WalePosts Tagged ‘Wale’
Since joining MMG, Wale’s lyrical content and style have noticeably changed, mainly due to the grittier beat patterns of MMG artists. However, while tracks like “Bait” (prod.: Tone P.) and “Tats On My Arm” (prod. by Southside, one half of 808 Mafia with Lex Luger) play into this new style, Wale comes back to his bread and butter with “Lotus Flower Bomb”, giving us a look back at the enlightened, witty, and softer Wale that gained heavy notoriety and rose to prominence in the game. With production from Jerrin Howard, Wale is able to play down the heavy bass and frantic snare style we have all grown to be accustomed to from Rozay and his camp (Ughh!!). With a much calmer beat like previous releases “Beautiful Bliss” (off of Attention Deficit) and “The Break Up Song” (off of More About Nothing), and with the soulful vocals of Miguel delivering the hook, Wale is able to reminisce on a past romance and deliver it in a way that seems more heartfelt than aggressive (i.e. “Tats On My Arm”). Whether moving to MMG was ultimately a good move for his skill-set and career remains to be seen, but it’s nice to see Wale hasn’t strayed too far from the crux of his artistic ideology. Buy his album, Ambition, on 11.1.11. Download: Wale ft. Miguel – “Lotus Flower Bomb” (prod.: Jerrin Howard)
I haven’t heard much from the Wale camp recently but since this released a couple days ago there is a flurry of news. First, let’s talk this song, it features Wale on the verses with a an interesting up and down flow and the nasally stylings of Roscoe Dash on the AutoTuned chorus and final verse. The beat has a playful melody looped on an xylophone which helps contribute to the up and down nature of the flow. The next piece of info though is more interesting than the song, it is rumored that Wale will be signing to Officer Ricky’s label, Maybach Music. I personally don’t think it is the right move but since street cred has seemingly gone out the window in hip-hop (for the better and worse) if it allows him to release albums more frequently than I am all for it. Download: Wale ft. Roscoe Dash – “Talk2Me”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. These two kill this leak off of Cole’s upcoming project Friday Night Lights. J. Cole comes out the gate swinging with two verses which I’m going to have to run through again and then Wale murders the final one with his often underrated wordplay and it is all on a song for the ladies! I also have to mention again that Cole’s production has stepped up even more and is easily the most underrated aspect of the Roc Nation signee. The last song to leak from the project, “Before I’m Gone”, never made up on B&B so I’m going to include the download for both below the break. Friday Night Lights drops this Friday, which makes me feel dumb having to type that. Wale is back with another video from his More About Nothing tape and it is nothing spectacular. I don’t mean that to sound harsh but it is some shots compiled from around DC again showcasing where Wale hangs out and what places are in his rhymes. Keep in mind that this is a mixtape song so I don’t expect lavish videos or anything of the kind and this fits the bill and is similar in concept to the last video from a mixtape track. More About Nothing brought me back around on Wale’s rhymes after being somewhat disappointed with the album and should be a must download if you like him even a little bit.
Wale has been going in lately and it is good to see the dude back on his grind. After an album which didn’t live up to the four years of hype that I waited for it (for me, I thought it was good but not great and I’m sure some of yall loved it and think I’m an idiot for having my own opinion), it is cool to see him back and hungry. This joint is an unstructured freestyle but Wale continues with his witty lines and continually reps the DMV to the fullest. Check out his More About Nothing mixtape to hear more of what I’m talking about. Download: Wale – “Hold Yuh” (Freestyle) “Number Won” is the first single to get the video treatment from Wale’s latest tape More About Nothing. He keeps it simple with some shots of what looks like his CD signing at Commonwealth in DC and a shot of him on the street with a crowd around him. I have to give Wale credit where it is due for the latest project, I have been a very critical supporter in the past but the dude keeps repping the DMV, his tapes always bang and he always brings it back to the shit I liked when I first started listening back to him in ’05. Monday I am checking out Wale at the Highline Ballroom in NYC for his mixtape release party and since it is sold out I would hit up the scalpers if you want to join in the fun.
Right on schedule, Wale delivers the anticipated More About Nothing mixtape. I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet, but going by the tracklist it looks like a hefty serving of new music from the DC native. With not too many features over 21 songs, it’s clear that there was no slacking on this. While on the subject of mixtapes, be on the lookout for k-os’ The Anchorman which will drop later this week. There hasn’t been much blog buzz for it, but if you check his Facebook fan page you will see a teaser video for one of the songs. Download link/tracklist after the jump. This is another one of those one-stop shop posts, but now it’s the Wale edition. Above and after the jump are bits of some tracks that will be appearing on the upcoming More About Nothing, which is dropping August 3rd. I’ve also included a download link for a recently released track entitled “Ambitious Girl”, in which Wale takes a spoken word approach and waxes poetics over a mellow instrumental. Alot has been speculated as to why Wale had such lack lustre sales with his debut album Attention Deficit. For what it was, it should have sold at least twice as many copies as it has thus far (the first week sales were only 28K). It had a great radio single with “Chillin’” and was actually fairly solid. My feeling is that the multiple push-backs, plus the time gap between the lead single’s popularity peak and the album release date had alot to do with it. It’s all theories now, but regardless of what happened it looks like Wale is set to deliver with a bang with this new mixtape. Remainder of the videos plus the download link for “Ambitious Girl” after the jump. Shouts to RR. Check out and download the full mixtape here.
I was way off in assuming this song would sample “The Way You Move” by Outkast (really only Big Boi). Kingpen is an artist that I have listened to for a while now but have never fully gotten into his music. It is hard to ignore this one though with the DMV heavy hitter Wale and the latest up and comer Phil Ade. This joint will be on his upcoming tape called The Beam Up 2 which will be available for download on July 26th. Download: Kingpen Slim ft. Wale, STS & Phil Ade – “The Way You Move” It’s hard to disagree that Wale’s Mixtape About Nothing is one of the classic mixtapes of the last 10 or so years. The Seinfeld-inspired project did not have a weak track, which is a much tougher feat to accomplish when you consider its broad range of content and concepts displayed. Above is the promo video for the follow-up, More About Nothing, which drops August 3. Below, you can download “Workin’”, a throwaway track that won’t be on the upcoming mixtape but will surely whet your appetites. Download: Wale – “Workin’” |
