Marsha Ambrosius (prod. The Sleepwalkers): 3/5
I like the 3/4 time signature, and Marsha is great. To be honest though, this song kind of puts you to sleep, but in a good way... yeah. And you know that you're going to get the pencil writing in the diary sound effect here. No one uses pencils anymore.

Choice lyric:
"Nothing I ever do works. Diary of a Black girl" Wale getting metaphorical here. In fact, looking back, a lot of this song is about girls and not banging them, kind of like Kid Cudi. These new rappers are lovers, and not in a Biblical way.



13. Beautiful Bliss f. Melanie Fiona and J.Cole (prod. DJ Green Lantern and Mark Ronson): 4/5
The same sample as used by Lupe Fiasco on Theme Music to a Drive By and also the Young Gunz track, Future of the Roc, and not really used as well, but it's still a great melody.

Another song with a chick singing the hook, and don't you want to sing along with her, but sing "Come and knock on our door..." Maybe not. And you've got to be careful when doing a song like this that the other up and coming rapper on the track doesn't blow you out the of the water, because you know there ain't room for both of you next year.

Choice lyric:
"Like them socks we on your heels." Also, I like that J.Cole speaks the truth about Jay-Z and how much he cares about his artists, "I want him to pass the baton but he just pass the Patron."



14. Prescription (prod. Best Kept Secret): 4/5
A great last track, could've used a lot more jazz flute all over this album. Really solid music right here, although Wale gives himself and the name of the album a few too many shoutouts. I'm pretty sure I know what album this is. Kind of like on Jay-Z's last album, why were the first words out of his mouth Blueprint 3?

And can't go wrong with this acapella bit at the end.

Choice lyric:
"Ask Black Thought if I know my roots. Quest my love for this."




Overall: 3.5/5

Wale loves borrowing hooks, like on World Tour (Award=World in Wale talk) and Chillin'. Once again, a similar problem that happened to 50's album, where the album took so long to come out that a lot of the songs are 6 months old, and the others borrow samples from older songs, (seriously Wale, you never heard Lupe's song?) and the album never ends up sounding as current as it should. And the freshness of Pharrell is called into question on his contribution, which isn't quite as bad as what Swizz Beatz gives people, but pretty close.

This is one of those albums that has a lot of sour moments in it, but it feels right at so many points that you end up enjoying it. Skipping through the album though, I really only enjoy half of it or so. Wale's kind of doing the same thing on most of the early songs, flow wise, and then kind of doing the same thing, flow wise, on most of the later songs. But I do hope that this album gets Best Kept Secret and Mark Ronson more gigs. Wale.... you might get another album.

Shoot, Chingy's got about 5 so far.