WALE THE ALBUM ABOUT NOTHING LIVEMIXTAPES HOW TO
It seems just a bit too soon to be re-making Musiq Soulchild’s “Just Friends,” though, Wale knows how to make the formula his own. Seinfeld gives the SZA assisted “The Need to Know” much needed texture, as we can all relate to being in love with a good friend. The Janet Jackson sampling “Girls on Drugs” is super hero music for Captain Save-a-Hoe and drips of false empathy. It’s a soldier’s story, but one where Wale often comes across as a bit too preachy, not as one who is on his own journey. The concepts about “nothing” are driven toward enlightenment and detachment and it’s a believable Zen approach to life. It’s daunting but Wale seems up for the challenge. Wale wants to be respected, wants to fall in love with a woman who is his best friend and for the haters to shut their mouths. A guiding force of the mundane brought forth to interject sonnets of advice, Seinfeld directs Wale’s steps in his most vulnerable spaces. Jerry Seinfeld is less Wale’s spirit animal and more of a fairy God Father. On “The Album About Nothing” Wale takes comfort in digging up the bones of regret and burying them with an “it is what it is” attitude. In the past, Wale has been criticized for switching up his style since joining the house that Rozay built, so he’s clearly made it a point here to prove he’s his own man.Wale, “The Album About Nothing” review: Seinfeld as a guiding hip-hop force – The Denver Post Close Menu They only receive one shout-out, and it’s on “The Middle Finger.” Read into that how you want. Likewise, no one from his MMG team is present. The album has no guest verses, which may come as a surprise considering Wale's feature-heavy albums in the past. Like the women described on “The Girls on Drugs,” Wale is also jaded, which feeds into his dark mood throughout the project. Cole.Įlsewhere, Wale delivers his fed-up anthem of 2015 in “The Middle Finger,” which references his drug use-pills, weed, lean, ecstasy-as a remedy for dealing with the world as a successful black man now in his 30s.
“Who am I to change perception?/If a nigga kill a nigga he's another statistic/If his skin's a little different they gon ' say it was self-defense.” The record is a gripping moment tied up perfectly with a passionate chorus from J. Wale's most compelling track on the album is “The Pessimist,” where he scatters out troubling storylines made in America, one of those being the fate of the black man. “Tell the purist that laugh I don't reach out for daps/Cause ‘No Hands’ triple platinum.” Shots fired. “Some love to see you blow, they don't want see you pop,” he raps over DJ Dahi’s booming backdrop. “The Helium Balloon” is a breakdown of the rapper’s bout with his volatile fanbase. The first half of the album starts out lyrically sharp as Wale tackles fickle fans and society’s ills, with Jerry’s metaphors and accompanying Seinfeld sound bites guiding the narrative. Consider The Album About Nothing a slice of life from the self-proclaimed Double M genius who dropped his first Seinfeld-inspired installment, The Mixtape About Nothing, in 2008. It’s a trait that, while physically and emotionally draining for the rapper, helped create his most personal project to date. He told this very publication as much while in the process of making his fourth studio album, The Album About Nothing, alongside his co-pilot Jerry Seinfeld. Most people block out the trivial bullshit. rapper, he spends more time than necessary dealing with online trolls, which only adds to whatever issues already plague his everyday life.