Wale - Attention Deficit
(Interscope/ Allido)
via the New York Times
While Wale has long cited Black Thought, lead rapper of the Roots, as his strongest influence, Kanye West (an acknowledged Wale fan) looms over “Attention Deficit,” although he had no direct role. The productions often sample old funk, particularly horn sections, emulating Mr. West’s orchestral arrangements and annunciatory buildups. Wale comes close to a direct West imitation in “Mama Told Me,” from its windchimes to its “never ever” refrain.
Still, Wale could have chosen far worse models than Mr. West, who never feigned being a thug. Wale can admit to (former) insecurity in a song like “Shades,” about being a dark-skinned young man ignored by lighter-skinned girls. He also musters compassion, in the waltzing “Diary,” for a woman wounded by love and, in “90210,” for a “regular girl” with “celebrity dreams” growing increasily desperate in Beverly Hills, succumbing to bulimia, cocaine and promiscuity.
via the Washington Post
For proof of Wale's lyrical acrobatics, look no further than "Pretty Girls," where the rapper's best pickup line involves two bottles of champagne, a football joke and a healthy credit rating: "What you sippin' on? It's no problem/Black and gold bottles like I'm pro-New Orleans/But shorty, I'm far from a Saint/But I got two AmExes that look the same way."
This is some masterful wordplay -- with an emphasis on play -- and it makes for the album's most dazzling cut. The song's thundering, go-go-inflected track helps, too. Production duo Best Kept Secret built it around a sample from local stalwarts Backyard Band and it sounds like a house party crumbling in an earthquake. How it will fare on national radio is anyone's guess, but for locals fluent in go-go, "Pretty Girls" is a thriller.
Wale has a fantastic ear for beats, though you wouldn't know it after hearing "Attention Deficit" in its entirety. There's some real dreck from producers Mark Ronson ("90210") and the Neptunes ("Let It Loose"). Wale is either adopting the please-all-audiences model West popularized, or his label's invisible hand is fussing with the dials. (In a delicious stroke of irony, Interscope reportedly zapped a song from the track list titled "Artistic Integrity.")
via Pitchfork
6.6 rating
Opener "Triumph", a terrific, Afro-beat-inspired production by TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek, indicates this will be a sonic adventure. It's not particularly. "Mama Told Me" is a sort of post-Kanye reflection on how difficult it is coming up in the game, namedropping people in his life whose names you will not recognize. It's been done before and better. "Mirrors" is sonically consistent-- squealing horns and down-low bass-- but also features that tried-and-true rap trope: the Bun B feature. It's negligible. "Pretty Girls" is an ode to women via his native Washington D.C. sound, produced by longtime partner Best Kept Secret, sampling legendary Go-Go crew the Backyard Band, and featuring that group's Weensey. It's a classic hip-hop raveup, loose and fun. And then Atlanta's Gucci Mane shows up. Wasn't this supposed to be a D.C. anthem? "World Tour" is typically bland, R&B diva-led (in this case Jazmine Sullivan) nostalgia-stroking patter. "Let It Loose" is the Pharrell record. Six songs in and we're hitting all the bases, without any sense of what it means to be Wale.
Wyclef Jean - From the Hut, to the Projects, to the Mansion
(Carnival House/Megaforce/Sony Music)
via the Los Angeles Times
3 stars out of four
Partnering with mix-tape master DJ Drama, (Wyclef) Jean seems determined to change that. Here, he introduces his Toussaint St. Jean alter-ego, inspired by Haitian liberator Toussaint L'Ouverture. The fictional guise coupled with furor at his also-ran status has injected a hunger in Jean. Childhood anecdotes about receiving his first pair of shoes and the crushing poverty in Haiti, ("Warrior's Anthem") provide a gritty poignancy he'd lacked since going pop. "Toussaint Vs. Bishop," and "Letter from the Penn" triumph thanks to Jean's sincerity.
Melanie Fiona - The Bridge
(SRC/Motown Universal)
via the Associated Press/Yahoo
Melanie Fiona may be eccentric. Or maybe she's just madly in love. Either way, her debut CD is an impressive mix of tracks that presents the many sides of the woman.
"The Bridge" finds the 26-year-old newcomer begging her man to stay put on the uptempo "Please Don't Go (Cry Baby)," leaving her lover behind on the impeccable "Monday Morning," and demanding her partner treat her the right way between the sheets on the groovy first single, "Give It to Me Right."
(MF) DOOM - Unexpected Guests
(Gold Dust Media)
via Pitchfork
5.9 rating
The early news of DOOM compilation Unexpected Guests positioned it as a field report from the indie MC's late-decade wilderness period, spanning a half-committed star turn (2005's Danger Doom collaboration with Danger Mouse) to this year's bullish return to form on Born Like This. And it is... except when it isn't-- "Rock Co.Kane Flow", taken from De La Soul's The Grind Date, actually finds DOOM doing something of a victory lap in 2004 after his essential triad of Take Me to Your Leader (released under the name King Geedorah), Vaudeville Villain (Viktor Vaughn), and Madvillainy (Madvillain). "Rock Co.Kane Flow" is a fantastic symbiosis of DOOM's many playful styles, but the beat itself feels weightier than what we're used to from De La and the stakes higher (ahem) than what we're used to from DOOM when he guests on a track. The other high(er)-profile collaborations on Unexpected don't always fare as well-- while "Da Supafriendz" spotlights a nerdy side of Vast Aire that often goes overlooked amidst Cannibal Ox's doomsayer image, "Fly That Knot" is the second hopelessly corny track DOOM's done with Talib Kweli (see also: "Old School" from The Mouse and the Mask) and most of the blame lies with Kweli's increasing ineptitude at hook-writing, it's clear these two share more camaraderie than chemistry.
Read each album review here:
New York Times - Wale
Washington Post - Wale opens a panderer's box
Pitchfork - Wale
L.A. Times - Album review: Wyclef Jean's 'From the Hut, to the Projects, to the Mansion'
Associated Press/Yahoo - Melanie Fiona's debut CD is solid
Pitchfork - DOOM
For a full list of November 10 New Releases:
Hip Hop And R & B New Releases 11/10
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