Wale

This much-anticipated debut from mixtape hero Wale has been delayed more times than a flight out of La Guardia on a rainy day. September and October passed; now, a watermarked copy of Attention: Deficit has turned up at the TONY offices marked “Not Final Mixes.” So what have we been waiting for? Unfortunately, not much.

Wale exhibited deft wordplay over creative sampling on two recent mixtapes, this year’s Back to the Feature and 2008’s excellent The Mixtape About Nothing. Exploring his status as a young, black son of immigrants, he creatively wrapped each tape in a theme: Back to the Feature was loosely tied to the Back to the Future films, while The Mixtape About Nothing adheres to Seinfeld as its crux.

Attention: Deficit proves the D.C. rapper is still a rhymer to be reckoned with, but suffers from completely uninspired beats. The record is largely hookless—“Chillin’,” the first single and best song, actually debuted on Feature. But what’s worse is its lack of a central idea or direction…in other words, its attention deficit. Wale confusingly bounces from the titular subject of “Pretty Girls” to deploring the effects of superficial celebrity culture (“90210”), and on to a meaningful discussion about skin color (“Shades”). “Mirrors” starts with the line, “Tell me I’m the realest / Since all these other niggas got gimmicks,” but based on this outing, you hope Wale scratches that notion and starts considering whether to base his next mixtape on The Office or The Lord of the Rings.—Colin St. John

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