The sophomore effort by Washington rapper Wale, is cookie-cutter commercial hip-hop: not extraordinary, not terrible and probably forgotten by February. But that’s a relative success after Attention: Deficit—arguably the most uncomfortable and hype-evaporating hip-hop debut of the past decade—managed to alienate both hip-hop heads and hip-pop dalliers alike. Now a pet in Rick Ross’s Maybach Music stable, snare-snapping bangers like “Chain Music” and “Slight Work” help revive a career left for dead because and despite the fact they share the same easy beat as every other made-for-radio rap song. But an album that sounds somehow both redemptive and unmemorable still sounds unmemorable, and Ambition ultimately fizzles.
This article appears in Jan 5-11, 2012.