So I'm reading Mephisto's so-called "review" of Wale and thinking, is this the squarest cat that's ever walked the planet since, I don't know, Richard M. Nixon? Herbert Hoover, maybe? Anthony fuckin' Comstock?
Could be.
He's like some bald old bowtie dude oh-so-knowingly ripping on The Beatles circa '66, or the Stones in '68.
Or some crotchety old jazz guitarist whining about Jimi's shitty technique.
In a word: clueless.
Might as well change his name to Mr. Jones, cause something's going on here and he sure don't know what it is.
And prolly never will.
Now if any y'all want to get the *real* word on Wales, you might just check out the critics who actually follow the scene and have some expertise in evaluating this music, rather than in carefully cultivating their hipster doofus folk-rock custodial healer image, or whatever it is Mephisto happens to be playing this week.
To wit:
Pitchfork: On
The Mixtape About Nothing, Wale emerges fully-formed as a rapper and as a thinker, a lightning-witted, irreverent guy blessed with both an infectious swagger and a sound moral compass...
Expertly crafted, exuberantly witty, and endlessly surprising... His "mixtape about nothing" is really a mixtape about almost everything, and with it Wale has produced one of the year's most improbable and inspiring successes.
LA WEEKLY:
Conceptually brilliant... on anyone's short list of the best rappers of his generation... Wale's songs burst with ideas... Sets the bar for the next generation of rappers.
Bama Loves Soul: Wale (pronounced Wah-Lay) is the Charlie Kaufman of hip-hop. Highly talented, he is able to lyrically weave visual stories and metaphors that are thrown at you
so fast that your brain is playing catch up with his words.
The Skinny: there are so many great rhymes here, and Wale's flow on top of the go-go funk-flavoured beats is
astounding.
TuttleBlogcolor>: Wale is GREAT! Great music, a very good songwriter. And he has... personality!color>

Shout-out to Mephisto, aka, Bronx/DC cheer