"Vince Staples - Dark Times" Did You Really Expect Me to Like It?

 

    Look for some artists I like to write these long, intro paragraphs where I talk about my expectations for the album, any sort of history I had for them, and things like that. However, my rap opinions are frankly not that interesting because I'm quite picky with which artists in the genre I like, if any, and so I will not pretend to say I have ever heard a Vince Staples song, nor have I heard amazing things about him. So without further ado, a track-by-track review of Dark Times by Vince Staples.

Dark Times - Vince Staples

Close Your Eyes and Swing - N/A

Black&Blue - 55/100 I really need to stop rating rap songs on choruses, but to be honest when it comes to music I place a lot of emphasis on whether or not I think a song is catchy. Like I can hear and understand the lyrics, but it's just like, the music isn't that interesting to me? It's fine and it doesn't offend me, but it doesn't lure me in?

Government Cheese - 45/100 What I can appreciate about this album is that the tracks are kind of short? I mean like yeah this song could have probably fit like one more verse, but keeping the songs short helps me as a listener/someone who sometimes feels as if a lot of rap songs sound similar.

Children's Song - 50/100 I kind of like the guitar on this song, it's definitely the best sounding song on this album in my eyes, but I don't really like the chorus on this song, it doesn't really help the song.

Shame On The Devil - 60/100 I think this song is a similar story to the last one in the sense that instrumentally I like it, but the chorus is better. I wish the vocals of Baby Rose were louder and there wasn't that random man speaking the chorus alongside her though, then the song could have been better.

Étouffée - 55/100 Wow I'm almost a fan of this song. The chorus is kind of good and there's a bit of energy in the verses, but ultimately, I'd still neve replay this song so I can't give it that high of a score.

Liars - N/A

Justin - 60/100 The very short intro of this song actually kind of intrigued me, it sounded nice, but sadly I'm just not that interested in rap music nor Vince Staples' music specifically. Well I like the little random story he tells in this song though.

"Radio" - 45/100 Despite being three minutes long this song felt as short as some of the shorter tracks on this album, it kind of passed by and did nothing for me.

Nothing Matters - 50/100 The PUP song of the same name is better, it's better than the last song but only marginally because of the outro. Otherwise I have no strong opinions on this album.

Little Homies - 62/100 I kind of like the energy of the song that this beat brings to the song. Is this me saying I wish the songs were faster? Perhaps. The interlude also helps in making this song kind of interesting, perhaps I just need more variety in my songs.

Freeman - 60/100 "I'll never find a equal mind, I'll settle for the fattest ass". It's kind of cool to see him reflect on his success and talk about his mindset even after all of it, about how money doesn't phase him and how he believes everything is in the hands of god.

Why Won't the Sun Come Out? - N/A

Final Score: 54/100

    Frankly, the score is higher than I expected. Sadly, it seems unless it's something like Scaring The Hoes, I simply have very little interest in rap albums. I mean even Spotify's algorithm has no idea why I listened to this album, it literally played a song off of Charli XCX's new album immediately after, which should tell you about how little my musical interests overlap with this album. I would say more about this album but all I can say is that I'm grateful it wasn't longer, because if it was I think the score would have been lower as I force myself to finish through the entire album. As hard as I might try this album is simply not a genre for me, and if I did have many substantive thoughts about it I'd probably be lying to you, that's the truth.


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