Vince Staples has announced his new album, Cry Baby, out June 5th in partnership with Loma Vista Recordings, following the release of the rock-tinged lead single “Blackberry Marmalade” this past Saturday, April 25th.
According to a press release, the 10-track album is a contrast to the introspection of Staples’ last two projects, turning outward while “processing the endlessly repeating cycles of American tumult and reflecting them back with sharply honed clarity and intent.”
Each song on Cry Baby is structured around live instrumentation to construct a “dynamic, confrontational body of work that captures the tension, absurdity, and emotional weight of America — an album that doesn’t just document the times and its precedents, but actively wrestles with them.”
Built around a heavy guitar riff, “Blackberry Marmalade” offers a provocative first glimpse at Cry Baby. Staples pushed back against descriptions of the track as “punk rock,” pointing out on X/Twitter that genres such as rock, punk, post-punk, grunge, new wave, and indie rock are “all different, but they all come from the Cracka tryna be James Brown.”
Epitomizing an anti-establishment ethos, “Blackberry Marmalade” tells uncomfortable truths with lyrics like, “Anti-establishment, crackers on that shadiness/ Crackers watch me work and break my back and shit, they maniacs/ Crackers tap my pockets with taxes, said they made me rich.”
The accompanying video, directed by Staples and Bradley J. Calder, is even more provocative, filmed from the perspective of a first-person shooter video game. After taking out Staples, the protagonist guns down patrons in a diner. Watch it below.
Cry Baby follows Dark Times, which Consequence named one of the Best Rap Albums of 2024. The project marked Staples’ final release on Def Jam.
Cry Baby Artwork:
Cry Baby Tracklist:
01. Blackberry Marmalade
02. Go! Go! Gorilla
03. White Flag
04. Run and Hide
05. TV Guide
06. The Big Bad Wolf
07. Only in America
08. Do You Know the Devil?
09. Cotton
10. 7 in the Morning
