‘Milly’ bites, but Wale holds things down: “We ain’t supposed to never have nothing… see the grown in my rhymes / see my focus on them.” “Golden Salvation” finds the MC brilliantly playing on words, specifically the ubiquitous Jesus piece: “Jesus piece, Jesus piece, Jesus piece / but don’t nobody want know Jesus peace….” The supporting music serves as a ‘tone poem’, evoking a churchy, gospel-sensible timbre to accentuate Wale’s ode.įrom Jesus pieces, Wale moves to “Vanity”, with the help of a Tears For Fears’ “Mad World”. While Wale may not have reached his ‘best’ yet, “Heaven’s Afternoon” is pretty great, where his Maybach Music Group compadre Meek Mill drops a verse. Optimistic about the future, Wale adapts a ‘best is yet to come’ attitude. On the consistent “Sunshine”, Wale places “the spotlight on my fans”, thanking them for their support of his music. Wale described the song via tweet as “…passive aggressive hate from those closest to u.” Anchored down by a Marvin Gaye sample, Wale delivers sharp one-liners eschewing detractors including “…my affinity grows, as the city gets cold / as you reaching your goals, you gon’ meet you some foes.” Two tracks in, Wale is on autopilot. “LoveHate Thing” proceeds in similar vein. Eliminating the ‘suckers’ filled with hate and envy, Wale keeps “…that circle small and never let no squares in there…” On the catchy, summative hook, Wale accepts the truism that ‘haters gonna hate’, but asserts they will respect his “hustle”. A consistent trend throughout the album, opener “The Curse of the Gifted” matches Wale with his ideal backdrop. Wale works best with lush, soulful production work. The Gifted is incredibly consistent and exemplarily executed like previous albums, never compromising quality. Wale always conveys an artistic, intellectualist mindset that is equally accessible. Flowing with utmost agility and moxie, he never settles for meaningless lyrics. Perhaps it’s Wale’s ‘trill’ approach to his rhymes that establishes him as one of the present day’s most gifted rappers. The lyric plays cleverly within his third album, The Gifted, as well as wisely within real life. He used to sound smarter than all of that now, he is indeed beginning to sound like a guy who maybe doesn't know who he is.“They gon’ love you a little different when you at the top,” Wale prudently asserts on “LoveHate Thing”. Which, in terms of perspective loss, is up there with Kanye comparing cheating on his girl to "Katrina with no FEMA." Most egregious of all, though, was his lifeless and unlistenable Lady Gaga collaboration "Chillin", a transparent, hackneyed grab for the imagined "hipster demographic" that was particularly galling in light of the skits clowning a clueless trend-hopping A&R on Mixtape. While "no personality" is a vexing accusation to level at someone who has made what thus far stands as the greatest Seinfeld-and-go-go-inspired new-school backpack-rap mixtape ever made, the sheer persistence of the claim points to an undeniable truth: since his still-resonant Mixtape About Nothing, Wale Folarin has found himself increasingly lost in the mixtape-buzz wilderness, feuding pointlessly with human cautionary tale Charles Hamilton, fraternizing with the likes of Joe Budden and Skyzoo, and comparing his internet-fame struggles to the travails of the Obama Administration. There's a growing consensus amongst the message-board-nerd inner councils of rap- the sort of people who comprise 100% of Wale's fanbase- that the man lacks a distinct personality, that he doesn't know who he wants to be.