Dear Wale (re: More About Nothing)
Okay Wale. I've had a weird relationship with your music since 2008, when 'The Mixtape About Nothing' dropped. That mixtape was damn near perfect. From beginning to end, it reeked of creative freedom. I could go through all of the tracks on that tape, but it'd be burning the body of the horse beaten to death. You sounded so carefree and clear that, it was impossible to not knock to it. In fact, that's your appeal on that work: the sheer honest that emanates from every sound. Honesty is a hard thing to convey in the hip-hop game, especially with cats like Ross running around. That said, after 'The Mixtape About Nothing,' I grew tepid on your music, because it sounded too packaged. Your album 'Attention: Deficit,' while good, didn't have the same *umph*. It sounded unfocused, even with how good some of the tracks were. And that was the last time I really listened to you.
Enter August 2010. The internets were a calm place two weeks before now. Then, out of nowhere (or better yet, nothing) you came with a leak from your new mixtape 'More About Nothing'. I was a bit confused, as you didn't seem like the type of artist to revisit a concept that had been so successful in the past. I figured it would be a good attempt, but would fall short to the prequel. After listening, I can honestly say that it did. That isn't to downplay how good 'More About Nothing' was. That's more to say that the disappointment from the album seeped into this mixtape. Let me explain myself after the back cover.
Ahem. 'More About Nothing' began with 'The Problem,' a track dedicated to the ills that plagued the album. You mentioned bad PR, a segmented hip-hop industry, label woes...
SIDENOTE: Can rappers stop blaming the labels for all of their problems? Hip-hop is the only music genre that is constantly trying to go against the will of 'the Man' (for illustrative purposes), yet always acquiesces to the demands of the label. Rock or pop artists don't outwardly get mad at labels, and then sign to them. If heads wanted to move away from the labels, they would. Either work within the system or create a new one...... and disinterested fans as reasoning for your albums performance. At first I thought it was a cop-out, but the way you conveyed it was masterful. I'm convinced that that private school time you always allude to made you the rapper you are today. The mixtape then picks up heavily, with the next 5 tracks knocking hard. My favorite was definitely 'Friends and Strangers' complete with a Ronnie Laws/MF DOOM (depending on your age) sample. To round out the first half, 'The Breakup Song' is a well-placed ode to a former lover with a tender feel to it, while 'The Work Working' is a hard, sharp-edged lyrical sword that had me rewinding to catch subliminal lines. As a matter of fact, the first half of this mixtape is impeccable, flowing well, with great beat selection and a charisma from you that we haven't seen in a while. I even liked the Wiz Khalifa feature, even though it was clearly directed at smokers. The first half was a complete, non-stop listen. The second half was a different story, though.
At times 'More About Nothing' seemed like it was stretching the Seinfeld theme a little too far. As a fan, I'm honored to see a rapper try to immortalize his love for the show. Yet, because Seinfeld is so idiosyncratic and specific in its references, I found the mixtape losing its focus to that theme at times. Where tracks like 'The Manipulation 2' showed the bilateral nature of language in relationships and tied in Costanza's 'It's not you, it's me' speech, tracks like 'The Posse Cut' and 'seemed misplaced and had no real ties to the theme. It seemed like they were there more for two reasons: A) high-profile features and B) because they couldn't be included on the album. 'More About Nothing's' 2nd half featured a lot of songs that were good, but lined up more with what 'Attention: Deficit' should have been rather than the Seinfeld motif. Wale, that's not to say you should've changed either. That's to say there seemed like a slight layover from the album, which is fine. If anything it gives your fans more about some of the 'nothings' that contributed to your success in the past two years.
In conclusion, what helped your 2nd foray into Seinfeld-dom be a good mixtape was how great the actual music is. You seem to be back into your go-go roots, and I'm not mad at you, because it makes for some interesting instrumentals for you to go over. It also seemed like you were experimenting a lot more with faster beats so that your flow didn't run dry, as it's been known to do. The experimentation worked to your benefit, as you had more breathing room lyrically (only makes sense if you listened to the mixtape). I can honestly say that I liked this tape, Wale. While it doesn't really hold a candle to 'The Mixtape About Nothing', it supersedes 'Attention: Deficit' and gives you new life as we get ready for your next album and hopefully a better performance. We don't know whether it will be 'something' or 'nothing', but isn't the beauty of Seinfeld watching as 'everything' unfolds? Questions aside, the marker of whether this mixtape was a success will be determined through how many new Seinfeld fans there are. Point. Blank. Period. That you melded hip-hop and situational comedy is a victory in and of itself. Kudos, Wale. #clapforhim
PS: Check out some of the trailers for the mixtape. Lord knows those were hilariously creative...