Vibes blog

The Deal: DC rapper’s long awaited debut album, Attention Deficit, puts DMV in the hip-hop spotlight.

The Good: You get a little bit of everything. Wale manages to give people a taste of his home, DC, and heritage, Nigeria, with tracks like “Pretty Girls” featuring Gucci Mane and “My Sweetie.” An All-Star lineup of guest appearances with Pharrell, Lady Gaga, Rihanna (sampled), Bun B, Jazmine Sullivan, Chrisette Michelle. But the really stand out features came from the lesser known K’Naan on “TV in the Radio” and J. Cole and Melanie Fiona on “Beautiful Bliss.” “Mama Told Me” is the younger brother of Jay-Z’s “Mama I Made It.”

The Bad: Wale tries to be all things to all people and multiple times spits on the pressure of carrying the genre. Was anybody else aware he was anointed the next hip-hop leader? While the guest appearances are dope, they are all predictable. Why not get Gucci on a go-go beat or something else risky. The one that does break away from the featured artists’ usual is “Chillin” with Lady Gaga, and it leaves her sounding more M.I.A. “Paper Planes” than “Poker Her Face.”

The Verdict: Wale does an excellent job of capturing hip-hop’s attention span. Every track can’t be a party record or a single and most freshmen don’t get that. A dope first showing from someone we’ll be hearing from for a while.

INFO
Allido/Interscope; Release date: Nov. 10, 2009

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Posted in CD Reviews, Mike McCray | Leave a comment