I love Tyler, the Creator but Vince Staples for the Win

Lately I’ve been vibeing hard on the new Vince Staples album, like literally fucking obsessed (at least with the track “ARE YOU WITH THAT?”, which I play three times a day minimum), but to be honest, I was a little disappointed in it at first because it wasn’t as experimental as the Tyler, the Creator album that came out the week before. Now, the first thing to understand about these two artists and their most recent albums is they’re completely different beasts. The Tyler, the Creator album is probably one of the most experimental albums that has come out this year while the Vince Staples album is very simple and nuanced.

The reason I was so attracted to the Tyler, the Creator album at first was because I’d never heard anything like it before, the beats were erratic and constantly changing and somehow, he is still able to flow with them and in a style that is completely his own. His album, CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST, was a piece of music that was so creative that I was blown away and even after multiple listens I was astonished to think of how he even came about making these sounds.

Following Tyler’s album a week after was maybe not the best marketing decision, but my feelings on this are probably not common. All I know is my initial reaction to Vince Staples’ self-titled album was that it was just a pretty standard rap album with a couple cool sounding songs on it. As I listened to it more and more though, it just started to catch on, like a movie that gets better as you notice the little things, I started to notice all the subtle production techniques and really just how much of a pleasure it was to listen to this album.

As the weeks have gone by, I’ve hardly listened to Tyler, the Creator’s album, and I’ve added Vince Staple’s to my consistent go to plays. That’s not to say that I think Vince has anything on Tyler. I honestly don’t know which I would say is better because I do value the creativity of Tyler, but I do know music is meant to choose you. It’s not a matter of who’s better, it’s a simple choice because when I get in the car these day and I’m trying to figure out what to put on, I’ll always start with the Vince Staples’ song “ARE YOU WITH THAT?” because I know it will make me happy, it’s a song that meant to choose me.