The first question to ask is obvious: What is “Nothing”? I had to go open my dictionary for this one because for a moment there I really thought I didn’t know the meaning of this word anymore. It simply states nothing as “not anything, naught, no part, share or trace”. Simple enough right?

Well not exactly. After listening to The Album About Nothing both my dictionary and I had severely been proven wrong about our understanding of the term. This album is a colossal mix-pot of emotions and a detailed manuscript about a single individual’s point of view around the fundamentals of his own life, heritage, culture and ever so conflicted environment.

The journey through The Album About Nothing is one that should not be taken by the faint-hearted. Wale manages to uncover and openly discuss issues that are evidently close to his heart and I’m pretty sure we can both agree that a journey through anyone’s emotions can be very daunting, superbly revealing and somewhat a mind-fuck. To avoid blabbering any further though I will run down the songs in this album sparingly, I wish I could do it song after song, bar by bar but then I would have to write a whole book and we both don’t want be stuck in that lane so I’ll save us both the trouble. The only way I can fully express both my interpretation of Wale’s musical prowess and my views on the subject is to give you my own version of what is The Album About Nothing, I like to call it The Album About Everything.

Track 1: The Intro About Nothing
I’m not surprised one bit at the lack of creativity that was in play when naming this joint. However the song itself is creatively potent. The song begins with a short conversation between Wale and his good friend Jerry Seinfeld.

[Wale]: Time to clock in baby
[Jerry Seinfeld]: Yeah [Wale]: You ready?
[Jerry Seinfeld]: Yes, I was ready last time
[Wale]: We gon’ call this “The Intro About Nothing”, its gon’ go like this:
[Wale]: Time to clock in baby

This is a pivotal point in the whole album, I’ll have to take yal back to his 3rd studio album, Gifted, to make this clear. Wale gave us a short interlude halfway through that album that introduces Jerry Seinfeld walking into a studio session for the recording of The Album About Nothing and is turned away because Wale is currently in session for the Gifted album. When I 1st heard this particular interlude I thought “oh ok – something irrelevant about nothing – ok, surely this is absolutely nothing”. I never once thought that it would be an epilogue to the story that is “my” Album About Everything. Wale deserves no less than 10 points for the sheer consistency between the two compilations. It takes a certain level of artistry and vision to put a move like that into motion and furthermore we will continue to see how his vision back then when Gifted was recorded (2013) was aligned with what he would do with The Album About Nothing 2 years later.

Bars for thought:
“I make these niggas’ opinion on younger lyricists consistently weak
Put my cardio in the audio and you missin’ the beat
I’m out, standing in every avenue, I’m good in the streets
Outstanding, shitting on niggas, but you sit when you pee
Hold up”

If that rap doesn’t say “I’m good and I know it - you bitches can’t tell me Nothing” then I don’t know music.

Track 4: The Pessimist ft. J.Cole
The central theme around this album, besides it being about Nothing …lol, is focused on Jerry Seinfeld, in particular his short interludes found all over the place in the record. Jerry comes across to me as Wale’s subconscious; he brings up issues that get one thinking far and beyond the boundaries other musical compilations normally allow. This song begins with another short conversation between Jerry Seinfeld and an unidentified party over dinner:

[Jerry Seinfeld]: Oh so there’s still hope?
[Unidentified]: I don’t want hope, hope is killing me. My dream is to become hopeless. When you’re hopeless you don’t care and when you don’t care, that indifference, it makes you attractive.

That last remark in itself is enough food for thought for one day I’ll say. But this song is one of the most conscious and thought provoking on the compilation. This is a very soothing rendition that conveys a loud message to the African American people in a very simple manner. Wale just wants to know why they feel so hopeless. In actual fact this is a message to every person of darker shade no matter which continent you reside on. Both Wale and I would just like to know, why do you go through your days without a purpose? Why do you feel so hopeless? I would have loved to hear J.Cole go in a bit more on this track but the hook he so sweetly delivered will have to suffice. The hook is just as subtle as the rest of the song but it packs a lot of kick, especially around the question of why niggas are outchea feeling so hopeless.

