Thoughts On: Summertime '06

Recommended Listening: Lift Me Up, Jump off the Roof, Might be Wrong

Welcome back to another Thoughts On, where I have apparently recovered enough from Surf to write about another album. Still in the middle one of the best years in modern Hip-Hop it seems as though the hype just will not end. This month alone we got major throw backs with the releases of Yes by Slum village, with beats made by the infamous J Dilla, and Every Hero Needs A Villain by Czarface, a superhero persona created by rapper Inspectah Deck of the Wu-Tang Clan and producers 7L & Esoteric. However the album I will be talking about today carries a much darker tone than either of these previous, Summertime '06 by rapper Vince Staples is a bass-heavy gritty project about the realities of gang culture and the conflicting desires to escape it. While not as explosive as other albums released this year nor is it really friendly to radio ears, this debut album has proven that Vince has a distinct way of saying what he means and telling his story.

So who is Vince Staples? Well the Long Beach, CA rapper is at the same time new and old to the scene. While this is indeed his debut album, Vince has been making music for years. Starting with his verse on the song 'epaR' on Earl Sweatshirts first mixtape he went onto to make the Shyne Coldchain Vol.1 mixtape in 2011. From then on he caught the attention of Mac Miller and released the collaboration mixtape Stolen Youth in 2013. It was around this point that Vince started to tour with Mac, record features for Earl's debut album Doris, and getting signed to Def Jam. Things started to look up for Vince, who previously only had experience gang-banging and causing trouble. In fact Vince has talked a bit about his troubled youth in INTERVIEWS, and it seems that rap is the only thing that saved him from a more extreme lifestyle. In 2014 Vince released both his Shyne Coldchain Vol. 2 mixtape and Hell Can Wait EP, the latter of which garnered critical acclaim and got a lot of people excited for what he would do next. This year Vince was selected as a XXL freshmen, a spot reserved in the XXL Hip-Hop magazine for up and coming rappers whom you should be listening to. Vince often times is known as the guy who was in Earl's music, but listening to him he has a slow deliberate style all his own. While not as cartoonishly violent as his friends in Odd Future Vince still manages to bring up despair-filled images of his repetitive gang lifestyle, biblical allusions, and seems to remain numb the whole time, as if his past has just desensitized him to everything.

So what does this album sound like? Well first off the bulk of this album was produced by No I.D, well known for his work with Kanye West (he was the former president of GOOD music, Kanye's label) and just a big name producer overall. So on Vince's first album he was able to get such a quality producer that really helps this album take on a distinct tone. It all starts with 'Ramona Park Legend Pt.1' a short ambient track that sounds like a beach with waves crashing and seagulls flying overheard as wavy notes play in the background. The track ends with a gunshot before bleeding into 'Lift Me Up', a powerful proper intro where Vince asks the difference between gang-banging and trying to make it rich by other means. It is a song about survival and sets the theme for this album really well. This of course is accompanied by heavy bass riffs and frayed chords that give the whole song a frantic vibe. One line I really love from this song is “I feel like fuck Versace, they rapin' niggas pockets”, reflecting on how the desire for material means in impoverished communities just does more harm than good. In this intro Vince manages to talk about his own desire for redemption with speaking truths about his community and that is not an easy feat by any means. Next is the upbeat track 'Norf Norf', where Vince goes into a more narrative style and takes the role of what seems to be himself during the summer of 2006 (the albums name sake because this seems the be the climax of Vinces gang life). With warped siren sounding chords ringing in the back that still stay true to the setting provided Vince proclaims that he “ain't never ran from nothing but the police”. While a banger this song paints a dark picture of the daily life of a lot people in Vince's area and the gang mentality that takes root in their minds. Skipping to 'Loca' we get an interesting take on a song about a girl. On this track Vince appears to be appealing to a girl while still caught up in the troubles of his lifestyle, asking if she would lie for him in court and threatening other men who try to flirt with her. However with bass driven and popping drums that cover this song there appears to be a hint of desperation in this, like Vince is trying to hang on to someone rather than alpha male control her. The song ends with a woman speaking Spanish directed and what could be Vince that roughly translates to “Get your shit together”.

