This feature was originally published on August 1, 2017.
At 23 years old, Vince Staples has already had career full of surprises. After becoming known for his loose affiliation with the Odd Future pranksters, mixtapes, and song-stealing guest verses, the West Coast rapper (and Complex cover star) found wide acclaim with his debut album, Summertime ‘06, a haunting meditation on a summer that changed his life growing up in Long Beach, California. Then he veered again with last year’s electronic- and rock-influenced Prima Donna, a conceptual EP that imagines him descending into madness. It wasn’t a hit, but it was one of the most original hip-hop projects of the year.
Like Danny Brown, Staples has no loyalty to genre and instead possesses the uncanny ability to bend any beat to his purpose. (“I’m a gangsta Crip, fuck gangsta rap,” he says on “Norf Norf,” the single that’s become his calling card.) He’s described his journey to rap stardom as basically a happy accident. If so, he’s making the most of it. On his upcoming second studio album Big Fish Theory, he boasts of his success with help from Juicy J (“Big Fish”) and lashes out at the systems that hold down black people over a beat you could play at a rave (“BagBak”). What ties it all together is Staples himself, whose acerbic wit and clarity about the heaviest subject matter should at least put him in the running for realest rapper alive. Of his latest era, Staples has said, “We making future music.” For the sake of the future, I hope he’s right.
Here are Vince Staples’ best songs so far, ranked.
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18. Joey Fatts f/ Vince Staples “Lindo”
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Album: Chipper Jones Vol. 2 (2013)
Producer: Stoney Willis
Staples’ verse is the real centerpiece of the downtempo Joey Fatts track, from his 2013 mixtape Chipper Jones Vol. 2. He sounds numb as he lists the ruthless requirements of street life, but his sharp lines betray a meticulous observer (“I just wanna be the nigga they paying, never the nigga they playing”).
17. “Back Sellin’ Crack”
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Album: Stolen Youth (2013)
Producer: Larry Fisherman
The unifying theme of Staples’ music, if you had to pin one down, is what it means to deal with limited options. On “Back Sellin’ Crack,” he describes a drug dealer trying to make his way up—and the consequences of doing so—in no-nonsense detail (“When it’s time for the killing I ride/Look right in my eyes, been ready to die”). It helps that Schoolboy Q’s steamrolling verse and the sample of the 1974 Foxy Brown soundtrack make this one Staples’ more earworm-y jams.
16. "Hands Up"
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Album: Hell Can Wait (2014)
Producer: No I.D.
Staples might be a short, skinny guy, but he’ll be the first to tell you he’s not shy about speaking up to anyone. His social consciousness as an artist matured on “Hands Up,” a single from his first EP. He’s rousing as he calls out police violence and corruption. “I refuse the right to be silent,” he knocks back at the powers that be. The song’s alarming hook—“Yeah, put your hands in the air/Nigga freeze, put your hands in the air”—doesn't seem like it will ever lose its relevance.
15. "Lord"
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Album: Winter in Prague (2012)
Producer: Michael Uzowuru
The track from the Winter in Prague mixtape gets inside the twisted logic of trying trying to survive in "the land of the lost and destroyed,” where hard work and a Bible can’t save you. "I promised my mama I wasn't gonna die so I got this revolver," Staples says, creating a particularly queasy image. The production, awash in spacey synths, showed early on that he was interested in exploring different sounds.
14. "Versace Rap"
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Album: Shyne Coldchain Vol. 1 (2011)
Producer: Michael Uzowuru
“Versace Rap” is a purposeful misnomer. Mercifully, it has nothing to do with fashion, and it came out before the Migos song. It’s about more or less the opposite: just trying to get by when the possibility of death hangs over every day. “I asked my mama what's the key to life, she told me she ain't know/She just try to take it day to day, and pray I make it home,” Staples says in the stunning opening line. The beat may as well be someone beating on a trashcan, which is perfect, because simplicity is the point.
