By Odeisel

When you begin a track with a somber message from a cold busted Tiger Woods, there are so many ways that a song can go and most of them are undoubtedly comical, particularly when the second sample is one of a spaded Tiger prostrating himself in front of the media.  Wale however, has a different approach and frames his new track, “The Eyes of the Tiger” as something far more valuable.

In his first verse he goes through what Tiger could feasibly be thinking as he approaches one of his side pieces. Wale broaches the sense of entitlement that most entertainers have and goes through a faulty line of reasoning that is probably spot on wit Tiger attempting to stop the woman from leaking their affair to the press. He notes the recent loss of his father, and his love for his wife and family while still whimsically appealing to the side piece’s faithfulness.

He then goes into the events as we all saw them with Elin going wild and going after him with the bat (allegedly *cough*) and his life crumbling apart at the seams. Wale then goes deeper with a Seinfeldian sample referring to the actual need or desire to apologize to people other than his wife. The internal defiance that athletes possess plus their will to victory often pummels the need for contrition, but Woods faced something he couldn’t back down with a golf club.

Wale them chronicles the fall from grace and how the golden child became tarnished. As he watches his life falls apart he looks around and sees those who once supported him abandoning him, denying his name like St. Peter in the garden. Looking at similar stars like Bill Clinton and Ben Roethlisberger who got themselves in similar incidents but weren’t cast out of heaven; pondering if that has to do with the color of his skin. You can tell he did the track as this was going on because he still had the settlement at 750 milli. Elin still managed the best rookie contract (6 years 100 million) but not as titanic as the initial number was thought to be.

The Tiger Woods saga unfolded on such a grand scale and rolled downhill like a snowball, gathering size and steam, becoming a full scale avalanche that the many subtexts were never totally explored. Wale managed to capture the story on a really intimate and multilayered narrative that is probably very similar to the character’s internal monologue. Well done.

Wale-The Eyes Of The Tiger Wale- The Eyes Of The Tiger

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