If there’s a glaring criticism of Nothing then it would probably be that the knock-out cuts are too few and far between.īut maybe that’s the point. When he does return to more familiar subject territory, such as ‘The Girls On Drugs’, which features an irresistible sample and groove reminiscent of Justice’s ‘D.A.N.C.E’ blended with ‘Get Lucky’, he does so with the same wit and SMH disdain. ”You still my nigga”, he says to God on ‘The God Smile’ – through everything hurled at him, Wale has retained the tongue-in-cheek irony and black humour that has always made him such an original and interesting lyricist. On the hammocked ‘The White Shoes’ the nurturing line ”you’ll be alright” is probably directed as much at Wale himself as much as the character in the track. And one of the strengths of Nothing is the way it embodies a sense of rueful nostalgia and almost placid comfort amongst all the usual production paraphernalia. Wale has opened up recently about his girlfriend’s miscarriage and his ensuing struggles with drugs and depression after this personal tragedy.
Nobody does hand-wringing like the D.C native. Wale’s saying something here that has needed saying for some time American culture’s relationship with rap and hip-hop has increasingly become a caricature of itself. Then Seinfeld chips in with the reprimand ”aware of everything, paying attention to one thing”. ”Gotta be the realest, society y’all trippin” mocks Wale on ‘The Middle Finger’ before repeatedly insisting ”Fuck you, leave me alone”. Where most rappers focus on money, weed, ‘pussy’ and other material goods, on Nothing Wale instead chooses to take a bird’s-eye view, reflecting on love, loss and what he presumably sees as the destitution of his genre. But to do so would be to overlook Wale’s own story and the way in which he invests himself into his work. The record is perhaps even more susceptible to this treatment thanks to the recent release to universal acclaim of contemporary Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly, which is about as get-your-elbows-in-Van-Gogh-style and impressively outside-the-box as hip-hop gets. It would be easy to dismiss Nothing as just another commercialised art-hop album (think Kid Cudi or Wiz Khalifa), with all the inoffensive samples and ostensibly detached vocals. His latest effort, The Album About Nothing, does just that. But for a member of a sub-culture so concerned with being cool, Wale has always openly embraced his quirks and idiosyncrasies – his music has reflected this complexity and three-dimensionality. He’s worked frequently with the straight up gangster-rap guys like Rick Ross and is as equally chummy with ballers as Drizzy and Hove. Wale occupies a strange liminal in the hip-hop landscape.
0 kommentar(er)
