“I was up late night ballin'” at Vince Staples’ Black in America Tour. As hundreds of people swarmed to Franklin Music Hall to see the Californian rapper, all you could see on the stage was a lone, mighty American flag—and considering how much Staples criticizes America in his music, the irony was not lost on fans. It’s safe to say that we were feeling pretty patriotic for Vince.
This was the first time Staples headlined a tour since his 2019 Smile, You’re on Camera Tour, and he made sure that it would be stacked for his audience. Since his last tour, he has dropped three albums: Vince Staples, RAMONA PARK BROKE MY HEART, and Dark Times. All of these projects featured smooth jams like “ARE YOU WITH THAT?”, songs with good vibes like “MAGIC (ft. Mustard),” and self–reflective tracks like “Black&Blue.” With all the new music that would be performed live for the first time, this concert was guaranteed to show audiences the glory of the man from North Long Beach—a goal he achieved, but with little praise.
In typical concert fashion, it’s normal to play songs that branch from the beginning of an artist’s discography to its end. Usually, however, the biggest hits are reserved for the end of the set or the encore. Staples strayed from this path, however, by playing his biggest hits from his old music first. As an avid Vince Staples fan, I was jumping to “Blue Suede,” “Norf Norf,” and “Yeah Right (ft. Kendrick Lamar and KUČKA).” However, for songs that every fan should know, the crowd was surprisingly quiet. People weren’t jumping or singing along to these tracks, which is surprising given that all three are upbeat, mosh–worthy bangers.
This could’ve been explained away by people only attending the concert for his recent, calmer music—something which would’ve made sense if the crowd was singing along to other tracks in the setlist. Throughout the show, Staples urged the audience to sing along to lyrics and make some noise, saying he couldn't hear us. In any other situation, this would’ve seemed like normal behavior: An artist has to hype the crowd up. Here, however, it seemed more like a plea. Towards the end of the show, Staples said that this was the best crowd he had on the tour so far, but one couldn’t help but wonder if he was lying—or if other sets were somehow even more dead.
As for the setlist itself, the only real downside was that it lacked tracks from older projects like Summertime ’06 and Big Fish Theory. On the 27–song setlist, only five tracks weren’t on the three headlining albums. Moreover, all five were at the very beginning of the concert. I would’ve liked to hear “745,” “BagBak,” or any other earlier tracks dispersed throughout the setlist; dedicating almost all of the concert to his three most recent albums felt isolating for long–time fans. The performance would have benefited from more variation throughout, allowing Staples to highlight songs from throughout his career.
Otherwise, the concert was awesome. Staples explained that the three projects dropped prior to the tour were incredibly personal to him, and you could tell. The raw energy that Vince was putting into the crowd for “Government Cheese,” “AYE! (FREE THE HOMIES),” and “LEMONADE (ft. Ty Dolla $ign)” was unreal. The bass was booming and the lyrics were cutting through with beautiful force. You could feel the passion in his performance; I only wish the crowd was as passionate as him.
