Californian-based rapper Vince Staples has announced a new self-titled album for July 9, 2021. The album will be on Blacksmith Recordings/Motown Records. The album will feature 10 tracks and will dive deep into Staple’s life and upbringing in Long Beach. Staples has also released a new song, with an accompanying music video. The song is called “Law of Averages,” and the music video is directed by Kid.Studio.

Just a disclaimer to sensitive viewers: the beginning of the video contains flashes of images and blue screens which could cause seizures or those with epilepsy. 

This is a beautifully shot music video, the start is a little hard to focus, because of the flashes of images and blue screen and the upside down flip of the drone camera, but soon afterwards it catches its pace. There are creepy people with ‘fake smiles’ who are pretending to be false for their own clout (assuming this based on the song’s lyrics). There are glimpses of a neighborhood with Staples’ neighbors and friends during the day, and then during the night, Staples is seen on a spiral staircase. The song is intriguing, did Staples suffer a lot of hardships in his relationships to feel this way? The lyrics convey a lot of paranoia and defensiveness from Staples, of not being able to trust anyone.

Speaking of the soon-to-be-released album, Staples said, “it really gives much more information about me that wasn’t out there before. That’s why I went with that title. I feel like I’ve been trying to tell the same story. As you go on in life, your point of view changes. This is another take on myself that I might not have had before.”

Staples is currently working on some more creative projects during this year that will be announced throughout the year. Earlier this year, he had announced that he was working on two albums. He is also featured in a new song with Divine and Pusha-T.

Photo Credit: Stephen Hoffmeister.