'Jump Off The Roof' starts with wailing screams rising and falling before the cowbell kicks in and Vince starts talking about a kind of troubled love that he is going through. Rapping about addictions that he is currently suffering from and wishing to escape a life that has become more and more like hell. Here we start to get into Vince's strength as a writer, creating this very tangible story of trying to change but getting caught in a circle that eventually culminates in the hook “On 3 lets jump off the roof”. This seems to be asking what love means in such a violent reality. Next is the single for the album that also had a super interesting music video, 'Senorita', starting with a soft piano intro before picking up with a hook by Future. Being more critical this time Vince speaks on his time at peak violence, going out of his way to give details about his location if people feel the need to retaliate against him and claiming that this life is about war and survival. The verse hits again and the lyrics change to ask what would you murder for, furthermore elaborating on what means enough for you to engage in this kind of life. The more you think about why people get caught in this life the more it comes back to survival and necessity, a dark world indeed. The track ends with a change in tone with triplet note progression that sounds like Tyler, The Creator made it while singer Snoh Aalegra states that “I'll pull up on you, I'll pull up on your mind”. Ending disc one we get the somber track 'Summertime', in which we hear hard notes hit high and low and remind me of a sense of falling, which is appropriate because this song is about the often true nature that life in these areas is inescapable. The hook of this song, “This could be forever baby” serves to drive the point home and at one point Vince says “they never taught me how to be man, just a shooter”, a powerful line that in a way sums up the whole experience of gang life. This ends half the album but potentially could have ended the whole thing, so far what we have is a dark tale about gang culture that doesn't glory killing but rather states it as a dark by product of the wars plaguing our hoods.

Disc 2 starts with 'Ramona Park Legend Pt.2' bringing back the beat from part one with Earl Sweatshirt's vocals coming claiming that he is a legend around where ever he is. This seems to be a sort of defensive mentality that gang members get into to justify their actions and/or protect themselves from their own impending dooms. I have stated earlier that Vince comes off as numb to violence and the dull vocals of this song bring that out to the max. Skipping past a few upbeat tracks we get to 'Might Be Wrong', which starts off with a beautiful melody about trying to find the truth and what means what in the world laid over a smooth bass line that transitions to a phone call from a prison. The voice of the prisoner may be Vince's brother who apparently went to prison around this time in the summer of 2006. The voice recites a poem about unjust shootings and police brutality, which have become more and more relevant as the Black Lives Matter movement is still in full force. We only hear Vince on this track to encourage the voice to keep going when it stumbles but it is still a strong track that shows how even those in this lifestyle can see the error of its ways and are smart enough to notice injustices elsewhere in the world. Just after this we get 'Get Paid', another strong banger about what Vince got into in his youth, claiming he has been robbing since a kid. But what captures my interest in this song is that he states that this is what the OG's of the area told us. Gang culture, much like most negative lifestyles, is circular in its framework. The OG's tell the kids that life is all about money and power and that is what the kids will flock to. Vince is just as much a victim of a problem as much as he is a part of it. This does not excuse violence but rather gives you a deeper look into what it actually means to be a product of your environment.

In 'C.N.B' it sounds like Vince has given up. With a beat that consists of a little piano flourish and bass hits with droning vocal hook of him repeating okay he just sounds defeated. It is as if he has accepted the world as it is, with all the negative garbage that is drowning him and his people, and it has simply turned him into the coldest version of himself. He states black people in his area are bred to kill and are raped for their culture. Probably one of the darkest songs on the album it is an anthem of truth that speaks on how under-appreciated black people are in modern society, with people loving our work but hating us. This flows well into the penultimate track, 'Like It Is' which has pleasant vocal harmonies laced with a snare that sounds like roar woven in to set the stage for Vince to talk about how he makes the transition from gang life to where he is now. He claims that he has to be the one to make it up to Heaven, to make his mother proud and break the cycle. This track is lyrically full of so many truths it is hard to name them all. It is here where you get to see just how smart Vince is, his environment bred him to be something dangerous and he took that knowledge and is trying to do something positive. Something really profound he states is that you looking at somebody telling them their story doesn't matter is no better than me trying to kill someone. Which I think is completely true. All people are trying to do something before we die, and how we all achieve that or strive for that is different. Vince is trying to shoot for dreams that might not be possible but they are better than killing and he has accepted where he needs to go in life. Finally the album ends on ' '06 ', which starts with an announcer saying “Next time on poppy street”, making it sound as if this has all been but an episode in Vince's life. Vince starts a verse proclaiming this to be the next day and he is excitedly rapping before getting cut off by static and the album just ends.

This is an important piece of Hip-Hop music. While sites like Complex will call this a failure because it doesn't have any “hits” this album is a gritty accurate portrayal of one of the biggest dangers facing African-Americans today, our own communities. Communities broken by years of violence where people turn to gangs because their real families are so distant or unhealthy. I believe this album serves as a shining example of how it is possible to escape that world if you decide to put others before yourself and focus on making something that gives back to your people. Vince often says his music isn't about rap as much as it is about spreading awareness and making a statement. While I do wish that the track order was arranged differently (maybe by levels of intensity) this was still a fantastic debut album that I was not wrong to be excited for. Vince is not a great singer and his hooks are often repetitive and can be lazy to some, but his strengths in story telling and trying to inspire make him an excellent rapper to follow. 2015 has been the year of revolution and we need more dark realistic tales that don't glorify this culture, but talk about its necessary evils. I recommended you: LISTEN SOON to this album to get a good look into a terrifying culture that gave birth to another great rapper.