Vince Staples - FM!

Vince Staples - FM!


Long Beach native Vince Staples has long left behind the ‘new kid on the block’ vibes and has taken his rightful place as one of the faces of West Coast Hip-Hop. Much like his contemporary Kendrick Lamar, Staples has abandoned the hyperbolic drug rap so embellished by the Soundcloud generation, instead focusing on human voices and experiences, particularly his own and those of the people around him. Never afraid of sharing his two cents, FM! continues the trend in Staples's music of unafraid, uncompromising social commentary infused rap. Combing wit, bite, honesty, groove and no small amount of satire, FM! is his most ambitious, and best, album yet.

Opening with a satirical take on one of LA’s many radio hosts, Staples quickly establishes his message: an intransigent perspective of the juxtapositions that exist within one of America metropoles. Opener Feels Like Summer tackles the year-round summertime feel present in LA but undercuts it with the hard-hitting truths of living in the suburbs of Long Beach (“We gonna party, till the sun or the guns come out” does not exactly leave much room for imagination). Already an advanced storyteller, Staples unique mix of playful and impartial seems custom built to weave the tale of those living in one of Americas forgotten corners, a place wherein on any day, danger lurks (“Cold weather don’t stop no gunner”).

Indeed, FM! sees some of the tightest and most imaginative lines from the Long beach rapper to date. The second verse of Run The Bands may be the most impressive of his career (“Brand new shrink, had a breakthrough, Brand new mink for the great room (Yeah), Don’t bring knives to the gunfight, We bring knives to the dayroom”), while Staples seems to have mastered the art of the narration. Describing scenes that one would more readily associate with Breaking Bad than a real American neighbourhood, at no point does Staples seem overwhelmed or unbelievable. This is simply life for him, but his expert wordplay and rhyming turns the every day into an art form.


FM! closes with Tweakin, a no holds barred look on the reality of gang violence. “We just lost somebody else this weekend, no, no” raps Staples, as he laments the ease in which he loses friends. Musing on his success as a musician and how little it seems to matter in the face of reality  (“Tryna get rich, get everybody fed, But everybody dead (Everybody dead)” ), its difficult not to feel empathy for Staples. Rare is it in the modern era in which mainstream rap can be so starkly vulnerable, which is a tribute to the skill that VS possesses. Quite possibly the most impressive rap album of 2018, FM! is a must listen.

 First published for Queens Radio

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