Olubowale Victor Akintimehin, now 24, cut his teeth as an 18-year-old by jumping onstage to kick rhymes with D.C.-area go-go bands. A self-released single, “Good Girls,” found its way to Mark Ronson, who signed Wale to his label, which led to a management deal with Jay-Z’s company Roc Nation. Now, finally, his first official album is finished—and Attention Deficit might be the most sonically adventurous major-label hip-hop debut ever. With production from Ronson, Cool & Dre, and even Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio, the upbeat album has tribal go-go drums, throwback horns, walls of sound from Sitek, and a live-band feel developed over countless club dates. And like a young Jay-Z or Kanye, Wale has a crystal-clear, jocular flow—They keep sayin’ “whale” but my name Wah-lay / Hos call me Mr. Never-Wear-the-Same-Thang—that puts him leaps ahead of his freshman competitors.
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