Your Favorite White Boy

In my absence, I missed a few releases worth speaking on. So, while some of these joints may have been out for a minute, I haven’t had a chance to offer my considered opinion. One such example is the mixtape release from D.C. mic controller Wale and prolific producer 9th Wonder, Back To The Feature, which was released in late June.

I have to say I was fairly skeptical going in.  I’ve never felt that Wale’s music matched the amount of props he seems to be getting in the industry and on the Intertubes.  If anything, I felt Wale was average – nothing beyond that.  At the same time, I never felt his collabos with Buckshot, as an example.  So I wasn’t exactly clamoring for this tape.

But I have to say, I enjoyed Back To The Feature.    In the tail end of  a great joint, “Tito Santana”, Wale explains to listeners that the underlying theme of the tape is that “n–gas be rapping”; with Feature, Wale and 9th are bringing it back to good old fashioned collaborative hip-hop.  And you don’t know how much you miss it until a tape lie this comes along.

As it should be, 9th really sets the tone for the tape behind the boards.  I really dig the jazzy, Pete Rock-type joints that Wonder has in spades.  This sound is best showcased in cuts like “Wordplay”, “LIfe’s A Bitch” and the fly-ass “Sharp”:

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Interestingly, one of the most grubby rap joints “Pot of Gold” comes courtesy of UK beatsmith Mark Ronson.  You’d think dude was born and raised in BK the way the beat knocks:

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So its safe to say that I have a new respect for Wale as an MC – he’s not the flashiest dude on the mic, but that’s kinda the point; there’s no real gimmicks or hype, its just rapping.  And isn’t that why we  love hip-hop in the firsrt place: lyrics, beats and flow?

So, count me now as one of the dudes waiting on Wale to drop his full album, Attention: Deficit sometime in the near future.  As Wale himself lets us in on, a lot of the same producers will be joining him on the tracks.  So, it sounds like we get more of the same.  And in this case: waiter,  I’ll have the feature again, please.