Bars for thought:
“Overdraft at the bank again, but it make no difference to me
Goddamn I’m hopeless, Lord knows I’m hopeless, still I pray”

Track 7: The Girls On Drugs
This has to be my ‘play after a long day’ jam on the album. From the first time I heard it, It had me in a loop. It’s that kind of song that you quickly incline yourself to. That type of unexplainable tune that just runs in your head over and over involuntarily and has your head bopping throughout the whole track. I don’t even have to decipher Wale’s lyrics in this song; it’s just a feel good song. However since this is a concentrated review, I’ll tell you about how good Wale was feeling when he dropped this jam. I take this song to be his personal dedication to all the females out there who love to get their quick fix. Whether it be drugs, hard liquor, a wild-night out, crazy-sex with a stranger, you name it. “Let me tell you bout the women I’ve been chilling with” – this is Wale’s one liner throughout the song and I’m sure being a #1 album recording artist has seen him have all sorts of women around his company and all we need to know here is that he kinda worries about these females. The lyrics explicitly describe the type of females the Weeknd is probably chilling with at this very moment, junkie women that lack a sense of direction and grounding. Groupies and Thots if I should be kind with my choice of words. I could write till kingdom come about this type of female but I’ll just leave it up to you if you’re a female to decide if you’re this type of woman or nah?

Bars for thought:
“The really insecure ones look good in here
Nothing fill the void of a little pill
A little shot, she aint shy when the shit spill
And it’s hard to feel alive when you’re feeling dead inside”

Track 13: The Matrimony ft. Usher
[Jerry Seinfeld]: Getting engaged is like the first hill on the roller coaster and you hear those clickers. That loud sound, it’s really violent, metal, chunk and chunk and chunk |*roller coaster rising up hill in the background*|, like what’s going on here you know. This thing really goes high |*chuckles*|. And then you go over the top, the wedding is at the top, you go over the top, which is the wedding and then you’re just screaming |*more chuckling*|.
[Wale]: And even if you make plans you never think you’re really ready for marriage?
[Jerry Seinfeld]: No, it’s like any growth. You can’t be ready for it because its growth, it’s going to be new. You’re going to have a new life; you’re going to be a new person

After a multitude of listens on The Album About Nothing, both for research and for pleasure, this has come to be my absolute favourite song. The element that grasps me the most about this song is how it is not exactly hard rap, but actually spoken word. Wale focuses more on the message his attempting to put across than the actual melody and vibe in the music but the amazing thing is by doing this he actually sets a lovely, soft tempo feel to the track that makes the message come out louder. Absolutely beautiful. I also have to credit Usher for the beautiful chorus (not sure if we still call it that in this day and age) he so effortlessly drops on this track. It sort of reminds me of a younger him that gave us let it burn and confessions. This is the realest shit Wale ever wrote. I can totally see him performing this song at so many weddings this year. And I know you’re probably thinking “how can you put a rapper, real and a wedding” in one sentence and get away with it but one has to admit; Wale has managed to cultivate a sound like none other. He has been instrumental in the construction of his own lane and he runs that lane so well. The delivery behind the message is impeccable. The message emanates from a place of brutal honesty. That place we all lock up in our heart of hearts and rarely ever open. He manages to create a universal message about pure love and without a doubt; anyone who has ever been in love can empathise with this message of love, planning and essentially matrimony.

[Jerry Seinfeld]: I always feel like I’m a planet and these other women are kinda moving through this solar system with me: and marriage is like you’ve decided, jump off your planet across to another planet and you can only do it when one planet passes real close and you look and you’re like “hey, I think I can jump across”.

That analogy deserves an award; this album deserves a whole bunch of awards.This is the last we here of the figure I have dimmed as Wale’s subconscious and as well the end of the album. From clearly discussing issues on black culture and prejudice to matters of the heart, with a touch of unchallenged brilliance at the art of simplicity within both the delivery and the music, Wale is well on his way to a place only he can conceive. Both his rise and his downfall only face one determining factor and that is himself. He has set himself apart from the rest and has given us a record here that will surely be timeless.
I mean it’s taken me 1857 words to get this to fruition and I feel we didn’t even start to get into the depths of the music so there really is something here; this is nothing more than The Album About Everything.

Don’t do yourself an injustice and not listen to this album!!!

Peace, Love & Good Music | KamzThxPxpe