On his 2008 Mixtape About Nothing, this D.C. rapper had the guts to set
self-examining rhymes to Seinfeld samples. There’s nothing so admirably
weird on his debut. Wale instead fashions himself Kanye East, a mix of
aspiration and anger, given to jazzy moralizing à la the Roots yet not
above tapping Lady Gaga for the single “Chillin.” “Everybody’s on me like
the ‘A Milli’ beat,” he boasts while blasting phony stuff like implants and
reality shows on “TV in the Radio.” The darker moments like “Contemplate,”
where he explores insecurity against an elegiac Rihanna sample, prove he’s
best as a doubter, not a hater.