{"id":51,"date":"2021-11-03T05:28:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-03T05:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.6zeros.net\/thezerohour\/?p=51"},"modified":"2022-05-27T18:20:09","modified_gmt":"2022-05-28T02:20:09","slug":"wale-folarin-ii-album-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.6zeros.net\/thezerohour\/wale-folarin-ii-album-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Wale Folarin II Album Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The first thing that one has to ask themselves when approaching Wale Folarin II<\/a> is: \u201ccan I overlook his antics?\u201d Once you eliminate Wale\u2019s questionable online persona, you reveal an artist who has maintained relevance for over a decade. While some still take issue with his signing to Rick Ross\u2019 MMG, there is no denying that it exposed him to a larger fanbase with minimal compromise. On his seventh full release, Wale offers up a smorgasbord of genre-bending tracks which could be the album\u2019s greatest strength or its downfall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wale Folarin II Tracks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The album starts off with \u201cNew Balances\u201d, a track whose soulful vocal sample, dreamy keys and trap-like drum pattern combine to form the \u201cgloomy day anthem\u201c of 2021. On this first outing, Wale keeps his bars simple and generic which causes his vocals to fade into the beat as if it\u2019s simply another instrument. He follows \u201cNew Balances\u201d with \u201cName Ring Bell\u201d which starts off strong with its confident chorus and sophisticated drum-laden beat but again falls short with random generic bars that don\u2019t call for the listener\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But one of Wale\u2019s biggest strengths has been his ability to incorporate R&B into his music which is put on full display with \u201cCaramel\u201d, produced by Lee Major and Ill Maestro. On \u201cCaramel\u201d, Wale speaks of a love interest and how he struggles with juggling his superficiality with the pricelessness of real love. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lack of kick drum for roughly 8 bars in each verse works very well for this song and put Wale\u2019s love tale on the center stage. Not straying too far from this formula is the next track, \u201cFluctuate\u201d. Distorted vocal sample in the background? Check. Pensive conversation on people\u2019s superficial nature? Check. While similarly themed, the track works well and the background sample set the vibe without overshadowing Wale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The album takes a huge detour with \u201cDown South\u201d which is gritty, fun, and features notes from the Texas classic \u201cStill Tippin\u201d. Wale does a masterful job of riding the beat while providing listeners insight into a \u201cculture of perpetrating\u201d we see in modern-day rap. Yella Beezy and Maxo Kream also give compelling performances that highlight why WWE decided to use the song for NXT 2.0. With that said, the huge change of pace highlights Wale\u2019s largest Achilles\u2019 Heel with Folarin II, attempting to please too many crowds at one time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJump In\u201d featuring Lil Chris of S.O.B. is one of the most egregious examples of trying to cater to everyone on a single album. It\u2019s your typical \u201cdepartment store commercial\u201d background song which doesn\u2019t fit the album and is even more jarring as it leads into \u201cDown South\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPoke It Out\u201d starts off promising but quickly turns into a cheap attempt at a club banger at the expense of Vivrant Thing\u201d. J. Cole has some nice bars but even he couldn\u2019t turn this microwave style track into a full course meal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion, Wale has the potential to make incredible projects, as witnessed by all with his release of The Perfect Storm from 2020. Unfortunately, his desire to please everyone has resulted in an unfocused project with few standout tracks and some absolute duds. Wale needs to re-examine what has made him successful and stick to and evolve that specific formula. Experimentation is great but it may be best to leave some of the riskier tracks to side projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standout Tracks: Tiffany Nikes, Caramel, Fluctuate, Down South, Light Years
Skips: Poke It Out, Jump In<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We give Wale Folarin II 3 out of 6 ZEROS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Discuss this review and more on the forum<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first thing that one has to ask themselves when approaching Wale Folarin II album is: \u201ccan I overlook his antics?\u201d Once you eliminate Wale\u2019s questionable online persona, you reveal an artist who has maintained relevance for over a decade to much success. \n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":52,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39,13],"tags":[],"table_tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.6zeros.net\/thezerohour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.6zeros.net\/thezerohour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.6zeros.net\/thezerohour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.6zeros.net\/thezerohour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.6zeros.net\/thezerohour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.6zeros.net\/thezerohour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":370,"href":"https:\/\/www.6zeros.net\/thezerohour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions\/370"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.6zeros.net\/thezerohour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.6zeros.net\/thezerohour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.6zeros.net\/thezerohour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.6zeros.net\/thezerohour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51"},{"taxonomy":"table_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.6zeros.net\/thezerohour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/table_tags?post=51"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}