D.C.-based rapper Wale has high expectations weighing on his 25-year-old shoulders. Since 2005, he has released five well-received mixtapes, and his debut album is supposed to be the litmus test as to whether he can really bring hip-hop cred to the nation’s capital. The answer is, in keeping with D.C.’s recent motto: yes he can.
The album kicks off with “Triumph,” a mission statement whose percussion-heavy beat echoes the go-go aesthetic for which his hometown is known. This feel carries on throughout the album, until the halfway point of “90210” transitions into a more electronic sound. It also sets up for Wale’s more interesting rhymes, as he leaves behind generic expressions of swag to discuss bulimia. But the real lyrical highlight of the album comes on the next track, “Shades,” in which Wale candidly reflects on the stigma he felt growing up as the child of immigrant parents, dark-skinned and unaccepted by some of his black American peers. Wale indirectly returns to this theme by featuring the stellar Somali rapper K’Naan on “TV in the Radio,” in which they trash the banality of some of their more successful contemporaries.
There is a caveat, of course: Wale’s own music is not continually inventive. On the serious track “Diary,” the use of a sample from the French film Amélie represents his most, if only, truly creative musical move. His skills as an MC are above average but not spectacular, with few specific lines standing out. But at the end of the day, Wale has put out an extremely listenable album that stays true to his roots and for the most part does not bore. Ignore the hype and just expect some satisfying hip hop.
Wale Attention Deficit Sounds Like: Old Weezy without the dumb snarl Sounds Best When: Groovin' contemplatively 99-Cent Budget Choice: "TV on the Radi"
