Preview @Wale's The Album About Nothing #TAAN by @simONE_OFMYKIND

Wale has been on a rollercoaster with his sound during the past couple of years. As a big fan of his music I have to say at times he has let me down, to the point where I wouldn’t even get excited about him releasing something new. However this is not the case with his upcoming album. This will be Wale’s fourth album. The title alone has me extremely excited for this project, The Album About Nothing. Sound familiar? In the trailer for this album Wale acknowledges how often his fans have said they wanted the old Wale back, so he promises to revive him on The Album About Nothing. Also mentioning that he wants to get back to the basics and back to what he knows for this project. So hopefully the pre-MMG Wale will be alive and well on this album. It may be wishful thinking but in my opinion Wale is foreshadowing that there will be vibes, sounds, and content similar to his early mixtapes (Mixtape About Nothing and More About Nothing). 

The forthcoming album will include 14 songs and features from artists such as SZA,Usher, Jeremih, J.Cole, and Jerry Seinfield . The classic show about nothing, Seinfield has heavily influenced Wale and his music. As most of us are familiar with, there was a lot dialogue from the show used on the tracks from More About Nothing and Mixtape  About Nothing. We will hear this on The Album About Nothing, as well as commentary and narration from Jerry Seinfield.

Thusfar, three songs have been released. One of the previously released songs Girls on Drugs was on the 2014 mixtape Festivus. The Janet Jackson hit Go Deep is sampled on this track and while it gives it a more enjoyable sound Wale discusses something more serious, girls dealing with mental and emotional problems that turn to drugs and alcohol as the solution. The two singles right off the album are The Body ft Jeremih and The Matrimony ft Usher. Wale gets very personal on The Matrimony, rapping about the conflicts of trying to be in a relationship and living the life of a celebrity,also he speaks on traumatic events from a past relationship.

One of the reasons Wale is good is because of his ability to be so open and honest in his songs. Some of that seemed long lost but Wale speaks about TAAN serving as a journal for him allowing his longtime fans to reconnect with him. I don’t know how many people are with me on this, but I have a feeling this album is going to do great and leave us with plenty of good things to say about it. I’m sure a lot of you are just as eager to hear Album About Nothing as I am, the album will drop later this month on March 31^st. See the tracklist below and if you haven’t yet listen to the singles.

The Album About Nothing tracklist:

1. The Intro About Nothing

2.     The Helium Balloon

3.     The White Shoes

4.     The Pessimist (featuring J.Cole)

5.     The Middle Finger

6.     The One Time In Houston

7.     The Girls On Drugs

8.     The God Smile

9.     The Need To Know (featuring SZA)

10. The Success

11. The Glass Egg

12. The Bloom

13. The Matrimony (featuring Usher)

14. The Body (featuring Jeremih)

Below you can watch the video to The Body with Jeremih and stream The Matrimony featuring Usher.

An Open Letter to @Wale

Dear Wale,

I imagine being an artist in today's industry is challenging. That's an understatement. As difficult as it may be to be Wale but it's a Lovehate thing to be a fan. I hate to sound ironic an use oxymorons but I guess that's what I got from listening your clever wordplay. Personally I'm not like your core DC fan base and I didn't come across your music until sitting in a dorm room of my own freshman year and listening to More About Nothing. Years later, most would consider that a classic mixtape. Afterwards I went back and listened to Attention Deficit and Mixtape about Nothing. As time went by we watched Wale evolve. Your wallets got fatter and from the outside looking in, your hunger went away. You become content. You never put out bad music but the problem your fans had is you were supposed to be great.

Lovehate thing. You've always been great at being so responsive to your fans on social networking. That's a gift and a curse. You seem to respond to every fan whether it's hate or love. If you go on twitter all you see are countless RT from women that love you and your responses to slander thrown your way. Some things don't require a response man. Especially from people that clearly don't know what they are talking about. You have enough pressure on your shoulders as it is. At least that's the way you make it seem and trust me I will never understand unless you explained through song.

Sometimes when your fans speak it isn't necessarily hate. It's constructive criticism. We hold you on a higher pedestal than the music you have shipped out. Not that what you put out wasn't quality but it wasn't what we expected. Althought I enjoy it, the pre-track spoken word has turned into a MMG gimmick in the eyes of some. MMG as a whole may be viewed as a gimmick where you were might have been better in the path you were in as an artist. Everyone has to get paid and I understand. MMG was the best thing that happened to your career but have you lost yourself as an artist. "We miss the old Wale," everyone says. Perhaps it'd be nonsense if so many people didn't say it. If it murmurs throughout the blogs and newsfeeds there is no way it couldn't be true. In a Power 106 interview you said "With this project it's kind of like, I'm in the passenger seat and my fans are driving."

I hope this much for the Album About Nothing. Not that Ambition and The Gifted weren't good but in the era of the genre they could go unnoticed compared to the work of your peers. "The goal of an artist is to create the definitive work that cannot be surpassed." George Bernard Shaw. You shouldn't be compared to your peers but compared to your own work you have not impressed to your full potentional. Perhaps that's opinionated but I know you have so much more, much more fire, passion, and hunger. You've grown as an artist but the work hasn't shown how far you can grow. You went a different direction. That's fine. "Being good is good, that'll get you Drew Gooden." J. Cole. Do you want Jordan numbers? You say you'll be around for a long time, when you're 45 will you do it like you 23?

The moral in all of this, no one wants to see you do bad. They want you to be great. They want to see your potential fulfilled. Me too. I hope the Album About Nothing IS the album you always wanted to make. It's the album we've all wanted to hear.  The trailer was promising, as was the single. Continue to impress. Be Great Wale, we know you can.

Sincerely,

A writer and more importantly a Fan

P.S. Your Album was better than Juicy J's. Don't kill Complex too bad for making that mistake, I promise they'll do it again.