Wale’s greatest weakness is that he doesn’t know which audience he wants.

Wayne was a special case, he was so hot both Internet and street-wise that whatever he turned in was bound to be a huge single. Can you imagine anyone else turning something as unorthodox and amorphous as “A Milli,” into a radio single, let alone the biggest one of the year. He had true mass appeal, that Wale might lack. But I think the jury is still out–even Talib Kweli and Dilated Peoples scored big radio hits at one point, y’know.

As for the possibility that EPMD-influenced stuff may chart again one day: few things are more fickle than rap radio, but we’ve been locked into a pop phase for a while. Radio thrives on audience participation, call-ins, etc. 13-year olds are the majority of people who call radio stations. 13-year olds like dance songs. It makes sense.

I never heard the similarity before. I’ve thought of him more as a very bland Kanye/Wayne hybrid. But that’s a good comparison.

“Right now, the sound of terrestrial radio is consumed by electro-tinged dance rap (a la Cudi, LMFAO), R&B lite rap (Drake, Ross, etc.) or your random fluke hit like “Ice Cream Paint Job.””

I guess that’s so, but just a year or so ago I Get Money was a hit, and this year “Who’s Real,” which sucks but is at least trying to be a classic NY anthem type of track, was a fairly big hit. ‘A Milli’ and ‘Mr. Carter’ were big hits and mostly on the strength of their rapping; neither was R&B or electro-tinged. Maybe Wale just isn’t an interesting enough rapper for a pop audience to listen to him unless he does a track with someone they are a fan of. I don’t really buy it when you say above that EPMD-influenced rap can never chart. Sure, stuff that attempts to sound like it’s still 1988-1996 will not chart, but I don’t think that you have to do a song with Lady Gaga, Rihanna or the like (or make something that sounds like Ice Cream Paint Job) to get radio play. Nor, you know, even if it were true that that’s the only stuff that will chart, is it this impossible task to make a good song with Lady Gaga or make something danceable. It’s just something Wale isn’t good at, and that’s his failing.

I think we can safely say if a newcomer aint rich he aint retiring as it is either rap or get a normal job.

I was super hyped on Cudi earlier this year. He killed it onstage w Kanye at SXSW–”Day n Night” was one of the most explosive moments of the entire festival.

Days later he “quit music.” WTF? Total buzzkill. Any artist so uncommitted to his craft deserves no commitment from his fans. Everything Cudi after that was a sleepwalk, or a death march to fulfill label obligations. Why should anyone care about a guy who takes no joy in what he’s doing? For the most part, his album reflects that joylessness.

Sky might fall FTW