I became a fan of Vince Staples the minute I heard “Hands Up,” his throbbing cut from his Hell Can Wait EP. The context is important since I first heard the song after Darren Wilson’s murder of Michael Brown. Staples didn’t write the song as a response to the shooting and protests that erupted in Ferguson, Missouri. He wrote it inspired by his life and upbringing in Long Beach, California. And that’s the cool thing about his music; as singular and personal as it may be, it still reverberates with people regardless. The reverberations remain in his fifth studio album RAMONA PARK BROKE MY HEART.
My life differentiates greatly from the 28-year-old as I didn’t grow up in the West Coast as a Crip. But he’ll slide in some lines that I can relate to. “I love my mama ’cause she did her best” is uttered at the halfway point of the album in “SLIDE,” sharing the feeling of loving your mother putting aside their imperfections, and focusing on their relentless efforts. The dubious insecurity one feels when given reassurance by their people is expressed in the album’s closer “THE BLUES”: “Know you say you wish me well/But I really doubt it.”
Staples still raps about the place that raised him and made him the man he is today, as he has throughout his work. But there’s a slight distance, maturity, and wisdom infused on this collection. Staples has consistently repped for his hood and by the conviction in his words he swears he always will, but there seems to be this longing for something different, perhaps something better, maybe something more.
A push and pull is often mentioned between his love for his lady and his love for the streets. The bind he finds himself in appears to be a constant struggle as he expresses on the sweetly mournful “ROSE STREET”: “Reaching for my keys, she like, “Where you going? Stay with me”/ Hate to see her beg, she don’t want me dead.” On the same song, he articulates where his heart resides (“I’m married to the gang, don’t be playing games/Only bringing flowers to the homie’s grave”), a sad truth illustrating instead of bringing flowers to his current love, he’d rather bring them to someone who’s no longer present. Life has done a number on him and has left him with paranoia and trust issues as said on “PLAYER WAYS” (“Can’t fall asleep after I hit, I gotta stay awake”), while dealing with the pain his youth has brought him (“My conscience blinded, I be tryna fuck the pain away”). There’s a correlation between sex and violence that is hard to ignore.

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The one thing Staples seems to be in love with is the money, though. Not in an evil way, but in a way that affords him a tunnel vision to live a life with as much peace while providing for the people around him (“Tryna break that bank like ScHoolboy said/ Won’t stop ’til the whole hood fed”). This pops up on the Ty Dollar $ign-assisted summer bop “LEMONADE,” along with the credo that “sometimes life tastes bittersweet.”  Vince is all about making dollars, he couldn’t care less about the popularity. You see it in his interviews, lamenting the attention and seriousness people apply to celebrity, seeing the industry as way to generate income. On the “Dollaz + Sense” sampled standout “DJ QUIK,” Staples asserts this mentality by saying, “I’m about the money, I ain’t fuckin’ with the fame.” You hear “Get paid, young nigga, get paid” on a loop in the background of the chorus, promoting the theme of the song while paying homage to the G-Funk legend.
The song of the album — and one of Staples’ all-time best — is “WHEN SPARKS FLY,” where Staples speaks to a personified pistol, akin to 2Pac’s “Me & My Girlfriend” and Nas’ “I Gave You Power.” With the sultry and longing sample of Lyves’ “No Love,” it presents a great example of Staples’ penmanship and creativity. The clever wordplay of using the verb “stalling” to intimate how a person can stall and be closed off is brilliant, as it can also be used to describe how guns stall as well. Staples then flexes his vocals by showing he can imitate the same cadence of Atlanta rappers on “EAST POINT PRAYER,” featuring Lil Baby with a stellar and heartfelt appearance.
Considering Staples has created Summertime ’06 (criminally underrated album from the 2010s), Big Fish Theory (a much-welcomed electro-inspired departure), and FM! (a terrific, breezy, summer compilation), it’s amazing to think that RAMONA PARK BROKE MY HEART may be his best work yet. His trademark deadpan flow and lyrical prowess is on full display, but it’s coupled with newfound introspection and a sharper sound — musically and vocally — to complement his artistry. Sonically it bumps, but there’s some melancholy in the production mixed in with some hopefulness, sometimes it’s from one song to the other and other times it’s all within one record. What separates this album from the previous ones is that there are no weak spots. I’ve had a different “song of the day” everyday since I’ve started listening to it.
“MAGIC,” the Mustard-produced single contains the stance Staples is holding onto from now on: “But that’s old news, spreading love now/ Sick of police lights, sick of gun sounds.” He’s been wonderfully rapping about the LBC for the last decade. Staples even shared with an interview with Hot 97 that this album is his most “completist” work yet, before adding this: “I feel like a lot of my work has been an anthology of my neighbourhood and my past, and I think this is kinda the end of that for me.” He appears to be ready to move onto a new beginning, and leaving the past behind. I’ll be interested to see what he raps about next, where his heart will be, and if mine will remain tied to his work.