Ramona Park Broke My Heart Archives

Vince Staples: Redefining West Coast Rap

July 12, 2023 by newhiphopnews

North Long Beach rapper Vince Staples recently returned for a guest feature on Reese LaFlare’s new EP, Diva Vol. 4. Prior to this, Staples’ last full-length release came in 2022 with Ramona Park Broke My Heart. The album served as a somber and self-reflective homage to Staples’ hometown. Ramona Park Broke My Heart further solidified Vince as one of the most experimental and unique voices in modern West Coast rap. With each project he has released, Staples has both evolved his sound and stayed true to his California roots. Here’s a glance at Vince Staples’ evolution as an artist.

Beginnings And Summertime ’06

Vince Staples at Wireless Festival in London. — LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 03: Vince Staples performs onstage during Day 1 of New Look Wireless at Finsbury Park on July 3, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by Ollie Millington/Redferns via Getty Images)

Vince Staples first made waves in the Hip-Hop world through his early associations with the Odd Future collective in the early 2010s. Gaining momentum with projects like Shyne Coldchain Vol. 1 and Winter In Prague with Michael Uzowuru. However, it was Stolen Youth, a mixtape produced entirely by Mac Miller, that became Vince’s breakout moment. Along with three guest features on Earl Sweatshirt’s debut album Doris, Staples landed a deal with Def Jam Records. Staples released his fourth mixtape, Shyne Coldchain Vol. 2, and an EP, Hell Can Wait, in 2014.

These projects undoubtedly led to Vince’s success. However, his excellent debut album, Summertime ’06 cemented him as a crucial voice in the West Coast. The album was gritty, bouncy, and Staples’ storytelling ability shined throughout. Summertime ’06 also created a distinct sound for Vince, as songs like “Norf Norf” had an inherently West Coast atmosphere to them, while others veered further into the experimental realm that Staples would explore in later projects.

The Impact Of Big Fish Theory

Vince Staples at Coachella in 2016. — INDIO, CA – APRIL 16: Rapper Vince Staples perform onstage during day 2 of the 2016 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival Weekend 1 at the Empire Polo Club on April 16, 2016 in Indio, California. (Photo by Michael Tullberg/Getty Images for Coachella)

It was with Vince Staples’ second album, Big Fish Theory, that the rapper realized his true experimental potential. To call Big Fish Theory a rap album would be a disservice to the project. The album blends characteristics from dance, electronic, and techno music, and yet, much like Summertime ’06, it is inherently West Coast. Staples still delivers passionate, story-driven lyrics about his early life in Long Beach, and it is with this fusion that Big Fish Theory really comes to life.

Big Fish Theory received widespread critical acclaim and could be regarded as one of the most influential projects of the past decade. This is especially true considering the current state of Hip-Hop today, as the genre continues to blend and mesh with others, especially within the electronic realm. However, this would not be the end of Vince Staples’ journey into the bounds of music, as he would continue to evolve with each project.

FM! And Return with Vince Staples

Rapper Vince Staples at Apple Store in Soho. — NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 30: Musician Vince Staples attends the Apple Store Soho Presents: Meet The Musician at the Apple Store Soho on June 30, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Jim Spellman/WireImage)

Perhaps, the most defining West Coast outing from Vince Staples’ is the rapper’s third studio album, FM! At only twenty-two minutes, the album plays out like a radio station during a short drive, including three skits to encapsulate the atmosphere. Much like Big Fish Theory, FM! distinctly takes note of electronic sounds. However, rather than taking a futuristic approach, FM! felt more reminiscent of old-school West Coast club anthems. While Vince Staples once again received critical acclaim for FM!, he chose to switch it up on his self-titled project in 2021.

Vince Staples is a much different album from FM! and Big Fish Theory, as it is incredibly jazzy and more obviously self-reflective. However, the self-titled album shows the Long Beach rapper at his most vulnerable and stripped back lyrically. In addition, the album also paid homage to past West Coast sounds, as some of it could be categorized as G-Funk. As with his first three albums, Staples once again showed his willingness to stay true to his California roots, while also paving the way for his own sound and style.

