Attention: Deficit
Encyclopedia
Attention Deficit is the debut album
of American rapper Wale
, released November 10, 2009 on Allido Records
and Interscope Records
in the United States. Due to Wale's decision to tour
with Jay-Z
, N.E.R.D., and J. Cole, the album's original scheduled release for September 22, 2009 was pushed back to October 20, 2009, and finally to November 10, 2009. Upon its release, Attention Deficit received generally positive reviews from music critics, based on an aggregate score of 77/100 from Metacritic
. The album's first week sales were 28,000 copies As of November 2011, the album has sold 200,000 copies.
" which features singer Lady Gaga
. The second official single is "World Tour" which features Jazmine Sullivan
. The third official single is "Pretty Girls
" which features Gucci Mane
and Weensey of Backyard Band, a legendary go-go band from the Washington, D.C. area. Production is set to come from Mark Ronson
, Cool & Dre
, The Neptunes
, David Sitek, The Sleepwalkers, and Sean C & LV of The Hitmen among others, with collaborators including Bun B
, Chrisette Michelle, K'naan
and J.Cole
. Wale used his Twitter
page to announce that there will be 14 tracks on his album, later after this his album was leaked on the internet. For a time, he considered using his 2007 track, "The Meeting" as the intro track, but decided against it. Speaking in August 2009 to noted UK urban writer Pete Lewis - Deputy Editor of the award-winning Blues & Soul
- Wale explained his reasons behind the album's title: "I decided to title the album 'Attention Deficit' because I just think people are generally stingy in what they pay attention to over a long time-period. And, with my album running into a lot of emotions, lyrically it's all over the place. It's happy, sad, mad, glad, insecure, indecisive... You know, emotionally it's not censored, it's not hidden... So, when you put it all together, it's not a smooth ride. And, because in that way it's kinda everywhere, it reminds me of attention deficit disorder!"
, which assigns a normalized
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
score of 77, based on 21 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable". David Jeffries of Allmusic gave the album a favorable review. The A.V. Club
s Nathan Rabin gave the album a B+ rating.
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
of American rapper Wale
Wale (rapper)
Wale Victor Folarin , better known by his stage name Wale , is an American rapper from Washington, D.C. Wale was born to Nigerian parents. He rose to prominence in 2006, when his song "Dig Dug " became popular in his hometown. Wale became locally recognized and continued recording music for the...
, released November 10, 2009 on Allido Records
Allido Records
Allido Records is a record label and production company. The company was started by DJ and producer Mark Ronson, and Rich Kleiman, a television, internet and music businessman. The label got its name "Allido" from the Stevie Wonder song "All I Do". Rapper Saigon was the first artist signed to...
and Interscope Records
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:...
in the United States. Due to Wale's decision to tour
Jay-Z Fall Tour
Jay -Z Fall Tour 2009 was a concert tour by american rapper Jay-Z in support of his eleventh studio album The Blueprint 3. The routing took the rap mogul to 18 cities in the U.S. and 7 in Canada, kicking off October 9 in University Park, PA and ending in Austin, TX on November 22...
with Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
, N.E.R.D., and J. Cole, the album's original scheduled release for September 22, 2009 was pushed back to October 20, 2009, and finally to November 10, 2009. Upon its release, Attention Deficit received generally positive reviews from music critics, based on an aggregate score of 77/100 from Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. The album's first week sales were 28,000 copies As of November 2011, the album has sold 200,000 copies.
Background
The first official single is "ChillinChillin (Wale song)
"Chillin" is a song by American rapper Wale. The song features singer Lady Gaga and serves as the lead single from his debut album, Attention: Deficit. It was officially released on June 12, 2009. A remix of the song is present on Wale's Back to the Feature mixtape, under the name "Chillin ".The...
" which features singer Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
. The second official single is "World Tour" which features Jazmine Sullivan
Jazmine Sullivan
Jazmine Marie Sullivan is an American recording artist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is also the protégé of rapper Missy Elliott. Her debut single "Need U Bad" reached number one on Billboards Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, while her second single, "Bust Your Windows" peaked at number four...
. The third official single is "Pretty Girls
Pretty Girls (Wale song)
"Pretty Girls" is the third official single from Wale's debut album, Attention Deficit and is produced by The Best Kept Secret. It features Gucci Mane and Weensey from the legendary go-go band Backyard Band. It was released to iTunes and Rhapsody on October 6, 2009. The song samples Backyard Band's...
" which features Gucci Mane
Gucci Mane
Radric Davis , better known by his stage name Gucci Mane, is an American rapper. He debuted in 2005 with Trap House and followed with albums such as Hard to Kill in 2006, Trap-A-Thon and Back to the Trap House in 2007. In 2009, his second studio album The State vs. Radric Davis was released...
and Weensey of Backyard Band, a legendary go-go band from the Washington, D.C. area. Production is set to come from Mark Ronson
Mark Ronson
Mark Daniel Ronson is an English DJ, guitarist, music producer, artist and co-founder of Allido Records. He currently works with his band under the music alias of Mark Ronson & The Business Intl....
