Vince Staples – Blackberry Marmalade
Vince Staples is back. “Blackberry Marmalade” dropped on April 25 as the lead single from Cry Baby, his forthcoming album due June 5 via Loma Vista Recordings through his own imprint, Section Eight Arthouse. It’s his first release as an independent artist, ending his run with Def Jam after Dark Times in 2024.
The single marks a clear sonic shift. Where his recent records leaned on minimal, sample-driven production, Cry Baby is built around live instrumentation throughout. “Blackberry Marmalade” comes in hard on a heavy guitar riff with a locked bassline underneath it — closer to rock than anything in his catalog. Staples pushed back on genre labels on X, pointing out that rock, punk, grunge, and indie all trace back to Black artists, and framing it as less of a pivot than a reclamation. The press release describes Cry Baby as a turn outward after the introspection of his last two records, processing what it calls “the endlessly repeating cycles of American tumult.” Staples put it more plainly: “As the world burns, I have decided to release this album”.
The video, co-directed by Staples and Bradley J. Calder, is shot from a first-person perspective as a gunman moves through a diner, ending with a quote from MLK’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” It’s unambiguous, and Staples made sure it reached people directly, premiering it through his Discord server and YouTube before wider release. YouTube age-restricted it; Staples responded on Instagram by telling fans over 18 to share it with younger audiences, adding that “our children deserve the truth”. The combination of the MLK quote and the album cover — a caricature of Trump as a crying baby wrapped in the American flag — leaves little room for interpretation about where Staples is pointing. I find it interesting that the song itself is where the subtler work happens: the chorus about blackberry marmalade and sweet tea as a reference to a grandmother’s kitchen sits right next to a post-chorus pleading not to be gunned down, and the contrast is what gives it weight.
Cry Baby spans 10 tracks and follows Dark Times, which landed on multiple best-of-2024 lists. Staples rolled out the project announcement through a private Discord server he set up for fans a few weeks prior — a deliberate move away from the standard label press cycle.
