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I first saw Wale live three years ago. He was opening for T-Pain at a Houston nightclub. I saw a man who was hungry and raw. But that was all he had going for him. Wale lacked the fireball anthems big acts often use to electrify crowds. Applause was sparse back then. So excuse him for opening Ambition with "Don't Hold Your Applause."

After Wale's first album stumbled in the face of benthic sales, critics wrote him off.


His next move proved pivotal. He left Interscope and took his talents to South Beach where Rick Ross welcomed him with open arms and refashioned him as a slick-talking, beat-riding member of the illustrious Maybach Music Group. Using the same formula that spurred Self-Made Vol. 1 to success, he paired Wale's nimble rhymes with trunk-friendly beats. The move paid off: Ambition is on pace to surpass Attention Deficit's first-week sales...sevenfold. I can't imagine Wale having trouble rousing a crowd now. Not with rap's biggest boss throwing his million-dollar sound behind him.

Commercial success, like the type Wale now seemingly enjoys, usually comes with a compromise. Surprisingly, there's a lot less on Ambition than you might expect. His words still invite you to ponder. "Ain't seen his seed in 14 days, that n---a two week," he puns on "Illest B--ch." And nights spent toasting bubbly in Miami haven't expunged memories of D.C. days. "Bait" is the album's spunky pièce de résistance, a TCB-backed celebration of all things DMV.

"Don't Hold Your Applause" and the title track are also worth attending.

Where the album deviates markedly from previous outings is in the music. Sleek, R&B-inspired production fuels Wale's boastfest. The results range from sure shots to pure duds. DJ Toomp's "Legendary" excels. Deputy's "White Linen" tumbles. The glossy production suggests that Ross is in the driver's seat, but sometimes you wish he'd pump the brakes on the romantic motif. He was, however, kind enough to stack the fluff—the Lloyd-assisted "Sabotage" and the Ne-Yo-aided "White Linen"—side by side so you can conveniently skip them at once.

Though Ambition is the stuff of twinkle tones and cozy hooks about fly women and fine linen, it isn't entirely devoid of the reflective poems that came so freely on Wale's mixtapes. "Chain Music," for instance, is charming in its duplicitous coup as a middle finger and an apology. Here, Wale bemoans hip-hop's obsession with materialism, simultaneously justifying his own submission to the same. "They say karats help your vision but somehow it made them listen," he concedes on the Rick Ross-sampling "Chain Music." Along with such honest concessions are strident boasts that balance out Ambition's rough edges.

The natural thing to do here is compare Ambition with Attention Deficit. But these are two different albums that deserve to be judged for what they are. Attention Deficit is a man discovering his own voice; Ambition is a man confident in his new voice. Today's Wale is a willing member of the illustrious Maybach Music Group: big beats, slick rhymes, and the occasional blunt knife. Ambition isn't Wale's victory lap; it's a new race. Whatever becomes of his career, where he goes from here will always be traceable to this album. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is irrelevant. What's important is that he's advanced his career in a time when second chances are at a premium.

Conscious of the music industry's harsh complexities, fully aware of how one move can make or break a rapper's career, pepped up by Ross' music-first blueprint, Wale proves he's worth the second shot the MMG boss so willingly gave him. There's greatness in this Wale, even if Ambition only shows streaks of it.

In November 2011, with Ambition freshly on shelves, Wale came back to Houston. This time, he would headline a show at the bigger and pricier House of Blues. The concert sold out, and House of Blues was forced to turn back enough Wale fans to fill a Downtown nightclub. Inside, Wale had the crowd going monkey bananas with hit after hit from Ambition, Self-Made...1, and even Attention Deficit. Ovation was loud and frequent.
Best Tracks:

• "Bait"
• "Slight Work"
• "Chain Music"
• "Legendary"

Release Date: November 1, 2011
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