Hi, everyone. Anthony F-word here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new Vince Staples album, Dark Times. This is a brand new LP from Long Beach rapper and songwriter, Mr. Vince Staples. In fact, it's his sixth and I think it's one of his strongest yet, based mostly on just a very simple but sturdy set of good song structures, some hooks that really pop off, focused central themes, creative production choices, solid rapping, with lyrics that lend a lot of food for thought, introspective bars.

It's a record that lives up to its title as well, Dark Times, especially with this intro track that has this cinematic music bed, a chilling spoken word line as well that segues pretty quickly right into the first full track on the record, "Black&Blue", which features some nice soul chops, a big boom-bap beat, a sleepy and depressive vocal delivery, though that's not too much of a surprise because Vince is known for subtlety and low-key vibes. I mean, that's what made Ramona Park as well as his self-titled before that so significant. And while I do feel like sonically, Vince is being outshined by the beat a little bit on this one, the commentary that he's making on melancholy as well as the systematic poverty impacting the black community is sharp. It feels like we're hearing the underground West Coast internet rap version of something like Marvin Gaye's What's Going On.

Overall, the track is a pretty good start, but I think there is a stronger showing on "Government Cheese" coming next, which features and entrancing beat and piano arpeggio, as well as these whaling West Coast, eerie G-funk synth leads that when they come together, it feels like something from the Odd Future catalog, but very early, like Bastard era. The dark and hopeless lyrical framing of the previous track continues on to this one, though. The hook creates a juxtaposition, reminding the listener or anybody going through something similar to smile and keep their head up, which in one breath could be taken as a note of encouragement, but simultaneously, the obvious tragedy to a lot of what Vince is saying on this track is that losing something like your inner child is pretty much an inevitability. I think the "Liars" interlude later into the record reinforces a lot of these same feelings as its dialog is very much about staying functional and presenting as happy for those around you, even if on the inside, you're suffering and really not doing well.

The creative streak on this record continues on to "Children's Song", which is a piece of loose and lo-fi detuned psych rap with dubby delays and fried guitar chops. This track is definitely a part of Vince's tradition of picking some really interesting and creative beats that I think most rappers wouldn't even touch. The song also opens up with a hilarious reference, "Pressing five till the pen, free my Aphex Twin". And the whole song is a really cute cut about how serene and chill Vince likes to maintain his life - don't call him after eight o'clock, he has an early bedtime.

The first relative low point on the record, I think, comes in the form of "Shame On The Devil", which again, tries to reinforce the moody vibes of the rest of the record, but songwriting-wise, I just feel like this track is meh personified, even if we do get a couple of memorable bars out of it, one of which is referenced in the final track on the record in a pretty smart way, which I should note: there's a general interconnectedness to the album that I really appreciate, even during some of the tracks I'm a little underwhelmed by, because even those moments on the record don't feel super out of place or anything like that. The entire thing is very cohesively a heady exploration of depression and this process of overcoming this feeling of desperation.

The highlights on the LP continue with "Etouffée", which, again, is another low-key cut on the record, but still, it's very groovy, it's catchy, it's danceable. There's a similar itch being scratched on a song, "Little Homies", later on the LP, and it hits just as hard, too. The former also features some funny metacommentary with Vince talking about being perceived as falling off ever since the release of his album, Big Fish Theory. Deeper into the LP, we also have "Justin", which is this big, funny narrative, Biz Markie-style romance-type story, which for a moment is endearing with Vince falling for this girl that he's rapping about. But then suddenly, as he's hanging with her, her boyfriend shows up and then in order to smooth things over and prevent anything from popping off, she introduces Vince as her little cousin.

"Radio" also has an endearing start, and it stays that way. There's no rug pull at the end. It's a nostalgia joint with Vince rapping about the way radio inspired him as a music fan, talking about the stations he would listen to, the artists he enjoyed hearing songs from, making some clever lyrical references to hits they've had over the years. There's even an awesome reference to Blu's Below The Heavens, which I absolutely love. If you've been paying attention to Vince's catalog, the radio obviously plays a pretty important role for him in his life, especially considering it's pretty much the whole concept around his FM! album.

Again, in the tracklist, I think "Little Homies" is the last major highlight. "Freeman" continues to offer some interesting food for thought, but without any real major resolutions or revelations. Not even a strong chorus, but there is a good bassline, and Vince does lyrically detail some attempts on his part to try to change what he sees as this "crabs in a bucket" mentality reality, and instead opt for some collective growth thing where he offers opportunities to those who might not have been afforded them in the same way that he was due to his success in music. Which makes sense because there are some pretty important pockets of the record that are devoted to the way of things like a lack of opportunity, breeding jealousy and hatred.

Then the closing track is a passionate spoken word outro that tries to take a lot of these specific inequities that the album is dealing that Vince has experienced or witnessed personally, and then expand them out into these broader assessments about humanity, creativity, the paths that we find ourselves on based on the choices we make. Musically, I'm not gleaning as much from it as I am many other songs on the record, but you could say this track does finish the project off at a high point philosophically, and it does tie up a lot of the major themes of the record, which leaves me feeling like Dark Times is really Vince's most big picture record to date, even if I was left wanting a little more from some of the tracks in terms of choruses, length, details.

It's impressive he was able to pull these narratives and this thematic, this emotional focus off as great as he did, considering just how brief and to the point the album is. It really does bring you everything you need and nothing you don't. You get steady rapping, you get thoughtful bars, you get good production choices, you get plenty of catching moments as well, then on top of that, Vince also offers some of his most emotionally potent and profound cuts to date.

I'm feeling a light eight on this project.

Anthony Fantano. Vince Staples. Forever.