Vince Staples is no Cry Baby, but he’s not keeping his complaints to himself either. An infant clad in an American-flag diaper wails on the cover of his June album, which contains 10 tracks of cogent social commentary, rock star bass riffs, and funky OutKast-inspired choruses. From the opening rumination on the rap industry, tucked inside a catchy ode to his grandmother’s summertime sweets, through the final whistling anti-war track “7 in the Morning,” the Compton-raised rapper holds back no punches in this dryly delivered record of history lessons, performed live with an extra spike of energy thanks to a full band. – Caroline Drew
