Today, Vince Staples has announced that he will be releasing his new album, Dark Times, on May 24th via Def Jam Recordings.

Dark Times introduces a new era in the prolific artist’s discography, serving as a muscular and revelatory piece of work that refines the elements that have driven the discography of Staples for the last decade. Such as, dense lyricism over hush and layered beats; wry, melancholic observations about life; finding pockets of light in an endless dark.

Recorded over the course of seven months in North Hollywood, the album title came intuitively to Staples after he listened to the record in full, noticing heavy motifs that kept reappearing. The album cover, featuring a faintly seen noose, was similarly intuitive. “I’m Black, and that’s what we’re evading,” he says of the inspiration behind the image. “We all have our things that could kill us. We all have that imminent threat.”

To go alongside the album announcement, Staples has released the first single from the album, “Shame on the Devil.” The song features him rapping over a warm, spectral beat, ruminating on how anointed his life is now, in spite of bouts of loneliness and fallouts with friends. Calling the song “a personal achievement,” Staples said, “it’s me mastering some things I’ve tried before that I wasn’t great at in the beginning. It’s a testament to musical growth, song structure—all the good stuff.”

Listen to “Shame on the Devil” below and pre-order Dark Times here.

Dark Times follows his 2022 critically acclaimed album Ramona Park Broke My Heart, which was the latest piece of critically acclaimed work from Staples.

Check out the artwork and track-listing below.

Artwork:

Vince Staples artwork

Track-listing:

  1. Close Your Eyes and Swing
  2. Black & Blue
  3. Government Cheese
  4. Children’s Song
  5. Shame On the Devil 
  6. Étouffée 
  7. Liars
  8. Justin
  9. “Radio”
  10. Nothing Matters 
  11. Little Homies 
  12. Freeman 
  13. Why Won’t the Sun Come Out?