Vince Staples thread

This guy is having an incredible year. Shyne Coldchain Vol. 2 is my favorite mixtape of the year so far, and his debut EP for Def Jam, Hell Can Wait, is tentatively scheduled for a Sept. 23 release.

First single goes for the 1988 jugular:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJLfCBBcZAo

And "Hands Up," the follow-up track that leaked today, is really powerful (Def Jam pulled this morning's stream, but an official one should be coming soon):

http://www.djbooth.net/index/tracks/review/vince-staples-hands-up

Also I love the story telling on this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZIdVsHpCvw&index=7&list=PLhak8UpIKsqU6yJaSdaSZwclm5aLYliQM

I listened to "Blue Suede" like five times in a row one day last week.

yea i like this guy. he came across p smart in that p4k interview piece last week

"Hands Up" is streaming on Spotify; what a track:

http://open.spotify.com/track/1Ajp50IXWne7XVlH1zAktL

"Hands Up" is so fucking righteous

I've liked this guy for a while, but he really leveled up with Shyne Coldchain Vol. 2. He's always been a gifted storyteller about his upbringing and background, but on Shyne he broadened his perspective.

His earlier OF verses are fun though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWOLOrlqFD0

I liked some of his OF verses but always wrote him off as a lesser copy of Earl, a Jesse Eisenberg of sorts to Earl's Michael Cera. Shyne Coldchain Vol. 2, to overextend the analogy, felt like his Social Network moment

does that mean Tyler is Jonah Hill and "Wolf" is his "The Sitter"?

oh thank god, thought i was gonna have to start a Vince Staples thread up in here.

Most interesting rapper, with the greatest potential, since I've heard since Danny Brown hit.

I wish I liked the new singles more than I do - the Shyne Coldchain tapes overshadow them.

loooove that shyne coldchain 2 tape

Hell Can Wait is good but it feels like a half-measure. Feel like it could have been a great album; instead it's a "digital EP."

Love the singles, though. Along with most of Shyne Coldchain 2 this is some of my fav rap of the year

This guy is doing message songs better than just about anybody right now.

aaaand... http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/19849-vince-staples-hell-can-wait-ep/

is this EP srsly better than Shyne Coldchain? cause that would be something.

Very different vibe than Shyne Coldchain; much more militant and inflamed; a little less ruminative. It's awesome but in a different way.

I still think it's three songs short of being a complete artistic statement tho. The brevity works, but I want more.

Senorita video is pretty great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OAYMMod9Wo&feature=youtu.be

good song but sampling Future on the hook of a single in 2015 is a weird worst of both worlds move

initial impression: album is a masterpiece

did it leak???

(i plan fully on buying this one but am v excited for this)

how d'you hear it ?

i like this itw :
http://www.thefader.com/2015/06/09/vince-staples-interview-summertime-06

I've got a review copy. Kind of threw me at first, since it's not as singles minded as Hell Can Wait, but damn, he's got some jaw-droppers here, one after another for long stretches. It's absolutely incredible.

oh mannnnnn

Can't wait for this album

I don't know as much as I'd like to about the NBA, but I watched all of this just to hear Vince talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkgJxxSH2Yg

is there stuff that goes even deeper than Hands Up?

nothing is quite as hard as Hands Up, but there are songs that come close and he sustains that intensity for tracks at a time. Impressive that he pulls of a double album, given how brevity-minded his other projects have been

he was good on the nightly show. clever guy.

new one, "get paid" http://vevo.ly/7Nscms

i dig how haunted this sounds

legitimately havent had as much anticipation for an album in a long-ass time

Senorita is dope. what's the concern about sampling Future?

http://www.npr.org/2015/06/21/414701194/first-listen-vince-staples-summertime-06

:D

can't stay up late to listen to the whole thing but went through the first three tracks and wow, norf norf is incredible in particular

Yeah, this album is really something.

this is awesome

someone be sure to bump this thread when Vince makes a misstep ... ain't happened yet

About halfway through the album, pretty great so far. Señorita sounds even better in context.

