The first thing that one has to ask themselves when approaching a Wale album is: “can I overlook his antics?” Once you eliminate Wale’s questionable online persona, you reveal an artist who has maintained relevance for over a decade to much success. While some still take issue with his signing to Rick Ross’ 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’s greatest strength or its downfall.
The album starts off with “New Balances”, a track whose soulful vocal sample, dreamy keys and trap-like drum pattern combine to form the “gloomy day anthem“ 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’s simply another instrument. He follows “New Balances” with “Name Ring Bell” which starts off strong with its confident chorus and sophisticated drum-laden beat but again falls short with random generic bars that don’t call for the listener’s attention.
But one of Wale’s biggest strengths has been his ability to incorporate R&B into his music which is put on full display with “Caramel”, produced by Lee Major and Ill Maestro. On “Caramel”, Wale speaks of a love interest and how he struggles with juggling his superficiality with the pricelessness of real love. The lack of kick drum for roughly 8 bars in each verse works very well for this song and put Wale’s love tale on the center stage. Not straying too far from this formula is the next track, “Fluctuate”. Distorted vocal sample in the background? Check. Pensive conversation on people’s superficial nature? Check. While similarly themed, the track works well and the background sample set the vibe without overshadowing Wale.
The album takes a huge detour with “Down South” which is gritty, fun, and features notes from the Texas classic “Still Tippin”. Wale does a masterful job of riding the beat while providing listeners insight into a “culture of perpetrating” 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’s largest Achilles’ Heel with Folarin II, attempting to please too many crowds at one time.
“Jump In” 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’s your typical “department store commercial” background song which doesn’t fit the album and is even more jarring as it leads into “Down South”.
“Poke It Out” starts off promising but quickly turns into a cheap attempt at a club banger at the expense of Vivrant Thing”. J. Cole has some nice bars but even he couldn’t turn this microwave style track into a full course meal.
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.
Standout Tracks: Tiffany Nikes, Caramel, Fluctuate, Down South, Light Years
Skips: Poke It Out, Jump In
The Waveform Rates Folarin II 3 out of 6 ZEROS.
Music - Album Review - Folarin II
By: T Zero The first thing that one has to ask themselves when approaching a Wale album is: “can I overlook his antics?” Once you eliminate Wale’s questionable online persona, you reveal an artist who has maintained relevance for over a decade to much success. While some still take...
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