Reviewing albums can be a very clinical process. You have a list of elements you check for to determine their level of merit as you listen. Then you draw your conclusion as you add them all together. Following this analytical path to a decision on an album’s worth would definitely yield Wale’s Attention Deficit a great review. The production is artistic and effectual. His selection of topics is wide without being schizophrenic. He manages to self analyze without meandering into emo territory and chastise without sounding preachy.
However, there is that last phantom-like consideration that really can’t be boxed in and checked off. It’s a certain feel you get from an artist’s music. It’s the uncanny ability some have to put pen to pad and shift your consciousness into their realm even if you have never experienced the story they are telling you. It’s why at some point we stop listening to their words and start seeing the picture they paint with them. And it is the largest single problem with this album (Lady Gaga not withstanding) because Wale just doesn’t have “it.”
The album starts fittingly enough with “Triumph.” The track is aggressive with its blazing horns, organ loops and congas. Wale accepts the title of the new hotness claiming he wants the vets’ heads more than he wants the dollars. It’s a statement of arrival; a grand entrance and a vain look at what he thinks he has to offer.
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