This is my fav AOTY so far

absolutely

the sound is practically skeletal and almost entirely minor key and that works perfectly the whole time w/o ever growing monotonous

you mean I have to stop listening to Miguel

yes alfred, just for an hour.

wildheart is def also gunning for the #1 spot tbf

it's been an incredible year

Wow. Miguel and Vince Staples arrive in one day. But yeah, this is great - almost too deep to take in. I like it that he's defined his musical aesthetic so clearly that this isn't a double album grab bag of stuff. It's just one dope track after another where I'm mesmerized by his voice. A little like when I first heard Nas.

so this is a good album

"norf norf" is so fucking great

i'll have to stop listening to this to hear Miguel, not the other way around #priorities

if this season of true detective was in compton, "dopeman" would be a perfect theme song, so quietly menacing. it's sort of an interstitial more than a full fledged song but I love it

this is soooooooooo good

It is but too long imo

I haven't even listened to the second disc yet

This could be forever, baby
This could be forever, baby
This could be forever, baby
This could be forever, maybe
Do you like the sunshine, do you like the snow?
Do you wanna talk about it, or be alone?
I think that you should know that, this could be forever, baby

dragged my sick self out of the house to buy a copy of this & it was sold out, which makes me happy tbh. good for vince.

this album is pretty special huh

I love it now.

this album is pretty special huh

― lex pretend, Tuesday, June 30, 2015 9:38 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yep

also really amazing sounding - the enormous bass!

was just gonna talk about the bass. I think this album was made just strictly for my taste

also really amazing sounding - the enormous bass!

the "birds & bees" beat sounds like mezzanine-era massive attack

Woah that is spot on

that and all the featuring birds being of the topley variety

ha -- I was going to say Angels with Dirty Faces

i felt like there was a lot of tricky about vince himself, haven't worked out whether it was just the above sonic associations making me think so

too early in the romance to say but this probably an AOTY contender for me.

Tim!

Alfred?

performing on Jimmy Kimmel tonight

ha -- no, just surprised.

xpost

idk I have pretty corny taste in rap and if you plotted a through line of my favourite rap albums of the last ten years or so it would lead straight to this.

really loving this, love all the call and response female vox in this

also FUCK YOU VINCE for this little deep thought in "Surf"

More black kids killed from a pill than the FEDs in the projects
In the planned parenthood playin' God with ya mom's check, you ain't even been to prom yet
Sixteen, heard you wanna be a star girl
What he charge for the dream that you bought girl

http://farm1.staticflickr.com/201/480130703_be1d567d73.jpg

The angle of "Can you believe this 22-year-old doesn't know about NWA or Public Enemy!?!?" in this article was pretty annoying:
http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/stapless-center-getting-to-the-heart-of-things-with-the-summertime-06-rapper/

the 50 Cent was third grade thing was more o_O the terror of time & all its sickening crime for me, yikes

i want to believe that vince is more talking about the literal fact that underage pregnancies happen rather than passing judgment on how they're dealt with but at the same time the heavy christian influence among a lot of rappers does lead to some version of prolife opinions in several instances (theres an infamous ghostface lyric to this effect on pretty toney, iirc, for example)

(xxpost)

damn this is kind of astonishing on contact

idk, kinda finding the whole mise en scene a bit prissy and ultimately detrimental for a rap alb tbh (tim trying to head this off at the pass i assume)

i mean if it was like john talabot ft fka twigs & yelawolf i'd probably bust two gunshots but

not remotely in the mood for this atmos right now in fairness tho, maybe when my heart is full of murder like idk ilx eoy time it'll click a treat

idk i've found myself steadily entranced by this record, always starting it like "i mean this is good but idk if i'm into this into this" and by the halfway point i'm like "oh hell yeah"

1-2 of "jump off the roof" and "señorita" helps

"Senorita" is like the worst song on the album imo, the random 2 Future bars looped as a hook sound awkward as hell

is this coming out on vinyl or am i gonnna have to find a Best Buy and buy the CD

yeah "Senorita" is my least favorite thing.

idk it's fun y'all

i mean if it was like john talabot ft fka twigs & yelawolf i'd probably bust two gunshots but

― r|t|c, Thursday, July 2, 2015 1:14 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

hahaha

i want to believe that vince is more talking about the literal fact that underage pregnancies happen rather than passing judgment on how they're dealt with but at the same time the heavy christian influence among a lot of rappers does lead to some version of prolife opinions in several instances (theres an infamous ghostface lyric to this effect on pretty toney, iirc, for example)

(xxpost)

― slothroprhymes, Thursday, July 2, 2015 10:13 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah that pro-life stance isn't uncommon in hip hop but it bothers the shit out of me

i think your interpretation is um...well let me just caution don't throw your back out doing those gymnastics

overall though this album is great! there's probably at least 1 completely deplorable line on every rap album i've ever loved, or a lot more, i don't mean to characterize vince as particularly bad, i dig his general vibe

that said I'm not sure if I like it more than Warm Brew & I would encourage anyone outside the goon thread to bump that album at least once

Vince is a pissy guy who says incendiary things, so that makes his pro-life lines a little easier to reconcile, since they fit his M.O. of lashing out at everybody. Not excusing them, of course, but it's less jarring to me than when somebody like Common drops judgey lines like that into their songs as if they're intended as gospel

i mean i dunno that's basically just deciding a reason to give him a pass and not commmon

but wrt to common it's not necessarily jarring to me or unexpected because i feel like anti-feminism and pro-life stuff has always been a part of conscious rap because of 5 percenter stuff which is one of the cores of conscious rap wrt like Lord "trill o'reilly" Jamar

Haven't heard this yet, so no judgement (and never expect worthwhile social commentary from anybody in any medium, the more pleasantly to be surprised), but not into anti-contraception as "pro-life," nor "conscious" incl. anti-feminism, tho as former music retailer know how bullshit most tags are as anything more than convenience.

