Vince Staples
Summertime '06

Every now and then, when trying to name the Californian universe, there's a risk of misunderstanding and overlooking what it means to live and grow up in the Los Angeles area. Seeing names on the map that appear close together leads to easy mistakes. One might overlook that those names, seemingly overlapping, are actually unique microcosms that differ from one another in essential ways. A satellite city like Long Beach perfectly fits this description. It's always seen fleetingly along the highway when heading to more congenial surfer towns like San Clemente, without venturing as far as San Diego. Los Angeles itself doesn't shine on its own; you need to know how to appreciate it and get the right perspective, Long Beach, on the other hand, fades among industrial complexes, exhaust fumes that make the air unbearably polluted, and a port area full of worn and rusty containers. It's such a place, anonymous, where that typical shimmering, vibrant, and breathtaking postcard saying “Greetings from California” seems redundant and anachronistic. In this reality stands a very young boy, born in 1993, Vince Staples. He has the experience of growing up in the infamous hood ingrained in his blood, with the risk of falling into gang life averted thanks to rap music. Vince isn't a name that comes from nowhere; years of mixtapes and tight collaborations with the Odd Future ensemble by Tyler, The Creator, have brought him to the spotlight, leading to a contract with the prestigious Def Jam. These are the premises that give birth to a decadent love letter to his hometown. If Kendrick becomes the storyteller of Compton, Vince Staples is that of Long Beach, or rather Norf Norf: Norfside, Long Beach. The overall framework of the concept is named “Summertime ’06”.

Vince's vision is very genuine and raw, just like his flow: dry and aseptic, ready to dissect the environment that surrounds him. An examination of becoming aware of what it means to be afraid. The double album opens with a few seconds that set the tone for all the compositions present in “Summertime ’06”. A beat, against a blurred background of seagull cries and a slight sway, is interrupted by a cold gunshot. The atmosphere that immerses the album's metrics and themes is leaden and introspective. Vince’s imagery relies on a minimalism in which the scenario of an excluded working class is painted, where the dilapidated wrecks of a dream of a better life that will never be realized come to life. The ghosts of a difficult adolescence obsessively resurface. He confesses this himself: “I ain’t never ran from nothin’ but the police”. Living in Norf Norf is like that, surrounded by street culture, where Street Punks aren’t those wearing a sleeveless Discharge shirt, but those who, from a passing Cadillac, unload a 9mm magazine on you, just because your bandana is the color of a rival gang. Vince meanders through dimly lit night streets and melancholy suburbs where in the distance flashing lights that seem more like an alarming SOS to ships than warnings, seem to send an alarming SOS. Stay away from here, from Norf Norf, among wells of disillusionment and illegally earned money. One is dragged to the bottom of that ocean which reminds you for a moment you are in California.

Vince's music is eerily close to that of Earl Sweatshirt, not coincidentally the two are friends and collaborators, as in “Doris” also in “Summertime ’06” the sound is restless and cryptic. The places where one grew up, in this case near Ramona Park, color everything with a false self-confidence, where in reality a not too hidden uncertainty and social criticism emerges. In fact, he says it bluntly and provocatively: “Why they hate us? Why they want to rape us for our culture? They greet, defeat us, bleed us, then they leave us for the vultures”. Or again, he doubles down in the Orwellian and beautiful video of Senorita. In the end, the circle of “Summertime ’06” closes and finds its great fulfillment in the fear that Vince cites as a motivating reason for creating the album. The fear of riding one’s own emotions, like waves that challenge you endlessly. The fear of having seen friends and peers die or end up in prison. A youth squandered and for some leading to a life forever lost. As such: “Youth was stolen from my city that Summer and I’m left alone to tell the story. This might not make sense but that's because none of it does, we're stuck. Love tore us all apart. Summertime ’06, June 30th.”

This is what “Summertime ’06” is.