Summertime '06
Even as a 20-track double album, this is one of the most cohesive and engaging hip-hop debuts you’ll hear. Against dank, ambitious production overseen by storied beat-smith No I.D., the Long Beach rapper documents a life spent learning the power of fear in a gang quarter with vivid wordplay and uncompromising imagery. “Jump Off the Roof”’s paranoid gospel and the woozy soul thump of “C.N.B.” embody a thrilling opus that values darkness and anxiety over radio-baiting hooks.
Vince Staples' first full-length for Def Jam is brilliant. The Long Beach rapper expresses complex ideas in plain, hard sentences, ones that can be handed to you like a pamphlet. His rapping is conversational, but these are the conversations you have when all optimism has been burned away.
Few rappers sound less impressed by their own talent than Vince Staples. The 21-year-old Long Beach native raps with switchblade precision, in a contemptuous sneer that casts judgment on every word out of his mouth. He’s a born natural orator, yet he never plays up his best lyrics, or builds in pauses to allow…
It could be said that a rose grew out of the California concrete in the summer of 2006, and rose again in June 2015 through the album, 'Summ...
It's hard to believe Vince Staples is only 22. His interviews sound like they're coming from a tired, middle-aged man who's seen it all.
Brooding and menacing, Vince Staples’ debut takes an unflinching tour around his Long Beach, LA neighbourhood
Vince Staples - Summertime '06 review: A world gripped in perpetual misery and suffering.