Vince is a pissy guy who says incendiary things, so that makes his pro-life lines a little easier to reconcile, since they fit his M.O. of lashing out at everybody. Not excusing them, of course, but it's less jarring to me than when somebody like Common drops judgey lines like that into their songs as if they're intended as gospel

― Evan R, Thursday, July 2, 2015 3:41 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah god forbid a substantial, provocative and wide ranging album contain a line or two that doesn't perfectly align with our worldviews, let's definitely lose our shit about it

I said I like the album, it's a great album how is that losing my shit

Unless that was meant as a board description

Also Dow he's talking about the morning after pill not birth control, but actually being anti contraception is worse actually

i think your interpretation is um...well let me just caution don't throw your back out doing those gymnastics

as far as mental gymnastics go idk my back didn't hurt that much, I speculated he could literally just be saying "this shit happens" and not meaning "this shit happens and /is horrible across the board/," because this is an album with nuance in spades! if he does literally mean he opposes what he's talking about, I obviously feel the opposite and it bothers me. the possibility certainly bothers me

but would also surprise me, is all, bc vince doesn't seem in all his interviews and in the perspective he puts across through his music, to be a conservative dude who wants to slutshame or rope women into motherhood

I think that verse needs to be seen in the context of the entire song, which I take as being about the reality behind the fantasy (first verse dealing with the glamour of being in gangs). "Sixteen, heard you wanna be a star girl / What he charge for the dream that you bought, girl?" and then later "I ain't really trying to judge / you be looking for somebody you can love / He was looking for somebody he could fuck / Took your body, wouldn't bother with you none."

i.e. taking the morning after pill at planned parenthood alone is the reality of the addressee's fantasies of fame/fortune/love.

You could say it's still slut-shaming (in a "don't let yourself get used" sense) but it doesn't strike me as pro-life really.

idk, kinda finding the whole mise en scene a bit prissy and ultimately detrimental for a rap alb tbh (tim trying to head this off at the pass i assume)

i mean if it was like john talabot ft fka twigs & yelawolf i'd probably bust two gunshots but

― r|t|c, Thursday, July 2, 2015 5:14 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

more like trying to greet it at the door like an old friend (and lol @ john talabot ft fka twigs & yelawolf)

After a couple listens this is probably my AOTY so far.

Putting aside the religious overtones, a lot of black people are very suspicious of planned parenthood which is entirely understandable given American history, and the wealth of misinformation available on the net.

While the suppression of the black population via family planning holds no water as a coordinated conspiracy, it manifests as a social reality when a hugely disproportionate number of aborted foetuses have always been black even when controlling for income. You don't have to be pro-life to believe that this is a problem.

Always thought the great thing about Common's Retrospective for Life was that it was reconcilable with a pro-choice stance.

I haven't given this a long concentrated listen yet which it kind of demands

i suspect ill end up liking it but i do find his voice non-dynamic in short bursts, and i wish his rapping showed more of the personality that he shows in interviews.

I suspect that I'm liable to treat this more like a 3/4 star album & come around more fully as he evolves as an artist. i don't want to sound down on it, it's "obviously" good, but i think in part i'm also just allergic to consensus

lol maybe just listen to it until you can say something that isn't speculating on the arc of your own future opinions then

that said, i do agree that he's a hilariously funny guy who rarely puts that into his lyrics and it maybe wouldn't hurt if he tried it here and there. there's wit on the album but it's a very dry wit, he makes you work for it, for better or worse.

Al, give David a break. I've listened to this album twice and I know exactly what he means (and feel the same). It's an album to live with.

lmao

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJPypOZWUAAuLvG.png

getting an early Shabazz Palaces vibe from some of the beats on this

yeah that 50 cent line freaked me out!!!

this is still holding up well

Cali has been killing it the past couple years IMO when you think about it

boy this album gets better w/each play

http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/2015/media/202210/_original/1436372645/1035x1555-GettyImages-479419748.jpg

Listened to this all the way through on my commute. Would have listened again if I hadn't arrived at stupid work.

