Album Review: Wale – Ambition
‘Ambition’ is Wale’s second studio album after ‘Attention Deficit’ which was released in 2009. Wale Victor Folarin is currently signed to rap record label MMG (Maybach Music Group) and Ambition is the first album released under them. Wale gained recognition after being a regular feature on album ‘Self Made Vol. 1’ with Maybach Music.
‘Lotus Flower Bomb’ featuring R&B artist Miguel is the lead single from the album ‘Ambition’ and it’s a very chilled and relaxing song with some very catchy lyrics. This song was definitely released to reach a wider audience. Other songs from the album which grabbed my attention were ‘Ambition’ featuring Meek Mill and Rick Ross, as well as ‘Sabotage’ featuring Lloyd. These songs are very different to one another and show the different range of music produced on this album. In an interview with Flavorwire Wale said he incorporates elements of ‘go-go’ in his music, which is known as a rawer, percussion-driven offshoot of disco.
He seems to relate many of his songs to girls and past relationships, but in other tracks he shows his raw rap ability with many seductive and aggressive lyrics. You can see the contrast between sounds which in my view makes this album a must-buy.
Ambition has received generally favourable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic which gives a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album gained an average score of 69. Wales’s second studio album debuted at number two on the US Billboard chart with 164,000 copies sold in the first week. As of March 2012, the album had sold 398,000 copies.