After taking a somber approach on his past two albums, Vince has taken that approach down south. ‘Dark Times’ is easily Vince Staple’s deeply dim and best album to date, with the improved production and melodies amplifying the focus and insight of his storytelling.
Vince Staples spent his 2020s thus far looming within subtle movements on both the self-titled album and RAMONA PARK BROKE MY HEART. In comparison with his 2010s work where he immerses his energy in creating stomping bangers that complement his wit and delivery, he takes more on a lowkey direction on his past two albums thus far, a direction that makes sense as he starts getting older and feeling the weight of his success on his back wherein the traumatic numbness from the violent environments that he waded through before has affected him that much, feeling less satisfaction when he still carries that emotional downpour from his past that he can’t escape. Since then, he has managed to get more recognition and presence outside of his music, specifically, his appearances on Abbott Elementary and especially his own Netflix show called The Vince Staples Show that had been released this year. Yet despite all that, the surprise announcement of a new album was on its way, one that felt quite big as it would be his last album under the Def Jam label. All of which eventually led to Vince Staples’ newest album, ‘Dark Times’.
There is a focus on ‘Dark Times’ that keeps the project sticking through and through, even more so than his past two projects as there is a tighter display on these cuts where they have a smoother flow that comes through the transitions. That focus also comes through within the album’s production and Vince Staples’ overall showcase of melodies and performances, with the former picking up the dimmer soundscape of his self-titled album - albeit much more cutting due to the presence of boom-bap percussion that carries enough weight to these songs - mixed in with the slinky swells of RAMONA PARK BROKE MY HEART that are both amplified and resonant with the way the production create the dusty atmospheres and crisp textures on this instrumental palette. And with the latter just striking deeply as Vince Staples’ somber expression has a lot more engaging pull in his performances, especially when his melodies and hooks are the best and sharpest that they have gotten only creates an addictingly sticky listening factor to the album as a whole. Making the album and a dozen of its tracks become absolutely stunning. The hazy sampling, keys, and drums on ‘Black&Blue’, the buzzy synths and gliding piano lines on ‘Government Cheese’, the floating guitar passages of ‘Children’s Song’ that transitions exceptionally to the somber moods of ‘Shame On The Devil’ through the looping guitar melodies and the reflective hook from Vince Staples and Baby Rose, the striking choruses that pop up on the bubbling groove of ‘Étouffée’ and ‘Little Homie’, the spare instrumentation that carries more tune on ‘Freeman’ with its lumbering bass, the choppy vocal sampling on ‘“Radio”’, and ‘Nothing Matters’ with its blissful keys and crisp drums that end off with Madie Davis’ beautiful vocals, and even the less exceptional ‘Justin’ still is effective given the production that allows the soothing, albeit purposely lacking melody to work within the album.
With the album being titled ‘Dark Times’, it does reflect closely within Vince Staples’ storytelling, continuing the themes that he has written for the past albums, yet the emotional throughline and societal observation got more punches on its detail as Vince grapples with his success as he works around the industry for so long, one that continues to shake his internal and external personal bubble as the world around him gets darker in every subsequent day. The commodification of street violence is one that Vince emphasizes a lot, putting a complicated strain on his current state of stability when that violence still makes him feel numbed and wary of the world around him, carrying the limitation of success when people still die within that violence, get imprisoned in jail, and most importantly, get exploited within the dour industry and social reality where people like Vince get puppeteered around in how they should act and perform for success instead of giving them time to provide for the loved ones around them. Yet, that’s not the only thing that the album focuses on, as it also deeply observes how Vince’s traditional masculine traits that were propped up back on gang violence affect the women that he tries to connect with but fails to do so, willing to pick apart their “negative” actions but failing to understand that they do it because men tend to put up the mask of machismo that suffocates everyone around them rather than pulling it down and have their vulnerable sides exposed. An aspect that Vince himself has to go through when he does get dumped and have Santigold’s cutting spoken word on the last track call him out on that misogynistic trait for a specific line on ‘Shame On The Devil’, an acknowledgment that makes his insight ever so cutting. Where despite becoming freer than ever with the success that he gained, there is still a bleakness in recognizing that he can’t exactly have control over his dreams and his future, something that he doesn’t find surprising given the oppressive nature of industries over individuals that they have control over. There might be hope, but it’s a bit of wishful thinking in the grand scheme of things.
It’s a project that might be Vince Staples’ most darkest album to date, yet it manages to succeed extremely well thanks to the amount of polish, tightness, and sharpness that Vince pulls through in so many aspects of the project. The production that has achieved the most amount of punch and potency on any Vince Staples album, the writing that digs more depth and weight from someone who has seen and experienced so much since the past decade, and the melodies and performances that are both phenomenally striking from front to back, overall creating Vince’s most honed album in a while. Dark times are indeed here, yet in the midst of it, we can see the cracks that open up to a potentially lighter space.
Favorite Tracks: ‘Black&Blue’, ‘Government Cheese’, ‘Children’s Song’, ‘Shame On The Devil’, ‘Etouffee’, ‘“Radio”’, ‘Nothing Matters’, ‘Little Homies’, ‘Freeman’
Least Favorite Track: ‘Justin’