Wale is my favorite rapper out of all the new cats out today but it took me a while before I got into his music. A lot of what people said here regarding his inability to annunciate words, his voice, etc. I remember when he first came out I didn't think much of him and didn't really follow his music like that. Truth be told my first exposure to Wale was on the first MMG album. Meek was the one who really blew up off that but I thought Wale really came off on that album too. Then when I heard the ambition album, I heard a lot of good reviews and I skimmed through it and while I thought the album had hot beats I thought Wale was the kind of rapper who raps with the same flow all the time.
It wasn't till I downloaded The Gifted album while going for a jog that I realized how ill this dude is. The Gifted album is one of the most slept on albums of all time already. Seriously, every song on that album was like a big orchestra. Dude experimented with mad different flows, almost every song had some kind of bridge at the end. He had songs with 2 or 3 different hooks. It had substance Vanity, Gullible, Heaven's Afternoon, Jesus Piece, Black Heroes, Bricks. The commercial songs were great as well. Then I listened to the Folarin mixtape which I think is also a classic. I went back to listen to Ambition because my boy who isn't even as big a Wale fan as I am told me it was his favorite album. I couldn't believe how hard I slept on it.
Wale's flow pattern's, his production, his choice of topics to me outshines everyone. I think Ambition is 4.5-5 mic album. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I can see how if u listen to him passively, Wale might not make an impression on you because his lyrics aren't as clear and his quicktime delivery could make it appear that he uses the same flow. But if you really listen to this dude, his flow patterns are among the most diverse of anyone in the game, and if you know the lyrics to his music you appreciate how he arranges his flows and also you gain an appreciation of how he makes everything he does into a big production rather than a simple bouncy verse hook verse format you get from most rappers.
It wasn't till I downloaded The Gifted album while going for a jog that I realized how ill this dude is. The Gifted album is one of the most slept on albums of all time already. Seriously, every song on that album was like a big orchestra. Dude experimented with mad different flows, almost every song had some kind of bridge at the end. He had songs with 2 or 3 different hooks. It had substance Vanity, Gullible, Heaven's Afternoon, Jesus Piece, Black Heroes, Bricks. The commercial songs were great as well. Then I listened to the Folarin mixtape which I think is also a classic. I went back to listen to Ambition because my boy who isn't even as big a Wale fan as I am told me it was his favorite album. I couldn't believe how hard I slept on it.
Wale's flow pattern's, his production, his choice of topics to me outshines everyone. I think Ambition is 4.5-5 mic album. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I can see how if u listen to him passively, Wale might not make an impression on you because his lyrics aren't as clear and his quicktime delivery could make it appear that he uses the same flow. But if you really listen to this dude, his flow patterns are among the most diverse of anyone in the game, and if you know the lyrics to his music you appreciate how he arranges his flows and also you gain an appreciation of how he makes everything he does into a big production rather than a simple bouncy verse hook verse format you get from most rappers.
