Wale: Folarin II

Wale is easily one of Hip-Hop’s most underrated artists of today. The DC native has been consistently dropping music over the last ten years since his debut Lady Gaga-assisted single, Chillin’. His unique ability of storytelling and incorporating elements of Go Go music into his music has been evident in catalogue from mixtapes to studio albums. This October, he returns with his seventh studio album, Folarin II.

Fans of the Folarin series will remember the first iteration back in 2012 during the mixtape/blog era of music. The mixtape brought forth Bad featuring Tiara Thomas, his highest charting single as a lead artist. One of my favorite things about this project is the samples used throughout to bring back the ‘90s and early 2000s feel of music. These can be seen in his trio of singles he released ahead of the project including the Chris Brown-assisted Angles, Down South & Poke It Out featuring J. Cole which fans will notice Q Tip’s Vibrant Thing instrumentation. Other features include Rick Ross, Maxo Kream, Shawn Stock of Boyz II Men & Jamie Foxx. Fans of Go Go music will love the track, Jump In featuring Lil’ Chris of the band T.O.B.

It goes to say: give Wale his flowers. Through his entire music catalogue, Wale has been one of the most consistent artists in terms of his wordplay and his poetic style to make some of our favorite hits in his music career. Load this up in your playlist this fall as you will find Folarin II on all music streaming services.


New Balances

Last time you saw me

I was dancing through the September

Grounded by the earth

I caught wind and set fire

Watch the shit spread with these embers

October became my very own

And owning it was apart of self care

Been going so hard for so long

The competition just say it ain’t fair

Stop playing these carnival games with me

I’m not selling tickets to no fair

If you thinking that I’m playing with you all

Check the catalogue, just know it ain’t fair

New checks, new balances

Not talking about shoes 

when I’m just catching my footing

When you begin to relax I’m getting a booking

You drop some news,

I drop a book when no one’s even looking

The grind don’t stop

I just take vacations

Craft comes with time

It takes patience

Do it with finesse

Ever so gracious

Those will try to copy

But they could never paste this


Dearly Beloved

I’m about to spin

Witness the union of paper and pen

Bliss and matrimony every time

The two of them start to begin

Never seen better happiness

The words and wordplay with the rapidness

Hard to put it down when I experience sadness

That’s the beauty behind the madness

7 days this here not only for the weekend

Dearly beloved

I had to think about how to start this off

Before I rescind 

Stuck in rough drafts

But lately feeling the compassion to resend

I just don’t want to let me be broken like that again



Reggie Johnson is a poet reigning from Cincinnati, Ohio. Starting at the age of nine, Reggie has been writing poetry through their love of music and life experiences. He has 9 books now available on Amazon. You can follow him on Twitter @r_d_johnson and on IG @rdjohnsonwrites

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