Vince Staples Announces New Album ‘Dark Times’ & Shares Contemplative Single

Vince Staples confirmed a new album, Dark Times, due out this Friday, May 24 via Blacksmith Records/Def Jam Recordings. The hip-hop artist previewed the 13-track record with “Shame on the Devil.”

In a social media post sharing the album’s cover — which contains a faint image of a noose — and tracklist, Staples also noted that Dark Times will be his final release on Def Jam.

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Dark Times follows Staples’ acclaimed 2022 album, Ramona Park Broke My Heart. The rapper also wrote, produced and stars in the celebrated Netflix series The Vince Staples Show, which premiered earlier this year.

Recorded in North Hollywood over the course of seven months, Dark Times’ title came to Vince after he listened to the LP in full, “noticing heavy motifs that kept reappearing,” as per press materials for Dark Times.

Staples called the album, “a personal achievement,” and added, “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.”

Dark Times preview “Shame on the Devil” sees Vince, “rapping over a warm, spectral beat, ruminating on how anointed his life is now, in spite of bouts of loneliness and fallouts with friends.”

Stream “Shame on the Devil” and also check out the teaser video below:

Dark Times Tracklist:

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?