13. Earl Sweatshirt f/ Vince Staples "Hive"
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Album: Doris (2013)
Producer: RandomBlackDude, Matt Martians
People who came for Earl Sweatshirt’s hyped debut studio album discovered a new rap star in the making. Staples carefully and confidently rips apart his rap peers on the guest verse like an artist who’s already gone platinum, maybe because he doesn’t buy what many rappers are selling. “Everybody hard until it's only God they seeing/Kitten soft but in they songs be trapping hard as Jeezy,” he says, before throwing in a nonsensical but hilarious kicker: “Here to save you niggas from the sorbet, Coldchain.”
12. "Surf"
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Album: Summertime ‘06 (2015)
Producer: Mikky Ekko, Clams Casino
Sunny Southern California looms over Staples’ Summertime ‘06, but it’s no ray of hope. On “Surf,” he cynically dismantles the delusions of those around him searching for a better life: “What he charge for the dream that you bought girl/What's the price on a life in this dark world?/Couple hundred where I come from.” Regular collaborator Kilo Kish’s vocals are both serene and sinister, not unlike an ocean view at night.
11. "3230"
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Album: Summertime ‘06 (2015)
Producer: No I.D.
Named for the address of a friend’s home in North Long Beach where Staples moved, “3230” is a panic-inducing story of entering gang life and not being able to get out. “The FEDs takin' pictures and they tappin' Motorolas/Everybody snitchin', gotta live with paranoia,” Staples says. No I.D.’s clanging drums and distorted guitars are the soundtrack to the most intense gangster movie you’ve never seen.
10. Gorillaz f/ Vince Staples "Ascension"
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Album: Humanz (2017)
Producer: The Twilite Tone, Remi Kabaka, Damon Albarn
The best argument for Staples' concision as a rapper isn't even one of his own songs. In just over two minutes on the standout track from Gorillaz’ otherwise muddled Humanz, he kickstarts a party for the end of days following the election of Donald Trump. His advice, accompanied by a choir, is simple and deliciously to the point: “The sky is falling, baby/Drop that ass ‘fore it crash.”
9. "Loco"
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Album: Prima Donna (2016)
Producer: John Hill, DJ Dahi
It’s fitting that Staples’ most bonkers track is about a mental break. Over a skittering electronic beat that seems to be trying to keep up with his breathless, virtuoso rap, Staples takes us through a trip gone deeply wrong: “Lemme tell ya 'bout, when a nigga went crazy/At the Marriott, having Kurt Cobain dreams.” It’s as seductive (“In the black Benz speeding with my black skin gleaming”) as it is terrifying, punctuated by the scream of someone who’s seen something truly monstrous.
8. "Lift Me Up"
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Album: Summertime ‘06 (2015)
Producer: DJ Dahi
“I feel like fuck Versace/They raping niggas’ pockets.” With that, Staples throws a bombshell at brand-obsessed artists and corporate America—and that’s before saying he doesn’t vote in presidential elections. Blunt as ever, he runs through the countless insults he faces daily simply for being black, while also aiming at “fans” who throw around the N-word but will never know what it’s like to walk in his shoes. Material success can’t bring him peace (“I'm just a nigga until I fill my pockets/And then I'm Mr. Nigga”) so he asks for a higher salvation: “I just want to live it up, can a motherfucker breathe?/Life ain't always what it seems, so please just lift me up.”
7. "Blue Suede"
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Album: Hell Can Wait (2014)
Producer: Hagler
Those who didn’t take much notice of Staples before his Def Jam-released EP quickly changed their tune after hearing the breakout single “Blue Suede.” Over a screeching synth that nods to Dr. Dre’s signature sound in the early ‘90s, Staples depicts life on the streets as an all too real hell on earth. He yearns for a pair of sneakers while other kids around him drop dead. “Hope I outlive them red roses,” he confesses. And later: “Finna party like it's prom tonight/Finna kill a nigga walkin' to his mom’s tonight.” The juxtapositions are all the more shocking because of Staples’ matter-of-fact delivery.
