"Tell the Post to Leave Propaganda to Politicians"

If you've been a close follower of this blog you've sat front row as a witness to my love/hate relationship with Wale. Ironically, his new track LoveHate Thing epitomizes the vitality and storytelling that initially landed him in my top five favorite artists. Over the past year I've been unapologetically critical of the impact that signing with Mayback Music has had on his music. In my eyes, as soon as he started rubbing shoulders with Rick Ross, his tracks went from standing out to mainstream at best. Simply put, Wale's talents and unique style became watered down and I became less interested in his music.

With his third album, The Gifted, ready for a late June release, I'm starting to get more excited about his music. What changed? Well for starters he teamed up with Sam Dew over a Marvin Gaye's classic Inner City Blues (below)...

To their credit, they took the essence of the original and put their spin on it with a heavy dose of soulful vocals and live instrumentation. THIS is the type of upbeat, lyrically dense music that I came to appreciate from Wale. Keep it up homie, between this one and Bad, you're two for two on singles...#TheGifted

Wale feat Sam Dew - LoveHate Thing