Ramona Park Broke My Heart And The Future For Vince Staples

Vince Staples performs in 2017 — SAN FRANCISCO, CA – JUNE 03: Rapper Vince Staples performs onstage at the Colossal Stage during Colossal Clusterfest at Civic Center Plaza and The Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on June 3, 2017 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)

On Ramona Park Broke My Heart, Staples laments his stolen childhood and reflects on his life to this point. While the album diverges from the daring production choices of past efforts, he continued to explore the legacy of West Coast hip-hop and redefining regional sounds. It’s no secret that California’s hip-hop scene became synonymous with the gang culture of South Los Angeles since the late 80s. But rather than glorifying that experience, Staples further examined the harsh realities of being raised in that environment. Staples’ brilliance shines throughout his catalog but only with age and maturity was Staples able to craft a body of work like Ramona Park Broke My Heart.

Through all five of Vince Staples’ full-length albums, there is a constant evolution that has allowed the rapper to become one of the most revered artists on the West Coast. While Staples has not announced any new music as of late, it is almost a guarantee that he will once again challenge the ideas of Hip-Hop as a genre with his next opus. From Summertime ’06 to now, Staples has established himself as one of the most forward-thinking artists in Hip-Hop and only he knows what the future may hold for his career.

The post Vince Staples: Redefining West Coast Rap appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

JAY-Z Labels Vince Staples One Of The “Smartest, Most Creative” Rappers

April 4, 2023 by newhiphopnews

JAY-Z feels that Vince Staples is one of the “smartest” and “most creative rappers” in the industry right now, according to Brian “B. Dot” Miller. Miller revealed the legendary rapper’s appreciation for Staples during the Ramona Park Broke My Heart rapper’s recent appearance on Rap Radar with Elliott Wilson.

“To be honest with you, full disclosure,” B. Dot Began. “JAY-Z was the one who told me and put me on to your album. [He] said it was ‘beautiful.’ And he was like calling you one of the smartest, most creative rappers out there in the game right now.” Despite the praise from one of the greatest rappers of all time, Staples appeared to be unfazed.

Vince Staples Performing At Coachella

INDIO, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 17: Vince Staples performs at the Sahara Tent at 2022 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival weekend 1 – day 3 on April 17, 2022 in Indio, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Coachella)

As for why he wasn’t moved, he explained: “If I’m impartial to if people like it, I’m for sure impartial if you don’t like it. I feel like everyone’s entitled to their opinion. Once you put something out into the universe and you selling something, it’s okay for people to say if they like it or don’t like it. That’s not really why I make music. I don’t really care how nobody feel about nothing, to be 100 percent honest. I appreciate them listening and that’s as far as it goes like how people feel.”

Staples dropped Ramona Park Broke My Heart back in April 2022 and it debuted at No. 21 on the Billboard 200. The album was met with widespread acclaim from critics and fans alike. It features appearances from Lil Baby, Ty Dolla Sign, and more.

Staples has also been expanding his career outside of music as of late. Last year, he joined the cast of the upcoming White Men Can’t Jump remake. Then, just earlier this month, he was announced for the cast of Showtime’s upcoming series, The Wood. A description of the show from Variety reads, “Jamal, an aspiring photographer from Ladera Heights, is cut off by his upper-class family when he decides to follow his own path instead of going to historic Morehouse College.”

Vince Staples Speaks With B. Dot & Elliott Wilson

[Via]

Vince Staples And Amazon Invite Fans On A ‘Walk Through Ramona Park’ Livestream

August 22, 2022 by newhiphopnews

Amazon Music has its sights set on locking down the concert streaming market and with incredible partnerships with Dreamville, Guap (formerly known as Guapdad 4000), Kanye West and Drake, and 88rising’s Head In The Clouds festival to its name, it’s off to a great start. Next up, Amazon and Long Beach rapper Vince Staples are inviting fans on a “Walk Through Ramona Park” to commemorate Vince’s latest album, Ramona Park Broke My Heart with a live stream of his upcoming show at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles tomorrow (August 23).

