BY WILLIAM LENNON
Does Vince Staples remind anyone else of Kurt Cobain sometimes? Like the flannel-clad iconoclast of yesteryear, Staples is famously outspoken and harbors deep disdain for fame and the gilded culture that comes with it. Not even seeming to feel obliged to pay dues to the rap game, Staples is using the medium with “using” being the key word. He’s not so in love with the idea of rap that he can’t bulldoze the most decrepit bits to make room for something original. And given how good he is at transmitting angst to verse, it doesn’t seem strange that one of the greatest rappers alive rubs elbows with James Blake and Bon Iver while admitting he’s a recovering Panic! at the Disco fan. When you go all in on every track like Staples, you don’t really have to answer for shit like that.
