As Wale’s album Ambition drops its clear to see that Wale has come a long way from when he dropped his first album Attention Deficit three years ago. Now for anyway Wale fan you’ll know he is known for his witty, intelligent and poetic lyrics but it seems amongst the money, weed and numerous tattoos Wale Folarin has marginally lost himself. The Album see features from Ne-Yo, Jeremih, Lloyd, Big Sean, Kid Cudi (bet you guys never thought you’d see that again since their falling out) and label boss Rick Ross & label mate Meek Mill on the self titled track Ambition, which for me is one of the stand out tracks as they talk on what motivated them to propel themselves to their current positions. For me Meek Mill steals the track completely with lines such as “I was raised by the STOP sign, no religion, I was getting saved by the glock nine.”Rick Ross holds his own on the track and Wale is a let down on the track, going last you would expect him to come up with something memorable but he goes off on lines such as “As long as your momma love you, don’t ever love a woman” say what? Wale you for real?
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The album starts off with Don’t Hold Your Applause which is actually a smooth way to open the album, as he talks about wanting to making history. Which quickly reminds you of the vibe that Wale is known for. Double M Genius is a smart take on the MMG name as Wale show boats he’s lyrical prowess and delivers a much more aggressive side of him, which reminds me more of Meek Mill.
The lead single Lotus Flower Bomb is almost perfected Wale, as he raps over a smooth, melodic beat about a particular female who he has his mind on. Miguel delivers crisp vocals on this track as Wale’s sound is very much caught on this song.
Sabotage is also a favourite of mine off Ambition which guest stars Lloyd who actually surprises me on this as he’s not an artist I like very much but he delivers on this with ease, possibly better than his own material. Wale also pulls a Kendrick Lamar and raps on the song to point of losing his voice, as he address’s the the issue of a woman being unable to submit to a good relationship and always trying to find fault in it.
A track that I actually can’t stand much is Slight Work which features Big Sean. It has a very bizarre beat which actually works but Wale is completely out of his element here, however Big Sean completely outshines Wale on this with his flow. In saying this I can see this actually being a huge in the clubs if not already.
No Days Off is a terrible track, through and through and just seems it was put on the album to take up space. Reasons for it being on their we shall never known.
Now DC Or Nothing is by far the realest track on the album and would have been special if Wale had ran with this kind of vibe on the whole album, as he speaks of the issues coming from DC and the problems that he’s people face day to day. It would have made more sense for this track to be named Ambition if anything.
Lyrically Wale soars higher than Attention Deficit but it seems Wale has some what had his vision blurred with the lifestyle the MMG tag and creatively Wale hasn’t progressed it would seem. It’s rather bizarre as Wale released The 11.1.11 Theory mixtape which is named after the release date of Ambition and the album would have been a lot more successful taking tracks off there as you get a PERFECT feel of the Ambition Wale is trying to project. Tracks such as Ambitious Girl 2 which features J. Holiday and Passive Aggress-Her.
From receiving a co-sign from Mark Ronson, Wale still has plenty much to prove. Not a great album from him but don’t count Wale out yet. If anything download The 11.1.11 Theory which will 100% not let you down.