Feel like there's less digging to do with this album than To Pimp a Butterfly. All of its appeal is right in your face. Not that Kendrick's album isn't easy to get into, but it feels more like you're supposed to meditate on what it all means while you're listening to it. Whatever it is I'm trying to say, they're two of the best things I've heard this year.

Yeah I get that totally. The Kendrick album is great but I feel like I'm still 'reading' it after having heard it months ago. It's like the Moby Dick of rap albums or something: very enjoyable, but lots to analyse and unravel, which can get exhausting at times. Sometimes I wonder if I respect it intellectually more than I actually enjoy listening to it on a visceral level. I find myself dipping in and out but rarely have the patience to listen all the way through in one sitting.

But this album's so easy to get through, even as a double album it really flies by. It's so much fun and yeah the beats (and BASS) just don't allow for dull or overcomplicated moments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Kgz1WGiXDc

great rapper but i now worry his music is keeping us from what could be one of the best comedians of our time

(srsly the roll he hits at around 1:10 is unreal)

lol

"tom cruise is underrated"
"why"
"cause the mission is impossible. and he pulled it off. three times."

so thankful Vince Staples doesn't try to be funny-funny on his albums

Just got the album today so have nothing useful to say about it (it's good, duh), but the Rolling Stone interview is pretty sharp. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/vince-staples-q-a-the-most-exciting-man-in-rap-drops-knowledge-20150708?page=3

Been listening to this all weekend. It's seriously good.

Been trying to figure out if Jump Off the Roof samples 'I Will' from Hail To The Thief or if they just sound a bit similar.

well this is where the main sample is from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_yA02FY7KU

ah right cool.

god, the production on this album is just what i want to hear. i could listen to 'Lemme Know' all day.

I agree, though my favorite beat is the last track that gets cut off with static after like a minute. Frustrating!

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/12/arts/music/vince-staples-and-j-cole-outsiders-in-the-middle-of-hip-hop.html

Mr. Cole, who produces as well as raps, feels like more of a deliberate conscientious objector than Mr. Lamar, who doesn’t have much of an ear for the accessible.

what?

I agree, though my favorite beat is the last track that gets cut off with static after like a minute. Frustrating!

― Immediate Follower (NA), Monday, July 13, 2015 4:27 PM (26 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Argh OTMx100. Just as it's about to go full-on too. Maybe that's going to be the start of his next record. Hope so.

weird. that sentence sure is presuming a lot (after reading it a couple times, that j. cole could write hits but chooses not to, but kendrick can't do anything except what he shows on his records).

there's a lot of "what" in that piece

perhaps chief among the "what" is that the fucking lede is a discussion of the j. cole jacking off song, lol

btw i've never knowingly heard j. cole, but when i hear about him i think of j-zone and j-live.

I don't know wtf a "deliberate conscientious objector" is. Is there an undeliberate one?

Ha, spot on

An unconscientious objector

Accidental Objector (J. Cole ft. John Mayer)

Jzone and Jlive >>> Jcole

^^^^^^

What kind of sound did you tell him you were looking for?
Honestly, I didn't really tell him. I showed him pictures. I'd say like, "You know how Downtown L.A. looks?" I was like, "Make it sound like 5th and Hill, but up at the top of the hill."

just realized i've been conflating No I.D. and Oh No :(

i'm having rap music alzheimer's or something

in the hood like a dollar sweet tea is a good line

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9H8TLM_5q8

This just popped up on the Spotify Fresh Finds playlist for the week, pretty damn good!

http://www.factmag.com/2015/08/13/vince-staples-fake-hip-hop-heads/
i like dude and don't even disagree with him but he's getting damn close to trenchant social commentary

a mistake you'll never make

what a weird ad hominem sideswipe

thx, i heard this in the wild the other day and was wondering where it came from.

not ad hominem so much as an easy zing to make since saying someone is making 'trenchant social commentary' like it's a bad thing is such an ilx-specific inside joke

i coulda just as easily have said "corny" tbh

is there better bass on an actual good record this year? if so i wanna hear it

arguably ds2 but that's about it

Great performance. Even this album's second-tier tracks are gold

http://www.illroots.com/read/vince-staples-lemme-know-ft-jhen-aiko-live-on-jimmy-fallon

been jamming that track lately myself, cool

"Lemme Know" might be my favorite thing on the album tbh

still listening to this album all the time. it's just so...listenable.

second-tier though? to me 'Lemme Know' is the obvious single.

What is the lyric you're most proud of?