, Cool & Dre
Cool & Dre
Cool & Dre are a team of hip hop producers from Miami, Florida, consisting of Marcello "Cool" Valenzano and Andre "Dre" Christopher Lyon.-Epidemic Records:...
, The Neptunes
The Neptunes
The Neptunes are a record production duo consisting of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, who are credited with contributing the sound for many successful hip hop, R&B and pop artists in the late-1990s and 2000s...
, David Sitek, The Sleepwalkers, and Sean C & LV of The Hitmen among others, with collaborators including Bun B
Bun B
Bernard Freeman better known by his stage name Bun B, is an American rapper and was one half of the southern hip hop duo UGK . He is also a guest lecturer at Rice University located in Houston, Texas...
, Chrisette Michelle, K'naan
K'naan
K'naan , born Keinan Abdi Warsame in 1978, is a Somali Canadian poet, rapper, singer, songwriter and instrumentalist.-Biography:Born in Somalia, K'naan spent his childhood in Mogadishu and lived there during the Somali Civil War, which began in 1991. His aunt, Magool, was one of Somalia's most...
and J.Cole
J.Cole
Jermaine Lamarr Cole , better known by his stage name J. Cole, is an American rapper, singer and record producer. In 2009, he was the first artist signed to Jay-Z's label Roc Nation...
. Wale used his Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
page to announce that there will be 14 tracks on his album, later after this his album was leaked on the internet. For a time, he considered using his 2007 track, "The Meeting" as the intro track, but decided against it. Speaking in August 2009 to noted UK urban writer Pete Lewis - Deputy Editor of the award-winning Blues & Soul
Blues & Soul
Blues & Soul is a British music magazine covering black music. Genres covered include soul, R&B, jazz, hip hop, reggae and world music. It was first published in 1966 and is known for first using the term Northern Soul....
- Wale explained his reasons behind the album's title: "I decided to title the album 'Attention Deficit' because I just think people are generally stingy in what they pay attention to over a long time-period. And, with my album running into a lot of emotions, lyrically it's all over the place. It's happy, sad, mad, glad, insecure, indecisive... You know, emotionally it's not censored, it's not hidden... So, when you put it all together, it's not a smooth ride. And, because in that way it's kinda everywhere, it reminds me of attention deficit disorder!"
Critical reception
Attention Deficit received generally favorable reviews from music critics. At MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 77, based on 21 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable". David Jeffries of Allmusic gave the album a favorable review. The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
s Nathan Rabin gave the album a B+ rating.
Track listing
Samples credits- "Pretty Girls" contains a sample of Backyard Band's go-go rendition of "Girls" by The Moments & Whatnauts
- "Chillin" contains a sample of "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" by SteamSteam (band)Steam was a pop-rock music group best known for the 1969 number one hit song and perennial favorite "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye." The song was written and recorded by studio musicians Garrett DeCarlo, Dale Frashuer, and producer/writer Paul Leka at Mercury Records studios in New York City...
- "Mama Told Me" contains a sample of "Summer Madness" by Kool and the Gang
- "Contemplate" contains a sample of "Question Existing" from the album Good Girl Gone BadGood Girl Gone BadGood Girl Gone Bad is the third studio album by Barbadian R&B singer Rihanna, released May 30, 2007, on Def Jam Recordings. Recording sessions for the album took place during October 2006 to April 2007 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles. Rihanna worked with producers Christopher "Tricky"...
by RihannaRihannaRobyn Rihanna Fenty , better known as simply Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers... - "Diary" contains a sample of "La Valse D'Amelie" by Yann TiersenYann TiersenYann Tiersen is a musician from France. His musical career is split between studio albums, collaborations and film soundtracks with a distinctive sound that is always involved...
- "My Sweetie" contains a sample of "Let Me Love You" by Bunny Mack
- "Beautiful Bliss" contains a sample of "(Do It, Do It) No One Does It Better" by The Spinners and "Theme Music To A Drive By" By Lupe Fiasco
- "World Tour" contains a sample of "Award Tour" by A Tribe Called QuestA Tribe Called QuestA Tribe Called Quest is an American hip hop group, formed in 1985, and is composed of rapper/producer Q-Tip , rapper Phife Dawg , and DJ/producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A fourth member, rapper Jarobi White, left the group after their first album but rejoined in 2006...
- "Prescription" contains an interpolated sample of "Modaji" by Dave Grusin
Charts
| Chart (2009) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
21 |
| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999... (Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... ) |
3 |
| US Top Rap Albums Top Rap Albums Top Rap Albums is a record chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks Rap and hip-hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart began publication for the week of November 13, 2004.... (Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... ) |
2 |
| Chart (2010) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999... (Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... ) |
64 |
| US Top Rap Albums Top Rap Albums Top Rap Albums is a record chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks Rap and hip-hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart began publication for the week of November 13, 2004.... (Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... ) |
13 |