Wale may have go-go music on the mind these days, but his new Folarin mixtape offers more of the amped-up backpack rap that gave the Washington, D.C. star his name. “This is the second time I’m announcing it, but I’m doing a go-go album after my album,” he told Hot 97, via Billboard, of the follow-up to his forthcoming Ambition follow-up, I Ain’t Perfect. “It’s gonna be me probably rapping only 40 percent on the album.” But new song “Heaven in the Afternoon” finds Wale rapping about 90 percent of the time over a mix of sampled strings and loping drums. While the production is hardly thrilling, the MC’s delivery leaves little to be desired — passionate, clever and upbeat on some celebratory rags-to-riches humblebrag steez. You might not find a late game entry to SPIN’s 25 Best Rap Lines of 2012 list, but Wale’s already in (just barely) for his contribution to the MMG posse cut, “The Zenith.”
Wale Finds ‘Heaven in the Afternoon’ Inside His Backpack
