The production on the album was handled by multiple producers including Lex Luger, T-Minus, Tha Bizness, DJ Toomp and Diplo among others.

The album also features guest appearances from Rick Ross, Lloyd, Ne-Yo, Big Sean, Miguel, Meek Mill, Kid Cudi, and Jeremih.

Ambition was supported by five official singles: "Chain Music", "Bait", Lotus Flower Bomb", "Focused" and "Sabotage".

"[7]On August 22, 2011, in an interview with MTV, Wale revealed he and Kid Cudi reconciled and were working on a song for the album, tentatively titled "Focused".

[14] The album's first promotional single, "Bad Girls Club" featuring J. Cole was released on June 15, 2011.

[20] The album's third single, "Lotus Flower Bomb" featuring Miguel was released to digital retailers on October 11, 2011.

[22] The album's fourth single, "Focused", features vocals by Kid Cudi and was released to digital retailers on October 19, 2011.

[23] "Sabotage" featuring singer Lloyd was released to US urban radio as the album's fifth single on January 31, 2012.

[26] On March 13, 2012, the music video for "Ambition" featuring Meek Mill and Rick Ross was released.

[28] David Jeffries of AllMusic gave the album four out of five stars, saying "As far as why it all hangs together so well, credit goes to Wale’s talent and his strong personality, which here has grown into an interesting combination of Lil Wayne and Plies, with a little 50 Cent smirk and bit of Drake’s phrasing thrown in for good measure.

"[30] Adam Kivel of Consequence of Sound gave the album three and a half stars out of five, saying "Wale is a strong lyricist, one that conveys an inner vision far better than most in the game.

Combined with a good ear for beats, this makes Ambition a strong sophomore release, one that shouldn’t disappoint old fans while drawing in new ones.

"[31] Edwin Ortiz of HipHopDX gave the album four out of five stars, saying "With a tight-knit collection of features and palpable confidence exuded in his lyrics, Ambition is Wale’s most cohesive and likewise enthralling project thus far in his brisk career.

Wale doesn’t expect every fan to symbolize their appreciation with a SoundScan; just don’t hold your applause.

Wale’s conversion to Ross’ braggy rap-excess didn't seem like a great idea in theory, and stretched out to an hour his updated, devolved craft starts to wear thin very, very quickly.

Competently dull in the worst ways possible and even further removed from the things that made him special in the first place, Wale may have found a permanent home within the Maybach family, but his top-tier dreams (or ambitions if you must) seem to be long gone.

"[33] Simon Vozick-Levinson of Rolling Stone gave the album three out of five stars, saying "He's too quick to reach for sexist clichés; cheap shots at groupies and gold diggers undercut moments of real emotion.

Club gave the album a B, saying "In its efforts to woo women listeners, Ambition softens some of the harder edges from Maybach’s other releases, but Ross’ rotund shadow looms large over the record nonetheless.

"[39] David Amidon of PopMatters gave the album a five out of ten, saying "There’s also no risks taken here compared to his debut.

Instead, Ambition gives us pretty much the same song over and over again with just a few variations on the template, and feels like the hip-hop equivalent of listening to some pop rock band’s album who you’d never have guessed was being bet on by a major unless you were told.

The music’s efficient and there’s literally nothing to get annoyed or disgusted by (unless "Illest Bitch" weirds you out for his calling his sister in a bitch in a positive context) and so Ambition leaves listeners to answer the simple question of whether they want an exceptionally unchallenging album to listen to for an hour or not.

"[35] Adam Fleischer of XXL gave the album an XL, saying "The sonic mood of Ambition reflects its title and author and proves, on the whole, far warmer than his debut.

"[29] Jesal Padania of RapReviews gave the album a 6.5 out of 10, saying "To be honest, "You will enjoy it for a while, and in a year, I guarantee that you will not be listening to it, save for a few songs (such as "Legendary" and "Ambition").

"[40] Matthew Cole of Slant Magazine gave the album three out of five stars, saying "Where Jay-Z excels at bragging about his career and Drake makes whining about his fame seem insightful, when Wale starts sweating his legacy, he instantly stops being fun to listen to.

For an album so obsessed with the amount of willpower that was poured into it, Ambition doesn't even secure Wale the Most Improved Rapper award, let alone the Most Likely to Succeed.

[4] In its second week, the album dropped to number 15 on the chart, selling an additional 41,000 copies.