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.
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.
