Hell Can Wait

The hip-hop industry is largely powered by bluster and bravado, which is why the matter-of-factness of *Hell Can Wait* is so compelling. Often, rappers as intelligent as Vince Staples treat their audience with a high level of sanctimony and condescension. Staples has a ferocious intellect, but he shows absolutely no interest in preaching. *Hell Can Wait* is about how he loves gangsta culture and hates it; how he loves hip-hop and loathes it; and how he\'s proud of his roots but disgusted. He speaks the truth—not only the sensationalistic details but the unbearable contradictions.

Hell Can Wait is a debut for rapper Vince Staples, but it’s really a refinement, the end result of a years long search for the right producer. His jump to Def Jam is a case study in the enduring merit of good old-fashioned artist development.

“School couldn’t get me into heaven/And heaven couldn’t get me in a bitch bed,” raps Long Beach rapper Vince Staples on…