The 90-minute stream will encompass 30 songs from across Vince’s catalog including some of his earliest songs. The show will be available to stream beginning at 8 pm PT via the Amazon Music channel on Twitch, the Amazon Music mobile app, and Prime Video.

Meanwhile, Vince’s star continues to rise, as Deadline and Variety recently reported on a pair of upcoming acting roles. In addition to joining Jack Harlow in the remake of White Men Can’t Jump (if he doesn’t mention going to Sizzler, I will riot), he was also cast in a Showtime pilot based on The Wood. He also recently released his Z2 comic book Limbo Beach after being forced to postpone his Limbo Beach Carnival due to overwhelming demand.

Lil Baby Appeared On Vince Staples’ ‘East Point Prayer’ For Free Despite His Previous Feature Demands

May 11, 2022 by newhiphopnews

Lil Baby boasted that he isn’t doing features for less than six figures, but it looks like he’ll make some exceptions. Despite tweeting in 2020 “it’s safe to say I want $100k for a feature,” he recently gave the homie discount to one rapper who came looking for a verse. According to Vince Staples, who popped up on LA radio host Big Boy’s show to discuss his new album, Lil Baby gave him a big break on his feature fee to appear on “East Point Prayer.”

“He did it for free,” he said. “And I don’t believe in asking nobody to do nothing for free. I believe in whatever you charge – you gotta feed your family, and he did it for free. And you already know, he can charge whatever he wants. It’s funny because I met him at a Motown thing. We was cool and we ain’t really talk like that. And I was like, ‘Lil Baby would sound good on this.’ And I was tryna get it so where we could talk about it. He said, ‘We don’t even have to talk, I’ma do it.’ He just went and did it … he looked out.”

Both artists are signed to Motown — Vince through Blacksmith Records and his manager Corey Smyth, and Lil Baby through Quality Control Music. Still, that Lil Baby would waive his exorbitant feature price for Vince shows a lot of respect between the two rappers — and the potential for future, possibly more lucrative collaborations.

Vince Staples’ Dream-Like ‘When Sparks Fly’ Video Depicts A Dangerous Love Affair

May 3, 2022 by newhiphopnews

Only a few days ago, Vince Staples announced the premiere of a new visual project, Ramona Park Broke My Heart: The Musical, streaming performances from his new album live this week via Moment House. Now that the streams have passed, Vince is sharing snippets for fans in the form of music videos capturing his live performances. The first is “When Sparks Fly,” the standout from Ramona Park Broke My Heart that recounts a doomed love affair between a boy and his gun.

The video sees Vince sprawled on a bus stop bench in front of a flower shop, laying his head in the lap of a woman. Both remain motionless for the duration of the video, while the camera captures them from multiple angles and Vince raps the tragic romance of “When Sparks Fly,” which is told from the perspective of the gun. It’s the perfect antidote to the problem he noted earlier this year. “I think they see the money in the violence,” he said of record labels, decrying the glamorization of violence during an interview with Peter Rosenberg. “When Sparks Fly” depicts the consequences of a life lived on the edge and points out the cyclical nature of that violence, making it sound exactly as devastating as it really is.

During the live show, Vince also performed his entire new album, including “Magic!” and “Rose Street,” as well as tracks from across his catalog.

Watch Vince Staples’ “When Sparks Fly” video from Ramona Park Broke My Heart: The Musical above.

