Vince Staples Announces New Album Cry Baby

Over the weekend, Vince Staples returned with "Blackberry Marmalade," an absolute statement of a new single. It's a song about being Black and exploited in America — the sense that white people are trying to use you and kill you, no matter what you do. It's basically a rock song with a chugging guitar riff. Staples co-directed the music video, a gut-clenching image of a mass shooting of Black people, starting with Staples himself. It's filmed from the viewer's point of view. "Blackberry Marmalade" is the lead single from Staples' new album. Today, we find out that the album is called Cry Baby and that it's coming out later this spring.

Staples shared the cover art and release date for Cry Baby on social media last night. You could see its cover as a caricature of Donald Trump, but I'm thinking it's more of a caricature of white America in general. It's as much me as it is Trump. The album comes two years after Staples' most recent LP Dark Times. In the time since Dark Times, Staples has moved on from his longtime label home Def Jam to Loma Vista, and his Netflix series The Vince Staples Show has been canceled after two seasons. Staples recently launched a private Discord server for fans.

Also, Staples is back on his bullshit on Twitter, using the site to bait his own fans and to get into the racial politics and history of rock 'n' roll music. Check it out below.

Cry Baby is out 6/5 on Loma Vista. Pre-order it here.