Wale offers some jabs at the surveillance state (“Twitter and Instagram are really like middlemen”) and the march of progress (“TV killed the radio/And then the Internet slit the television’s throat”) while the Memphis-style groove implies that only partying outlasts such upheaval. The warm, funky “Gullible” ruminates on the media and politics, with a solid guest appearance by Cee-Lo Green. The final two thirds of The Gifted merit repeat listens, in part because the lyrics depart further from the theme of What Wale Thinks About Himself-or at least handle it better. (If you’re looking for some of Wale’s trademark pungent wordplay, he gets to it quickly in the album opener “The Curse of the Gifted.” Check it: “It’s lonely at the top/They tell me that they feelin’ me/I eat this game and shit this out/My dirty drawers got winning streaks.”) Wale points at ministers who are “Preachin’ armageddon while the collection plate be circlin’ the room,” ending the verse with, “Fear is but a tomb/And gospel’s gone commercial, pray the purpose isn’t cruel.” It’s not necessarily an original sentiment, but his delivery rings true. The intensity kicks up with “Golden Salvation (Jesus Piece),” a commentary on the state of black spiritualism that includes one of the more emphatic lines on the album. It’s yet another bittersweet, soul-packed rap song about rising from a meager economic background the cameo by Maybach Music Group labelmate Meek Mill and the electro-flavored coda don’t do much to set it apart. The string-heavy “Heaven’s Afternoon,” meanwhile, sounds just plain stodgy. The single “LoveHate Thing” suffers from similar problems Wale’s prosaic raps (“As you reachin’ your goals/You gon’ meet you some foes”) almost get lost among the well-arranged piano-chord groove and the Christopher Cross-style hook sung by Dew. It’s the sign of an MC who has trouble getting out of salesman mode.
On the latter track, he yaps a lot about “new black soul” during stretches that probably should’ve been pure music. Songs such as the electro-pop cautionary tale “Vanity” (whose hook borrows the “worn-out places, worn-out faces” lines from Gary Jules’ “Mad World”) and the celebration of success “Sunshine” (which glows when it gets to ear-grabbing vocals by Stokley and Dew) are somehow not completely satisfying, as if Wale’s raps are accessories instead of counterpoints. The first third of The Gifted amounts to a cycle of self-reflection, and it’s a bit of a chore to get through, even though producers No Credit, Tone P, Stokley, and Sam Dew provide some memorable sounds. To be fair, he sounds like he’s enjoying the job. His third major-label album, The Gifted, feels fussed-over even when it’s supposed to be breezy, as if the pop-rap successes of 2011’s Ambition-“Lotus Flower Bomb,” “That Way”-earned him only pressure, not wiggle room.
WALE THE GIFTED LYRICS PROFESSIONAL
In a professional arc in which art and careerism often seemed indivisible, the DMV rapper had at last completed a project that felt totally in the moment. Names like Just Blaze, Lee Majors, Cardiak, and No Credit supply the beats for this more mature/still flashy release, all of it adding up to Wale's win number three.With last year’s Folarin mixtape, it seemed like Wale had finally relaxed. As beefy as it gets, "Rotation" is still the puff-puff-pass weed anthem stoners wish for, with "Bad" (featuring Rihanna), "Tired of Dreaming" (featuring Ne-Yo and Rick Ross), and "Clappers" (featuring Nicki Minaj and Juicy J) coming off as great bangers that don't squander their superstar guests. "Simple Man" is self-reflection with a head-nodding beat and some witty borrowing from 2Pac then there's the great and quite big "Golden Salvation (Jesus Piece)," which juxtaposes lyrics about the Gospel and bling for a layered and interesting swagger fest. "LoveHate Thing" is a breezy summertime jam reminiscing with plenty of gun talk and reckless stories of youth, but the complicated Wale can look to his dangerous past with much love and much gratitude that he made it through those days alive. Besides being solidly built and not overstuffed at 16 tracks long, The Gifted is the fascinating sound of the life of the party growing up, and that's as in "in the process," because there are still plenty of club bangers, strip-club jams, and irresponsible moments, and all of them are welcome. While his first two efforts were smart, clever, funny, and infectious, rapper Wale was never one known to offer rich insight, but on the opening number of the aptly titled The Gifted, he spits "The status got me trippin'/I like my bitch but I like these bitches on my dick be spittin'/Tell that you feelin' different, knowin' you the bread winner," and suddenly the hook of this great album reveals itself.
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