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.