Intentionally avoiding limelight and excess notoriety, Vince Staples has surpassed early expectations matching his charming personality with a continuous stream of progressive releases. Known by many to be a jokester online, his biting sense of humor could be taken as either a defense mechanism against the nihilism of losing friends to tragedies not limited to violence and drug abuse; or perhaps his wit intends to disarm the hesitations of those who could otherwise overlook his sophisticated emceeing. Steadily building a brand around crafting art for art’s sake, with Prima Donna, Vince Staples throws Hip Hop yet another unorthodox curveball.
With last year’s Def Jam backed debut Summertime ‘06, Vince Staples built a narrative around a disturbing yet enticing and sensual visual of North Long Beach’s troubled adolescent culture. Having escaped those traumatic conditions relatively unscathed, with Prima Donna he creates an equally dark alternate reality where a Hip Hop star faces the perils of raging instability. A satirical piece examining the emotional well-being of Vince’s peers consumed by their innermost demons, the EP opens with “Let It Shine” where his character opts to end his life at the brink of insanity. Over the course of the following six songs, listeners are taken on a grim journey through a nervous breakdown in reverse chronological order.
A stark contrast to the music business’ routine facade of glamor, the script Vince Staples authors on Prima Donna once again establishes his knack for putting the fun in dysfunction. Laying it on the line while full of self-deluded righteousness, on “War Ready” he prematurely eulogizes “Fought to the death, never gave in/write that on the grave that I get laid in.” After weighing his options for stress management including a trip to Ibiza, inner peace remains elusive as Vince is unable to envision a brighter tomorrow dismally theorizing “Heaven, hell, free or jail, same shit/county jail bus, slave ship, same shit.”
Heavy hitter DJ Dahi is responsible for half of the project’s material, and working with Staples is a producer’s come true as he’s a newer act all too willing to go against the grain without creative restrictions. “Smile” is a lost soul’s angst driven lamentation on public scrutiny where potential paranoia says the world is cheering on his failure. Treading into the territory of rock with dramatic guitars and strained sung vocals, the pair is to be commended for going left even if it requires extra effort from those accustomed to modern dumbed down approaches.
The latter portion of Prima Donna is comprised of frenetic and excited bravado despite interludes suggestive of underlying insurmountable pain. Channeling the rollercoaster ride that is the stereotypical rap star experience, “Loco” is a tale of groupie love intertwined with dependence on materialism for self-worth, while the title track has Vince Staples feeling triumphant yet ready to do away with fame upon realizing how heavy the crown is.
James Blake contributes the EDM-laced “Big Time”, where our anti-hero tries out some of his wildest flows to date while wearing street cred on his sleeve with quips such as “I been on some up to some no good shit/you on that Cuba from Boyz n the Hood shit.” This depiction of invincibility serves as a fitting climax with its sad plot twist that there was never a truly blissful medium between this work’s two extremes: the despondent big-headed manchild captured on Prima Donna’s cover found stardom useless after leaving behind the dead end lifestyle which he considered most fulfilling.
In a climate that’s indifferent if not completely averse towards innovation and forward thinking, Vince Staples is poised, unassuming and focused on leaving an indelible mark. Having gone so far as to disavow his past conventional modules that fans swoon over, Prima Donna is his most challenging work to date. Placing an even edgier spin on his recurring themes of fear and hopelessness, this cautionary tale makes a strong albeit fictional case for the necessity of mental health initiatives in urban communities. Already treasured in the hearts of his former Crip acquaintances, Vince’s work ethic has made him a budding star, and as he becomes increasingly comfortable with the road less traveled he stands to advance our culture altogether.
Dope project but that’s all Vince does is release quality music.
Terrible album, most of the songs where like listening to nails scratching on a chalkboard.
I thought his other projects where better, this one was shitty as hell
Hated it right when I heard the first track, way too simplistic
almost as simple as your comment
Wack ass album
honestly doesnt deserve a 4/5, more so a 2 or 1. This album is basically a weed plate, the beats and lyrics where terrible.
it’s pretty good, but there are way too many skits on it
A concept album that doesn’t lack the sound to match the concept, Vince employs James Blake, No ID, DJ Dahi, A$AP Rocky, and an Andre 3000 sample for an A+ effort. Chopped and Screwed by James Blake, War Ready is one of the most interesting production I’ve heard on a hip hop album this year. Vince shines on Pimp Hand, with one of the hardest hitting verses of 2016 starting at 1:25.
Holy Shit Vince is on fire on this record. Quick and to the point – Vince destroys every verse on this EP.
speechless. Vince is the next Kendrick
lol these comments r divisive as hell. every is either a 1 or a 5. i am a5
5/5
Fie.
Was it that hard to type one extra letter in order for you review to make sense, grammatically? “Fie”, really? So hood that you had to type some illiterate sh*t like that. Lmfao!
my oh my
I only heard the album one time. 2 – 5 for now
Don’t sleep on this young man…
Straight fire ?
SO OVERRATED. Hip hop is dead
fuck off & die mate
typical vince! you won’t get disappointed. This def not better than summertime ’06 but good enough to keep hardcore vince fans rolling for a few months.
“Holy Trinity: Mac, Vince and Earl”
FOr who? Hipster white boys? fuck outta here nerd
What Vince Staples does is nothing short of amazing. Painting Picasso-type pictures with rhymes at 23 like he does makes him sound like an old hip-hop soul. I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for him. Been a fan since Hell Can’t Wait…and real talk…I can’t wait for his next project to drop.
Gave the album 1/5. This lil nigga is average and he ain’t no Young Thug. swag
Right above your 1/5 is your 5/5 rating. Got to troll smarter.
Half think it’s wack. Half thinks it’s hot. I think he’s hella wack, and it’s apparent like a mofo that websites like hiphopdx and 2dopeboyz cater to vince staples. There’s a new post about him every day, and it’s some wack shi to tell you the truth. That label money is too tasty to turn down. How about give some dope emcees some focus like Reks, Bishop Lamont, Joell Ortiz, J. Cole, Saigon, Joey Badass, the list goes on and on.
amen. Vince has the blogs in his pocket
facts like a mothafucka
what about hes on this websites cuz hes a fuckin talent? i cant understand how Vince is wack but old ass/dated music from Bishop ,Saigon is hotter, The (finally) pop BadaSS approach and Joell’s disability to make a dope EP as a whole.
Vince is the future,watch out for this dude
Wack ass nigga. swag
Smile and Pimp Hand are awesome . This dude keeps gettin better , i knew from the begginin Vince is a raw talent thought . Except from lyricism i love that black music energy that flows in him , seems like he can take from blues and fusion to trap -like approach with the same ease
This is his worst album by far. 2 bangers. 3 at the most.
Young man is dope, he keeps getting better.
you crazy af if you think this is anything short of great
Vince delivered. Smile migh be the best song this year
Top 10 this year