My manager's favourite is: "A penny saved is a penny earned / So I'll be stacking up this copper as the city burn." Lot of people don't know there history of the crashes of copper, silver and gold. I got grades in history. My precious metal game is immaculate.

https://i-d.vice.com/en_gb/article/vince-staples-thinks-miley-owes-kendrick-an-apology

You've also said if you're credited, you're not a ghost writer.

People don't know what the word "ghost" means - they've never seen Casper. I don't like children's movies that make you sad. My nephew made me see 'Up!' They got this old man who is about to die and his wife is dead. I don't want to get old now. You're just by yourself with a dog and the dog talks? I don't want to talk to the dog.

lol wut

I fuckin love this dude

YOU A STREET PUNK

YOU A MOTHERFUCKIN STREET PUNK

That interview was pretty damn funny

"summertime" is outstanding

whole album is great

this album is absolutely superlative

Vince just messes w/ ppl at every opportunity and it's the greatest thing ever

New EP not v good

"summertime" is outstanding

whole album is great

― marcos, Tuesday, September 22, 2015 12:03 PM (eleven months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

tbh despite this post i think the first time i played this record was the best it sounded for me, haven't really gone back to it much

the EP is spotty for sure. he goes into a more nasal register in that last track which is not a good look.

i like vince quite a bit but would tend towards listening to jay rock if i were in the mood for this type of stuff

Yeah I absolutely hate this EP

I don't know when 2016 decided to have James Blake ruin all my favorite artists but fuck that

these mopey acapella "blues" song interludes are p fucking annoying

i like it, but it's not particularly substantial, certainly not by comparison to the album

appreciate how thoroughly bleak it goes tho. (also.....where is james blake on this? like i know where he literally is - he produced "war ready" - but it's not like the song sounds like a fuckin james blake song lol)

best thing ever:

https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/extremely-concerned-white-woman-recites-vince-stapless-norf-norf-through-tears

until this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dhsl2Jvk9PI

I like this EP a lot, "Smile" excepted.

^^ how is that possible, Vince makes no missteps

so weird that she thinks vince staples is played on radio

that was my reaction! where is Norf Norf playing on "top hits" radio?

http://www.billboard.com/amp/articles/columns/hip-hop/7534052/vince-staples-on-upset-christian-mother-she-has-right-to-her-opinion

I love this response

man i feel old hearing her say "the top hits in my day were britney spears, christina, n-sync" like it's fucking buddy holly

fairly sure this is going to turn out to be a viral hoax -- the odds of a pop radio station playing meghan trainor and vince staples, given what gets radio airplay where, are not all that high, no one seems to be able to locate the original source (it was uploaded 1 month ago to a youtube account that seems to mostly repost other people's stuff), and the thing doesn't really pass a sniff test.

could be wrong, obviously

def jam marketing imo

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/07/arts/music/vince-staples-norf-norf-mother-video.html

our local sports talk morning zoo crew was making fun of this this morning

man i feel old hearing her say "the top hits in my day were britney spears, christina, n-sync" like it's fucking buddy holly

― Pull your head on out your hippy haze (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, October 6, 2016 1:49 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

man i feel old -- because i think kids in the hall when i hear "fucking buddy holly"

i feel old because i actually fucked buddy holly

Oh Boy!

*crickets*

I'm buddy holly's dad, so

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09miuOlLAiY

anyway, this is pretty great considering it sounds like he's really freestyling for a good bit of it

Vince's EPs always feel like letdowns.

It seems like a form where he and his producers are experimenting and trying new things, and inevitably nothing emerges from that where I'm like "you know what, I can't stop listening to this."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CcgspNqxuQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bmpvvlL40s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l9kzS_B7gg

Boring. I don't understand the love for this dude.

I like that one. hated his last ep tho.

"BagBak" is immense

Love this. Easily one of my favorite lyricists in hip hop atm.

My one issue with Staples is that his music can sometimes sound an like an obvious copy & paste job, inserting lyrics into a song written before he had ever heard the beat. To be fair, he's admitted that this is his process, and he'll occasionally sit on verses for years before he can find the right beat. Definitely contributes to his lyrical density. But his songs never have the fluidity of someone like Kanye or Young Thug. Plus they always feel like they're one verse too short.

That said I'm psyched for this album.

im not a big fan of his music but i feel bad shitting on it cuz he seems like a good dude

thats not a very critic-y pov but whatever

best everyday struggle so far

ilx where are you

Terrific interview: http://pitchfork.com/features/interview/vince-staples-is-the-least-corny-man-in-america/

new album is fucking great

and 36 minutes!

goddamn this is great

Sounding real good for sure.

Is it too soon for an album to look a decade ago for sounds? Some of the beats and samples suggest Hot Chip and Burial.

this shit is pretty fun imo

Really good album ender too -- knows how to wrap things up just right.

