Music Reviews: Vince Staples

Vince Staples' surprise new 22-minute project may be part of a trend in a year in which Pusha T dethroned all competitors in seven songs, but Staples pioneered it. His breakthrough double album "Summertime '06" (2015) was bookended by two EPs-2014's "Hell Can Wait" and 2016's "Prima Donna"-that were just as good as the full-length stuff. "FM!" is most similar to 2017's "Big Fish Theory," in which the diamond-hard rhymer takes a backseat to atypical yet danceable beats, the rare "experimental" rap record everybody liked, even without much worth quoting. "FM!" is more lyrical-one tantalizing track is the most upbeat thing Earl Sweatshirt's ever recorded and is over in 22 seconds. But it's also the most accessible record Staples has ever made; the lead "Feels Like Summer" stoops to an AutoTuned "hook" that never recurs. That doesn't make it his best, as every single track ends so abruptly it's like an album-length continuation of the amorphous "Black Panther" hit "King's Dead," leaving comparatively little to chew on. But that's what repeat plays are for, right?-Dan Weiss,