6. "BagBak"
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Album: Big Fish Theory (2017)
Producer: Ray Brady
Staples smartly frames his most explicitly political track in personal terms. "This is for my future baby mama/Hope your skin is black as midnight," he begins. Staples' lyrics frequently focus on colors and skin tones as signifiers, and "BagBak" is as much a protest as it is a celebration of blackness. "So ‘til they love my dark skin, bitch I'm going all in," he says, over the throbbing electronic beat, before delivering a string of taunts that would make any Fox News host sweat: “Tell the one percent to suck a dick because we on now/Tell the government to suck a dick because we on now/Tell the president to suck a dick because we on now.” Without ever mentioning the commander in chief by name, Staples made one the most defiant anti-Trump songs yet.
5. "Señorita"
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Album: Summertime ‘06 (2015)
Producer: Christian Rich
Staples flexes his versatility on “Señorita,” working his way around a ridiculously catchy sample of the decidedly un-Staples-like Future. But it’s Staples’ attention to detail that makes the whole thing work. He allows himself a moment to boast about his hustle (“Fly in that Benz but you hide in that Focus”), but doesn’t let us forget the horror he’s witnessed (or that’s depicted in the chilling video for the song). “That's somebody's son but a war to be won,” he says of killing a man. “Baby either go hunt or be hunted.”
4. "War Ready"
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Album: Prima Donna (2016)
Producer: James Blake
Instead of basking in the glowing reception to Summertime ‘06, Staples recruited all-star collaborators (ASAP Rocky, James Blake) and pushed the boundaries of what even constitutes rap music today with his Prima Donna EP. Blake chops up and distorts a sample of André 3000 from “ATLiens” on “War Ready,” then Staples breaks in over a Nintendo-style beep with what sound like the raving words of a man contemplating suicide: “Think of heading to Ibiza/Need a breather from the tripping/Either that or my brains to the ceiling.” It’s clear Staples was working through mental-health issues on Prima Donna in his own remarkable way.
3. "Summertime"
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Album: Summertime ‘06 (2015)
Producer: Clams Casino
The closest Staples has come to making a love song, “Summertime” is directed at a woman he wishes he could love the right way. The dreamy guitar riff brings you into his “cruel, cruel world” as he begs her to say in spite of his failures and the chaos around him. He delivers some of the most memorable lyrics from his catalog or anyone else’s. “Hope you understand, they never taught me how to be a man/Only how to be a shooter,” he says, by way of devastating apology. Staples should make more love songs.
2. "Nate"
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Album: Shyne Coldchain II (2014)
Producer: Scoop DeVille
A family tribute and tragedy, “Nate” cuts deeper than anything else Staples has done. He looks back on his father with eyes of both a child and an adult. The opening line could stop anyone in their tracks: “As a kid all I wanted was to kill a man.” Staples understands all the ways his dad went wrong, but that melts away with the beautiful sample of the soul band Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers and the voice of James Fauntleroy: He still loves the man. (Bonus: The video is equally great.)
1. "Norf Norf"
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Album: Summertime ‘06 (2015)
Producer: Clams Casino
It's too early to say if "Norf Norf" is the song Vince Staples was born to make, but it very well could be. It's the rapper unfiltered, accompanied only by the spare, menacing beat, with its foghorn-like groan. The approach complements Staples' stripped-down description of his life in Long Beach, trying to mack on a girl with threats on all sides. "I ain't never ran from nothing but the police," he says on the hook, more weary than proud of the fact.
He's never been more clear-eyed, even ambivalent, about the realities of gang life. The mother whose viral rant about the song's supposedly dangerous message to kids clearly missed the point—"Norf Norf" isn’t endorsing murder any more than it is cops who hunt down the young black men they're allegedly paid to protect. It’s about survival. But Staples refused to take the bait as others mocked her. Instead, he defended the woman, saying she misunderstood the context and seemed emotionally unstable, and besides, everyone has the right to decide what their kids listen to. He always keeps it honest.
