Hungry for a new release with the skin of a classic West Coast gangster-rap project laced with dark, modern production and even darker verses? You Should Be Listening To: Vince Staples freshman album, Summertime ’06.
Growing up in Long Beach, California, Vince Staples was exposed to gang culture from a young age, becoming a part of the notorious L.A. gang the Crips for a brief time before he began producing music with a few of his close friends. Through his friends, he was introduced to L.A. based rapper Earl Sweatshirt and began working closely on hip hop collective Odd Future’s projects. Since his intro to music, Vince Staples has been slowly working his way in to the L.A. rap scene. After multiple small features with Odd Future, Vince began to rap full time and put two mixtape releases under his belt from 2010 to 2012. Vince gained notoriety with his Mac Miller produced mixtape "Stolen Youth" in summer 2013 and a few months later with the release of his EP "Hell Can Wait" in October of 2014.
After four mixtapes and an EP, Vince released his debut album on June 30th 2015. Vince released his album "Summertime '06" to critical acclaim and a number two spot on the US rap chart. "Summertime '06" is twenty songs in length and clocks in at just under sixty minutes. The album’s production, executively produced by Def Jam’s legendary producer, No I.D., is unpredictable, heavy, and catchy. The album sets it’s tone of gang violence from the get go as the intro track “Ramona Park Legends Pt. 1” ends with a loud gunshot, transitioning directly into the first full-length song “Lift Me Up” featuring an eerie beat with lyrics as dark as the album cover. From this point, "Summertime '06" retains its dark theme of gangster violence but finds it’s true identity with Vince himself as the central character. Other artists on the album though featured, feel more a part of the beat than anything else, as Vince delivers clear biting verses about his own life and crimes, whether fiction or not is unclear.
Although the album features many memorable verses, many of the most memorable songs come from unpredictable, bass-heavy beats that keep you coming back for more. Songs with strong production and less lyrics like “Dopeman” and “Lemme Know” stand on their own alongside songs with very strong verses and hooks like “Jump Off The Roof” and “Street Punks”. Overall, the album takes on an old school gangster-rap tone of violence, sex, and drugs reminiscent of classic West Coast projects like N.W.A.’s freshman 1988 project "Straight Outta Compton" tied together with a much darker, modern production akin to Schoolboy Q’s sophomore album "Oxymoron." Although many songs clock in under 3 minutes, no song feels too short or out of place, rather the project feels nuanced and detailed, Vince seems to have ensured that no liberties were taken with "Summertime '06," from production to verses. Each song has its own identity and all twenty play out together extremely well, forming an album that deserves an hour of your day to listen in its entirety.
Below is the recently released music video for the track "Lift Me Up" from "Summertime '06"