Man, good for Zack Sekoff.

like his rapping but the beats on this and on the last EP are reaaaaallly not to my taste. for "the least corny man in america" the production is very corny.

I like the beats a lot, don't get what's corny about them at all tbh

not my cup of tea

i actually dont mind the production so much because its at least original (relative to rap) but i think his rapping is just ok

"Party People"! Whole album's good but that one bangs.

I love that it feels like such a summer album, kind of simmering and hazy.

this isn't really taking, still quite impressive but the previous album had higher highs I think

his opinions about art are some elitist trash fyi

the rest of the interview is good tho

I know it's lazy/convenient to lump Vince and Kendrick together, and I love them both, but I'm finding myself favoring Vince in the same way I'm a Grant Hart partisan in Husker Du. I recognize Kendrick is more important, but I like listening to Vince more. (That said, nothing on this album touches "DNA" or "ELEMENT.")

I'd put him below Jay Rock, Ab Soul and Schoolboy Q

even like Warm Brew tbh

his opinions about art are some elitist trash fyi

― imago, Sunday, June 25, 2017 7:50 AM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lmao cmon dogg

I know he's fighting against other elitisms but that paragraph about preferring the idea of an elevated refuge for art is a turn-off I have to say

i actually dont mind the production so much because its at least original (relative to rap) but i think his rapping is just ok

only two listens into this so I don't have a judgement yet, but I'm kinda shocked by how little focus he puts on rapping here. He sort of disappears into a lot of these songs. On that run from Shyne Coldchain II -> Hell Can Wait -> Summertime '06 I think he was on par with just about anybody else out there, but I don't hear any of that fire here.

I'd put him below Ab Soul

ok this is heretical

I'd put him below Jay Rock, Ab Soul and Schoolboy Q

To each his own. Part of what I like about Vince is his triphop/dubstep shading, which imo sets him apart from the Black Hippy pack. But that's not necessarily a plus for everyone.

I do think Jay Rock has been unfairly slept on

I also love Vince's delivery, but I get how it could be too staccato for some tastes. I like his crispness -- even when he's mumbly, he's precise.

He's sharper than Jay Rock, more entertaining than Ab Soul and not miserable like Schoolboy Q

He sort of disappears into a lot of these songs.

I agree with this, like it's cool that the tracks are unpredictable and have a lot happening, but they could use more rapping.

m@tt you gotta take ab soul off that list its true.

7/10 UK house album, looking forward to the 'Little Fish Theory' remix album.

okay ab soul might have been trolling but I'm 100% on Jay Rock and Schoolboy Q that's real talk

Jay Rock 90059 is such a great album, for whatever reason his thing is too normal street to have a media "narrative" but he's a fucking great rapper, I don't think him and Schoolboy Q are really far off Kendrick, they just all have their own things

I think Isaiah Rashad suffers from the same problem to an extent

this does make me appreciate the azealia banks album more in retrospect

agree w. matt, btw, and isaiah rashad is better than vince too imo

Yeah parts of this remind me of Azealia but that isn't a bad thing imo. Her actual music is not the problem with AB.

I agree with this, like it's cool that the tracks are unpredictable and have a lot happening, but they could use more rapping.

― change display name (Jordan),

otm. A pleasure to listen to, though, especially at night when I don't have to concentrate on the rapping

this does make me appreciate the azealia banks album more in retrospect

― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Wednesday, June 28, 2017 11:06 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol true.

hate everything about this record

yeh im not a fan. might hate it more than the ep.

I'm kinda shocked by how little focus he puts on rapping here. He sort of disappears into a lot of these songs.

It's not exactly that he lacks presence, it's just the wrong kind of presence for these beats. Also SOPHIE can gtf.

i liked many songs off summertime, i like a few here, but man he needs how to write a fuckin song

*needs to learn how

The grey-scale minimalism worked perfectly for him on Summertime, but no need to do it again I guess. I'd love to hear Ka produce a whole record for him though.

I love Ka but I can't imagine Vince on those near-ambient type beats

yeah if anything his best tracks are the loud busy ones, "Hands Up" "Blue Suede" "Norf Norf"

Norf Norf and Blue Suede are really minimal too though (but in a normal drums + 808 + synth line way)

The "I ain't run from nuthin' but The police" and those Joy Division synths are what I remember about "Norf Norf."

http://pigeonsandplanes.com/in-depth/2017/06/vince-staples-big-fish-theory-producer-interview

When you're a producer and someone asks you for beats, you think, "Okay, let me think about their last record.” So I sent some beats that reminded me of Summertime '06 that were kind of "Vince Staples type beats" (laughs). But then I realized that wasn’t what he was looking for from me. He really didn't want me to project any sort of idea about what he might want.

