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Friday, June 6, 2008
MP3 Wale - The Mixtape About Nothing
Posted by on Fri, Jun 6 at 3:41 PM
Last week saw the release of Wale’s new mixtape, The Mixtape About Nothing. If you haven’t read it already, the Passion of the Weiss blog has an excellent post up that both summarizes the importance of mixtapes in general (including a brief history lesson) and explains why Wale’s is damn near impeccable and absolutely essential.
I saw Wale at Noise Pop this past year, and, sad to say, I was way under-impressed. I caught about two or three songs but they were so lackluster and boring I found myself looking for the nearest bar real fast. Good thing I didn’t write him off completely, though, because otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered to listen to The Mixtape About Nothing. It’s actually hard to think about that guy I was bored with at Noise Pop being the same guy on this album: that’s how strikingly good it is.
And yes, if you couldn’t tell, that “mixtape about nothing” is a Seinfeld reference. On the first track, “The Opening Title Sequence” (MP3 below), Wale raps over a Seinfeld-theme sampled beat with a whole list of “what’s the deal” scenarios that would make Jerry himself proud:
“What’s the deal with this rap stuff?
Since Napster the sales been crashing and
since Napster the game’s been flooded by has beens and never will be ringtone rappers.
What’s the deal with these ringtones?”
That’s only the first few lines.
From there, Wale sticks his nose in just about everything: race, relationships, pop culture, sports, and Garfield. On standout track “The Kramer”, he samples the racist tirade by Michael Richards and then goes into easily one of the best songs on race relations in recent memory. Don’t let the title mislead you: he may claim the mix is about nothing, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Front to back, this thing is fantastic, and is absolutely required listening. It’s far and away one of the most exciting things I’ve heard out of hip hop this year, and Wale is definitely on a pretty strong trajectory to being one of the best rappers around. Let’s just hope his new album can live up to the high standard he just set for himself.
Wale - “The Opening Title Sequence”
You can download the entire mixtape from Elitaste.
Comments
jeff weiss is a buddy of mine, and i REALLY wanted to get my post done before his so that he wouldn't outclass me, but nothing doing. his post was incredible; probably the best rap-related post of the year.
as for the mixtape about nothing, it's far and away the best rap release of the year. it could very well end up being one of the best rap releases of the decade and the best mixtape EVER. i laughed out loud AT 3AM when i heard the oksana baiul line.
i hope to christ that wale's album capitalizes on the greatness that was this mixtape. he has the potential to be our generation's most important rapper.
okay, enough breathless praise.
What's the deal with this lazy reporting stuff?
Agreed, the mixtape is hot but why'd you have to bite the weiss blog so hard. borders on plagiaristic. Weiss's "covering a gamut of topics ranging from race to culture to inter-personal relationships" becomes "sticks his nose in just about everything: race, relationships, pop culture, sports, and Garfield" in your piece. Likewise, "one of the smartest and most resonant songs to grapple with race in recent memory" is transparently reworded in your post into, "one of the best songs on race relations in recent memory."
I love this blog but I read other shit too and I'm not looking to read the same opinion over and over again. The best material is the stuff you posted in the comment space. Original is more interesting.
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There are a couple of things I would like to add to this post:
1) Wale's "Roc Boys" slays Jay-Z's version. I know I'm going to get about 800 nasty emails for saying that, and while I really respect the cohesiveness of the original, Wale's version is utterly ridiculous. I mean, he references Oksana Baiul, Myspace, MacBook Pros, the war in Iraq, and being hotter than wearing corduroys in saunas. Plus, there are lines like:
-"you in the closet like priests at confession"
-"you rapping like you reading the Source/I'm rapping like I re-did the Source"
-"the cops move slower than the R.Kel trial"
Dude just runs circles around that beat.
2) This record is Funny: "you hear that Sade/shh, no more talking alright/I got the incense/I got the candles/this is love at its peak I'm feeding you orgasms/I am more grown man than I had been/she said 'not tonight'/'Alright then'"
Really, this record is great. Like, really great. Like best hip hop album of the year great. If you haven't yet, please download the whole thing and put it on repeat.