This year Halloween fell on a weekend.

Will Hagle will not just wait on it.  I’ve been listening to Spotify’s edited version of Hell Can Wait because it’s the app’s first search result for ‘Vince Staples’ and I don’t have enough hard drive space on my computer to save the real EP. I’ve also been streaming Gunplay’s new self-titled tape on DatPiff and […]

Aaron Frank prefers turning up to looking at pictures on the wall. As the state of the site has reflected, it’s been a stressful transition period for us here at Passion of the Weiss in recent weeks. Luckily, our patience and hard work has paid off, and together with his design team, Jeff has restructured a […]

An in-depth review of the Def Jam debut from Long Beach rapper Vince Staples.

Asking music writers to agree on one thing is an impossible task. Some think Young Thug’s otherworldly yelps ruled the summer while others would prefer he return to his home planet. One thing you can depend on is most of these tunes will inspire unrestrained dancing all the way into autumn. See below for our […]

Paul Thompson doesn’t need extra cheese on that Sicilian You’re lying in bed, colorless. Liquor stores. Barbed wire. Jesus candles. There’s a pounding on the roof. It’s Vince Staples, sueded out and giving startlingly few fucks. Christmas comes in August, except the 19-year-old from Long Beach is jacking you for everything you own. If it […]

Thomas Johnson is hyper as a heart attack Chicago’s been in a predicament over the last few years. While the quality of its music is steadily on the rise, the quality of life of many of those making the music has been on a steep decline. Drill scene artists  like Chief Keef reflect the warzone […]

I’ve spent a significant part of the last few years taking the death of gangster rap for granted. The narrative that I’ve run with tracks the rise in popularity of artists like (duh) Kanye West, the explicitly fake Rick Ross, and Drake, and the concurrent fall of Young Jeezy, the disappearance of 50 Cent, the […]

The subject matter rarely changes in gangsta rap. Someone is getting high. Someone is getting smoked. Someone is getting screwed, literally or metaphorically. The streets and sets are often the same. Ravaged blocks get immortality through wars and martyrdom for muddled causes. The guns are the same, so is the slang. What’s different is the […]

Jonah Bromwich is a minivan veteran. “As a kid, all I wanted was to kill a man.  Cuz my daddy did it.” The inverse of the Odd Future pillars, Tyler the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt, many of Vince Staples’ problems come from a close relationship with his father. That’s the irony explored on “Nate,” a […]