Album Review - “Cry Baby” by Vince Staples
The appeal for Vince Staples has never been his flow, although he possesses a stellar repertoire in his arsenal. Nor is it his lyricism or ability to flip syllables with a gymnast's finesse. The power is his ability to paint better pictures of real-world grime and truth in a genre where grime and truth are the forefront topics of discussion. Which is why when information was released that his latest album, Cry Baby, would not be a direct hip-hop album, instead a rap-rock- adjacent project, many did not vehemently reject the idea, instead praising the move as who else is better to speak on the political climate and its impact on the inner-city system than the Long Beach product.
The beauty of Cry Baby goes beyond lyricism. It goes beyond beat selection and fantastic instrumentals. The beauty is the way Vince Staples captures the essence of Black weary. Understanding the roles of racism, redlining, systematic oppression, and the losing fights attached to the Black experience, and not only being able to vocalize it, but recognizing that those not experiencing this struggle will, not only, not be able to identify with what you are experiencing, but fake as if they understand the experience to nod their heads, all the while arguing that your experience is an act. If nothing else, that’s the brush-stroke overview of this album with Vince at the helm, bashing us over the head, explaining that this system is fundamentally broken and skewed for the Black experience to never succeed.
Cry Baby is a rock-adjacent album that quickly reminds you that hip-hop is the purest art form in storytelling. The genres function as cousins who perfectly tell a story of America’s misdeeds with a brash and underrated, witty attitude. The project begins with the lead single “Blackberry Marmalade,” a beautiful callout of racist dogwhistles fused with an accurate overview of the plagues of historic racism. While the song is stone-faced in its presentation, it is the correct call to represent the album, as that stoic poise holds throughout the remainder of the 35-minute album.
While fans of Vince Staples should normally expect a traditional rap album, this project boasts a different instrumental palette. He delivers the same result as the previous six Vince Staples albums: beautiful music.