Vince Staples Will Perform ‘Ramona Park Broke My Heart The Musical’ Live Through Moment House

April 30, 2022 by newhiphopnews

Earlier this month, the live streaming platform, Moment House, announced that they would be hosting a performance from Vince Staples. The Compton rapper will be performing songs from his latest album, Ramona Park Broke My Heart, which featured singles like “Magic” and came out in early April.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Moment House (@momenthouse)

The streams will be tomorrow and Monday, and according to a post from Moment House, Vince will not only be performing songs from his new album for the first time, but also including cuts from his entire catalogue. “On 5/1 & 5/2, join us with @vincestaples for the premiere of Ramona Heart Broke My Heart THE MUSICAL, an immersive Moment featuring Staples as he performs his new album along with music spanning his entire catalog,” reads the caption of the Instagram post previewing the event. “Tickets available now, link in bio.” Check out a preview of the set above.

It looks like the partnership will also include exclusive merch from this era:

https://t.co/Hc7lHVPJo8

— RPBMH OUT NOW (@vincestaples) April 28, 2022

Please note for those who might not be familiar — Moment House offers digital experiences, this is not a show that fans can physically attend, but would watch at home on their own devices. Tickets are available here, the show is scheduled to start at either 4 PM or 7 PM PST, based on time zones.

Vince Staples Explains Why Hip-Hop Is Not A ‘Game’ But A ‘Business’

April 14, 2022 by newhiphopnews

Vince Staples has never been one to mince his words about… anything. It was just last month that Vince criticized record labels for seeking “money in the violence” against rappers. “It’s money in it and they gonna keep selling it and we gonna keep perpetuating it and we gon’ be hurt when somebody die,” he said during the interview on Hot 97. “I don’t necessarily know if they care. If they did, man the album ready in four weeks once you die. You get more press on the album after you die.” Fresh off the release of his fifth album Ramona Park Broke My Heart, Vince took a moment to give his thoughts on the way hip-hop is presented.

Rap is often referred to as a “game,” and during a recent interview with Complex’s Speedy Mormon, Vince explained why hip-hop isn’t a game in his eyes. “What’s the game? In basketball, you dribble, you shoot, you score, you win,” he said. Vince added, “The reason it’s an expression is because somebody has to lose. So that way, when it ends up and you do it and it takes everything from you, then you just lost the game. But that’s not what it’s supposed to be. This is a business, you’re supposed to have good business [and] good morals. [Instead], they pay you, and you know [they say], ‘Oh, this is an opportunity so you don’t deserve ownership of your project,’ ‘This is an opportunity, you don’t deserve this, you don’t deserve that.’”

Vince continued, “They don’t call any other genre ‘the game.’ They call the rap game the ‘rap game’ because there’s a bunch of n****s running around and they don’t want to give Black people sh*t.’”

You can watch the full interview in the video above.

Ramona Park Broke My Heart is out now via Motown Records. You can stream it here.

Ty Dolla Sign is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Vince Staples Reveals The Tracklist For His Album, ‘Ramona Park Broke My Heart’

April 4, 2022 by newhiphopnews

Vince Staples has been relentlessly teasing his new album, Ramona Park Broke My Heart for the past several months (or years, really), and today, he finally lets fans get a glimpse of what the album will contain. The Long Beach rapper shared the tracklist, revealing song titles such as “DJ Quik,” named for the Compton producer who helped craft the sound of West Coast G-Funk in the 1990s, and “Mama’s Boy,” which sounds like it promises to be one of Staples’ most (only?) vulnerable tracks to date.

Incidentally, the real DJ Quik may actually appear on the album, as Vince posted a photo of himself in the studio with Quik to announce that the album was finished. The project clocks in at 16 tracks, marking a compromise between the monstrous, double-disc runtime of his debut album, Summertime 06, and the ultra-short projects he’s released since then, including the groundbreaking Big Fish Theory, the nostalgic FM!, and his most recent album, 2021’s somber Vince Staples.

The album also features his recently released single “Magic,” which was produced by Mustard and gave Vince as close to a pop radio-friendly single as he’s ever had. The new production style used on “Magic” and Vince’s latest single “Rose Street,” along with his recent appearance on Tyler The Creator’s Call Me If You Get Lost Tour, suggest that this could be the outspoken rapper’s most commercially successful album yet.

Ramona Park Broke My Heart is due 4/8 via Motown. Pre-save it here.