So, then I started going over and hanging out with him at Ty's house and played beats for him—going to the weirdest ones that I thought he wouldn’t like. And he kept saying, "Yeah, go in that direction." One of those was the beat that became "Crabs In a Bucket," which was kind of my take on UK garage with swing drums. Around September of last year, I realized that was the sound he was listening to. He was listening to Detroit music and house music and just electronic music of all kinds.

Yeah that's the thing, this is obviously the album he wanted to make. It's not like it's Vince Staples rapping plus some other music, it's all Vince Staples music.

production sounds hella metallic on my headphones, kinda harsh

i like Vince but my friend said he sounded like Siri and that made me lol

I really like the back third, like from Homage on.

Vince on Hot 97 w/Ebro

Probably the best interview with a rapper I've seen in forever, starts with Rosenberg trying to goad him into shitting on Tyga, then Vince completely in a very real and human way cuts through all that shit, calling him out without causing a beef, and then really gets into his life and the industry and analyzing the media in a very brilliant way. highly recommended

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMS9J26kctI

Vince seems to usually be the smartest guy in any room he's in. for that reason alone i'ma trust his re-direction on Big Fish Theory

i enjoy this album for the most part, but i wish vince would attack the beat a little bit more, instead of the weirdly passive approach he takes on this album. he seems much less confident than usual, maybe because of the unfamiliar musical surroundings.

when kendrick pops up for his verse on yeah right, it's such a burst of energy and a major contrast to vince's approach throughout the album

Finally circling back to this to see if my initial "oh my god" reaction was a fluke

It wasn't; I am not sure what everyone who hates/dislikes this is reacting against.

I think I get it (the ratio of rapping:not-rapping is unusual for what is ostensibly a rap record, especially a relatively short one; the beats are unorthodox in a possibly "dated" way; etc.) but I also think those are p dumb and unimaginative criticisms

I think I also hear what people are saying about him not being in MC "attack mode" or whatever but again I'm not sure it's really a problem against these beats (apologies if I am strawmanning anyone's complaints)

It's funny that people think the beats are dated because, (I'm guessing?) the whole 2-step rhythms/Disclosure thing was like 2013? But I think texturally they're really forward-thinking in like a Flume/PC Music/FlyLo kind of way? Like trying to anticipate where beats are headed in the same way that, like, Charli XCX's recent stuff is. Remove a little of the rhythm and the Sophie stuff is not too far from what, like, Chino Amobi or Oneohtrix Point Never or w/e is doing

There's really only one part that sounds 2-steppy. And knowing that Seckoff is an L.A. beat scene kid who went to London and got interested in UK club music, the sound makes a lot of sense.

i liked many songs off summertime, i like a few here, but man he needs how to write a fuckin song

― nice cage (m bison), Wednesday, June 28, 2017 3:58 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

*needs to learn how

― nice cage (m bison), Wednesday, June 28, 2017 3:58 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this has stuck in my head, I don't think its true, & even if it may be it doesn't really matter

the beats sound super-modern to me.

watched vince's first weekend coachella set and it was great

as a bonus, he gave us this interview
http://www.vulture.com/2018/04/vince-staples-calls-out-r-kelly-during-coachella-interview.html

new album out tonight apparently

prediction: worse than the last one

nah i have high hopes, kenny beats production is a good sign

I like the album cover

last one felt like a misstep rather than a falling off, at least i hope i'm right.

I like the last one a lot.

didn't hate it but none of it was as indelible as most of Summertime '06

apparently this new one is more of a stopgap / EP type deal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM!

no static at alllll

"Fun!" features additional vocals by E-40

fuck yeah

they already collabed on a (kinda irritating, tbh) song earlier this year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iWJT9iUZKA

I don't really know Kenny Beats but I love that VS is sticking with a single producer (or very few) per record, I trust his aesthetic sense.

xp yeah the new one was a bit staid, 40 on a staples song a much more exciting prospect to me atm

im interested in hearing what Kenny has cooked up for Vince, he's a versatile guy who can work in many modes. He's all over the Rico Nasty album, he's done things for TDE, he's capable of doing dirty south things for guys like Key! and YoungBoy. Hard to pin down.

the same guy who made this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D4happ4TQU

made this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWQFpLuOzkY

and this (gonna stop spamming a single artist thread with unrelated embeds now): https://youtu.be/VvsYa9hcFH0

listening now, very good so far. a lot more dynamic, less imposing than big fish theory

beats are great

as far as sub 25 minute 2018 rap albums go: Vince >>> Pusha

New album????

it's just ok, imo

same but i need to give it another listen

seemed a little dispiriting in a way
i was excited because i generally love kenny beats

"dispiriting" has been my general feeling re his last few releases. I don't detect a lot of enjoyment.

ever since he started spouting landlord shit about art his music went bad tbh

landlord shit?

