Rick Ross-friendly tracks like "Clappers" have a vein of go-go running through them, and the mainstream rap braggadocio in "Vanity" is undercut by a sample of Gary Jules's "Mad World," which will be familiar to most listeners as the power-angst theme of Donnie Darko.**** He effortlessly pairs the underground content of his earlier work with the mainstream packaging of more recent albums. It's a foundation with all of his past mistakes in mind, and there's a confidence on this record that hasn't been seen in his music since 2008's The Mixtape About Nothing. Mixing the old Wales and new one is a prominent theme on The Gifted, which he has described as his version of Jay-Z's The Blueprint. The mean tweets still ruffle him, but there's a restraint fans and critics haven't seen before. Perhaps a younger Wale, the rap reality villain, would blast away the fruit flies claiming to know what he's all about, but the key word here is "makes." It's a sentiment. "Makes a nigga want to get the piece to get to peace / You gon' need more than Wikipedia to get to me." When your biography is neatly condensed into a Wiki page, your life is opened to observation, criticism, and appraisal by passersby. Why shouldn't I respond when I feel like it?"Ī line from The Gifted's "LoveHate Thing" sums up this sentiment nicely. If I was just working at UPS or working for the government, I could say, 'Fuck you,' 'I hate you' or whatever. "That's what I have to choose to not be," he says of hounding critics online. He knows the score, and he's remarkably candid about it. That's part of what makes " The Gifted-era Wale" his most fascinating incarnation to date. Is this 2006's go-go sampling D.C.-pride Wale? Or the Seinfeld-referencing weirdo of 2008? It's been a strange trip from the pop dance of Mark Ronson's _100 Miles and Running _to Rick Ross's champagne-soaked, strip club soundtrack Ambition. When you put on a Wale record, there's frankly no telling who or what you'll get. His career has followed a strange trajectory consequently, his catalogue is one of the most diverse and unpredictable in contemporary hip-hop. With his third studio album- The Gifted-out this week, Wale has once again become a new Wale. Through crackling reception, he patiently repeats himself, thoughtfully answers my questions, and elegantly sidesteps topics that in the past may have prompted a diatribe**.** "Work mode." What the hell happened to Wale? And for the remainder of our conversation, he makes good on his word. 9:30 isn't an hour that exists for most rappers I ask him if he sleeps at all these days, or if this is the continuation of a very long night. When I finally catch him, it's 9:30 in the morning and he's on a tour bus somewhere in between his last gig and the next. emcee born Olubowale Victor Akintimehin, is not an easy man to get on the phone.
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