The Needle & The Groove

Such a sick cover...

Well, it’s that time of year again when everybody gets swamped with work, and inevitably develops a case of ADD, ADHD, or Senioritis.  So what better activity to occupy my time than review Wale’s Attention Deficit?  I’ll admit it, I desperately wanted this album to be an instant classic that I spun on repeat, but unfortunately, it was a bit of a disappointment.  Don’t get me wrong, the album is very good, but it didn’t quite appeal to me, someone who has followed his career upwards of 2 years now.  I think its biggest fault is that it is not on the same level as A Mixtape About Nothing which concept, production and content-wise trumps his debut effort.  I don’t mean this to come off overly negative, it really is a quality album – but I just don’t think it could meet my year of expectations.

Wale – “Mirrors” featuring Bun B

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Content and production wise Attention Deficit very much reflects its title.  As Wale frequently stated, he attempted to have one of ‘every type of song’.  The album intersperses radio/mainstream type tracks – “Chillin”, “Pretty Girls”, “Let It Loose” – with tracks that take on a more serious note – “90210″ discusses eating disorders, 9th Wonder produced “Shades” tackles black-on-black racism, and “Diary” tells a story about a girl that has been in bad relationships and takes it out on her current love.

Wale – “Diary” featuring Marsha Ambrosius

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I believe by starting off this review in a negative light might have been unfair, in that, I really don’t dislike any song on the record.  Wale was substantially criticized for featuring Gucci Maine on “Pretty Girls,” but that didn’t really bother me considering the intent and market intended for the record.  After the original was released sans Gucci, I definitely felt like the track needed another traditional hip-hop verse to make the change up at the end of the track more powerful – and Gucci’s verse definitely aided that.

Wale – “TV in the Radio” featuring K’Naan (production by Dave Sitek)

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That being said, there is no track that really stands out among the rest – and when it comes down to it, I’d rather listen to A Mixtape About Nothing if given the choice.  I really wished the album had included more skits or Wale talking or something that would have allowed his personality to shine through a little bit more.  On all of his mixtape efforts, the listener came away not only impressed by his skills – but genuinely liking Wale and thinking he’s a pretty funny guy, regardless of music talent.  On his debut effort, I feel like the buyer was deprived of that – and it could potentially hurt Wale’s likability down the road.  I’ve interspersed some of my favorites (they are all very good) from the album, that try to highlight his tremendous range of flow, content, and production on the record.  If you have liked any of Wale’s 5+ mixtapes in the past (and got them for free), I highly encourage you to go out and buy the album – its worth your 9.99 on iTunes.  Again, I’m critical simply because my bar was set so high, it still trumps the other debut efforts from other XXL Freshman this year, and is definitely one of my favorites of 2009.

Wale – “Beautiful Bliss” featuring J. Cole & Melanie Fiona

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You know it gets no better than this,
Its like sunshine on a rainy day,
Its like a high could you take me a way…
When you feel like this, When you spill out hits,
When you ridin’ with tints, and you ain’t bothered a bit…

Posted by the Groove

I already posted the cover, and I just find this picture funny...

So Wale’s Back to the Feature did actually release yesterday (yay for free music).  The tape has already been downloaded nearly 30,000 times in its first 24 hours…keep in mind, selling 30k CDs in a week will nearly place you in Billboard’s Hip-Hop/R&B Top 10.  The chat room turned out to be a disaster; though it was an awesome idea, the internet is too rampant with self-promoters/”haters”/children-of-all-ages for anything without massive filtering to succeed.  So alas, I didn’t get to hear Wale’s thoughts on each track, which was dissapointing, but again, who can get upset over free music?  I’d have to say I don’t like this CD as much as The Mixtape About Nothing, but I do like it more after each listen.  At the tail end of Um Ricka featuring K’Naan, Wale addresses how BTTF is not intended to be a “mixtape of the year” but rather just an opportunity to “get his rapping on.”  I would say this is a fairly accurate description of the project as a whole, themed tracks are minimal and the punchlines are plentiful.  The number of songs that I had already heard were abundant (Wordplay, Cypher, 5 Minutes, Night Life, Hot Shyt, Wonder Why, Warwick Avenue) which is to be expected when a project gets pushed back for over a year.  9th Wonder does not actually handle the entirety of the production on the tape, Best Kept Secret (BKS), Mark Ronson, and others fill in on occasion.  My favorite cuts are probably the more mellow, laid back tracks, where the lyricism is easily understood and accented.

Wale – “Chillin (Catch vs. 9th)” featuring Lady Gaga

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Wale – “Um Ricka” featuring K’Naan

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9th’s remix of “Chillin’” is a quality reworking of Wale’s first single, but I think it would be 100 times better if Wale had re-recorded his vocals.  While 9th slowed the tempo and slowed the vocals, Wale’s inflection still comes off as more fast-paced and would benefit from the way he recorded his lines on Um Ricka.

Wale – “New Soul” featuring Yael Naim

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The tape concludes with “New Soul” featuring Yael Naim, an incredibly soulful track produced by BKS.  Wale raps on his come-up as a rapper, and it feels like the perfect capstone to his “underground” career.  Below I’ve posted some more of my favorites – but I really encourage you to download the whole tape, in addition to his 4 previous mixtapes, prior to his major release of Attention Deficit.

Wale – “Wordplay” featuring Curren$y and Tre of UCB

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Wale – “Hot Shyt” featuring Peedi Peedi, Black Thought, Tu Phace, & Young Chris

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Posted by the Groove