Rude Wale

I dug Rihanna’s “Umbrella” because it wasn’t a dirty metaphor it was a good and straight-forward pop-tune. “Rude Boy” isn’t a dirty metaphor either, it’s a blatantly filthy song. Wale was seemingly visited by his muse when listening to the track and decided to throw his own verse on it–I’m assuming from the point of view of the “rude boy.” I’ve really been digging this risque-Rihanna banger so I was pretty stoked to see that Wale decided to subvert(or at least expand) it. To be honest, I haven’t even listened to it yet; let’s listen together shall we?! Download it here.

Rihanna-Rude Boy (Wale-Remix)

Bitch List

I know a good amount of female dogs and I really like–even love–most of them; it’s really too bad their breeding-name has become a synonym for an unpleasant person. Most individuals who get dubbed a “bitch” give female canines a bad name so maybe it’s time we downgraded the beast we compare bitches too? What do you call a female cockroach? Nobody likes them, right?
Anyway, I’m not sure if I’ve been in a significantly pessimistic mood lately, but I’ve been noticing a good amount of people with putrid etiquette. Apparently a third grader in Washington D.C. empathized with me and decided to construct a list of all of the bitches that were bothering them, which subsequently fell (two out of three pages to be exact) to the ground and found its way onto the internuts. Scope the full bitch list here.

Attention Deficit

As any rapper should, Wale is proving fairly divisive–with people people hating, disliking, not caring, feeling and loving, I guess he’s doing something right? His debut full length is certainly different then his mixtapes. Here is my review, courtesy of Treblezine.

Despite the clever appropriations of things like tofurky, soyrizo and other animal-friendly re-workings, fledgling vegetarians are eventually forced to accept the fact that it’s unquestionably impossible–even with advanced gastronomical technology–to make these meat-free substitutions taste identical to the bloody nectar of the cows, pigs and chickens. Two years ago, various mixtape DJs were hurling beats at Wale like a zookeeper would wildebeest legs to a hungry lion. And, like the lion, the D.C.-bred rapper tore into them with famished abandon. Wale triumphantly gutted these beats of all of their original intent and replaced them with his own stampede of polysyllabic equivocations and rapid-fire metaphors. A prolific streak of mixtapes established Wale as a rapper’s rapper.

Wale’s “Chillin” Pros & Cons

My breakdown of Wale’s new video for “Chillin”:

I don’t like: the corny cameos, the 3,000 wardrobe swaps, the lack of creative art direction (this guy rapped over a Justice song and released a mixtape based on Seinfeld–C’mon Wale, you can do better than this), the contrived club scene (I’m 100% for materialism in videos, but this just doesn’t look natural), enough with the Dre. Beats headphones, the song itself

I do like: that backpackers are going to start weeping when they see their messiah in a German car, Wale rocking a San Francisco hat

on that note: congrats to Randy Johnson for winning his 300th game. Oddly enough, he got the win in D.C., which is Wale’s hometown….

Wale’s Leaking Leaks

Is it just me or is the leaking of songs from a mixtape a bit odd, considering that the ragtag ethic of a mixtape suggests that the project is one giant leak? Anyway, Wale has done just that by dropping “Family Affair” off of his Back To The Feature mixtape, that shall be produced by 9th Wonder. Snag it here.

CHESS IS FOR KIDS

RZA is an eccentric cat. I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw him in Battery Park with a coffee and a cigarette playing some old Jewish cat in chess. Today you can find plenty of young chess masters along with a bunch of hip hop die hards at the 4th Annual “Bum Rush The Boards” chess tournament sponsored by the Columbia Heights Youth Club and Words, Beats & Life Inc in DC. On the website it discusses some complex analogous relationship between chess and hip hop, but don’t get it twisted, this is about youth outreach. Simple equation, play chess inside = not outside lacking purpose. This year’s tournament will consist of four rounds of chess mastery, coupled with workshops and exhibitions taking place throughout the day on Rocking, Toasting, Visual Arts, Poetry, Graffiti, Chess, and more. Peep details, or sign up to “play” at their site.

Wale & Gaga: Do You Go Gaga or Say It’s Caca?

Constantly accused of receiving far more affection from the hipsters rather than the hood, Wale has recorded a song with dance-icon Lady Gaga, which is essentially is going to piss kerosene onto the haters’ flame. Cest La Vie; I suppose in this day and age, there’s a fine line between blog love and blog hate, as long as your name is on the bloggers’ tongues. “Chillin’” is the first single from Wale’s long-awaited Attention Deficit, dropping this summer.

It’s decent first single, I can almost guarantee a trillion dance remixes are going to hit the internet and subsequently the sales of Pabst Blue Ribbon are about to skyrocket. While “Nike Boots” was dope as a tool to attract attention for Wale, it’s an ill song and I say it’s a shame it wasn’t the first single, had the album gone into production a year and a half ago. So it goes.

NOTE: This version (the official version) is so new that it is not even on Youtube yet, so download “Chillin” by clicking on the banner below and compare it to “Nike Boots”, which is below the banner.