I like this album a lot

Gave this a cursory listen. Beats sound like trap by numbers and he sounds like he's rapping while looking at his phone. But I didn't hate it, will give it more of a chance.

Kenny Beats seems like a very nice guy who mostly makes very boring beats. (Except for The Cave episode w/ Freddie Gibbs but that's down to the Lil Sko sample.)

Really want him to do another album with out there production (for modern rap standards) like on BFT. Really wasn't impressed with the new album besides maybe the first track

This album (Ramona Park Broke My Heart) is really great huh

I like it though I put on Summertime 06 the other day and I forgot how much energy he used to bring. His recent stuff is good but so much more muted.

otm

Everything he's done since Summertime 06 has been a disappointment, of different kids. The tinge of anger that made him fascinating is mostly gone, and his beats are far less interesting.

i like the new album a lot, and respect how he's changed as an artist, but that hell can wait-summertime 06-prima donna era had something special, which he's lost.

xp idk i think the beats on the new one are very well done, if unflashy, especially the dj dahi joints - "dj quik" and "papercuts"

The most interesting things he’s done since Summertime ‘06 are press interviews.

I give every one of these albums (or EPs, or “projects”) a shake. And every time I just can’t and don’t know why I hang in there.

Actually, the 2016 Prima Donna ep is the most concentrated thing he's ever released, and the Andre 3000 appearance is his best in god knows how many years.

why is everyone pretending that big fish theory was bad

I like Big Fish Theory — it’s my son’s favorite Vince Staples album, it has a following. The new one sounded good when he put it on in the car the other day, I haven’t yet given it a full listen. I agree overall that Summertime 06 is his best, I put that on the other week and even the tracks I’d forgotten were good.

the new one is fine and is a fair improvement from the last two which were very slight, but it's not really anything to get excited about like he once was capable of

feels like the tone of each progressive release just gets mellower

new show on netflix & he drew inspiration from roy andersson -

We take a lot of inspiration in Roy Andersson, one of my favorite filmmakers. In his film “A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence,” he has this shot in this restaurant or a cafeteria, where a lot of the people are separated by the pillars and just entering and exiting a frame. Things that are happening in the distance and things that are happening closer to camera, everything matters in the shot, especially when you stay within a wide. So I think operating within a wide sometimes allows you to bring subtle details and nuances to the shot, and the disposition of the people within the bank can speak to their relationships, speak to their experience.

Thanks for reminding me - I want to check this out.

(Sadly the most excited I’ve been about Staples in a good long while)

Binged the show this weekend. The easy read is Atlanta-lite. What am I missing? Been into him since Shyne Coldchain but this just didn’t land. I hope there’s another season.

Dark Times is the first Staples LP since Summertime 06 that is clicking with me all the way through. It’s all working perfectly here

Agreed! Summertime 06 and S/T are his high points and this is definitely in league with those.

prefer this to anything he's done since big fish. he's a great writer, and this is the first time since summertime '06 that his songs are so meticulously crafted. also the first album to take full advantage of his calmer delivery, it never gets sleepy and he never sounds bored, which is an issue i had with ramona park and the self-titled

Looking forward to getting into this. The producers didn't ring a bell, anyone familiar?

Some of his best beats in ages ("Étouffée"0.

I feel like a lot of elements have to be just right for a Staples release to work - he’s got to be in the right zone of writing and spitting, the production has to be on point, etc. A lot of stuff he’s done over the past 11 years has an element or two wrong and it just wrecks the whole thing for me

His flow on “Justin” gives me major A Tribe Called Quest feels

Never knew I needed a NOLA bounce homage from Vince Staples. This is sounding great so far.

re: producers, etouffee is mike hector, who produced god for kendrick, among others, and jay versace, the former internet comedian turned producer who did “smoking on my ex pack” for sza, and whosantoine, who i haven’t heard of but i am sure is great

looking at the rest of the credits, the only other producers i know are the great cardo (got wings), who is behind “radio” (one of my highlights), and michael uzowuru, who has worked with sza and frank ocean, and has several credits on here

Thanks!

cardo's mixtapes with payroll giovanni are so good

The beginning of “Freeman” has haunted me since I first heard it

watching him live on t.v. at the austin city limits fest right now and he's so good. just him and beats on a big stage. like a minimal jazz master solo concert.