Vince Staples Shows Continued Growth on His Latest Album, "Ramona Park Broke My Heart"

Mduduzi Hlatshwayo • April 9, 2022

Less than a year after releasing his self-titled album, Vince Staples returns with another album for us called Ramona Park Broke My Heart. Since jumping off the porch into the music lane in 2011 with his Shyne Coldchain Vol. 1 mixtape, Staples hasn't looked back. Reminiscent to the late, great Mac Miller, Staples has progressed with each project he puts out. Even when he takes a more creative approach to an album, like he did with Big Fish Theory, his authentic self still shines through.

The man that Vince Staples is today is because of his upbringing. Through the good and the bad, Staples knows that he would not be here if it wasn't for his city, and that is why "Ramona Park Broke My Heart" is the complicated ode to his hometown of Long Beach, CA. He touches on the themes of survivor's guilt, love, street politics, and more. Though these are not new topics to any Vince Staples fan that has listened to him for years, he digs deeper on this project. On When Sparks Fly, he gives personification to his pistol, giving life to it as if it was his partner. "Never put you in a jam, hold whatever for you / When you first shot your shot, I knew you would be the one to hit the spot", Staples raps on the record.

He closes the album out in fashion with his record Blues, where he questions the ways money has changed him. Money is power in this world, and can become a shield for some to the realities of the it. "Money made me numb", he repeats early into the record. Later on, he starts his 3rd verse with the question of, "What's success but guilt and stress?" While Vince has risen to the top in his career, he ponders if it was all worth it if that means dealing with the new, added stresses of it as well as feeling the guilt of being the "one" who made it out.

Vince Staples' introspection has always been one of biggest reason people flock to his music. While I have no doubt we'll see more rappers from Long Beach make it big, there will never be another Vince Staples. "Ramona Park Broke My Heart" is a truly special album and Vince Staples deserves his flowers for it, and more, immediately.

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