Death is the only certainty on Vince Staples's 'Ramona Park Broke My Heart.' Read CraigSJ's album review
Photo: YouTube The histrionics about the Oscars last month were a poignant reminder that some people see violence as a looming, existential threat on the march from far away, and some people live in the numb inevitability of it. Like, duh, try not to hit anyone at the premier gala in your profession. But playing it off as unconscionable behavior was an odd choice. It wasn’t even the tenth-wildest story in Los Angeles that week. The Friday before the show, a man died in South L.A.
As much as songs like “Blue Suede” and “Hands Up” tell us that Staples understands Cali rap convention, the catalogue often seems to be in conflict with the expectation of adherence to a sound closely tied to the rapper’s home state. The taut, minimal beats on Summertime came as a shock after the more traditional gangsta-rap vibe of 2014’s Hell Can Wait EP. On 2017’s Big Fish Theory, Vince pivoted to coarse, edgy dance music and divided the fandom.