Released - 11/10/09
Label - Allido / Interscope Records
BLURB - There's been alot of underground hype with Wale as he's been slowly building a following in the Washington D.C. area. I realized that this wasn't just some local phenomenon when I tried buying the record and it was sold out at two different Best Buys in New York. After listening to the album over the last several weeks, I'm still trying to figure out what all the buzz was about. Its a good record, not great though. I was thinking I was going to get something epic with 'Attention Deficit' but I didn't. No Kanye, Lupe or Common-esque material - just a fairly modest debut.
Rating - 6.5 Out of 10
FULL STORY - What I will say is that there is some really good productions on here. Nearly every track features full bands and actual instrumentation, which is a definite plus. A fair share of samples are used, but they are blended nicely with the actual music.
The best track on the album is 'Mirrors.' Without a doubt. Sounding like something that would appear on a Roots record, 'Mirrors' features several guitar riffs and has a very gritty, classic feel to it. The track features Bun B and is legendarily produced by Mark Ronson (Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, Maroon 5). Ronson dials in a nice horn section and some wah-guitar, while Wale spews rhymes explaining his originality.
It's no surprise that my second favorite track from the album is also produced by Ronson. This guy is great at bolstering an artist's sound and expanding the musical landscape. Here Ronson brings in big string sections and places an emphasis on the chorus and background vocals with Melanie Fiona. The song is very smooth and feels like it could be a great summer hit. There are a couple other tracks on the record that are just a little too cheesy and geared at the pop radio market and have been featured singles. This blows my mind. 'Beautiful Bliss' is the perfect combination of hip-hop, r&b and pop, and the way Wale, J. Cole and Melanie Fiona gel together is just right. How this became the second last track on the album and hasn't been made a single is curious. That's bad A&R.
'Shades' features Wale's most substantive lyrics. The rest of the material on 'Attention Deficit' is kind of geared to this, 'oh look at me, I'm original, I'm better than you' mentality. This is all well and good, but let's get some other concepts and hear something with depth. Well, we get that with 'Shades.' Wale, brilliantly, depicts his childhood growing up and viewing the ways different shades of African Americans were treated. This is the depth that we're all looking for. I think this is a must listen and could be a gateway for Wale to push forward with. He's pushed the door open, just has to walk through it now.
"They say black is beautiful, but ask them beautiful light girls if it's black they attract to usually. What if Barack's skin was all black? Truthfully, would he be a candidate or just a blackened community. We as black dudes tend to lack unity and them black girls aren't on the tube usually. Right now at 23 I ain't mad at them reds no more, but had gone cold. Blindfolded by my own insecurity, was holding me back to reds. I ain't know how to act. They would get the cold shoulder and know it was an act - a defense mechanism, what I thought that I lacked...confidence."
The song also has a really great beat and a decent amount of synthesizers and we all know my thoughts on synthesizers.
Other than those three tracks this album is very, very average. I have to say I was excited when I saw Pharrell got a track on the album with 'Let it Loose.' Very excited. But I ended up getting let down...very let down. The song has this annoying looping xylophone sound that drives me crazy. It sounds like Swizz Beat's 'It's Me.' Pharrell doesn't provide a verse, but does get the chorus and the production, obviously. Maybe I had my expectations to high? When I see that I'm going to get this rising new rapper, in Wale, and Pharrell together on one song, I thought it would be amazing. My fault.
The other interesting combo appears on 'Chillin' where Wale teams up with Lady Gaga. The track revolves around a sample of the, 'Na Na Na Na, Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye' song and it's terrible. It is the definition of cheesy hip hop. I'd like to know who said yes to the question, 'Hey, want to to do a song with Lady Gaga where we sample that one hey hey hey goodbye song?' Next time just say no.
Other bombs on this album include a painfully slow 'Contemplate' which samples the embattled Rihanna's 'Question Existing.' I actually have always liked this Rihanna song for some reason. It's dark and kind of out there, and this was well before Chris Brown smacked her around and pushed her to the dark side. '90210' is the third Ronson-produced track and is equally bad. This track focuses on the lifestyles of hollywood celebs and it is all too cliched. Whenever I hear '90210' it makes me think of the travesty that was Good Charlotte's 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,' and that is never a good thing.
So here we are. A couple of dashes of brilliance, but Wale's 'Attention Deficit' never gets off the ground and into the musical realm I thought it could go into. He's been receiving gold stars from a large number of music critics and generally, has been very well received. I just want to see if this goes somewhere - he certainly has the potential.
Tracks
1.) Triumph
2.) Mama Told Me
3.) Mirrors
4.) Pretty Girls
5.) World Tour
6.) Let it Loose
7.) 90210
8.) Chillin'
9.) TV in the Radio
10.) Contemplate
11.) Diary
12.) Beautiful Bliss
13.) Prescription
No comments:
Post a Comment