Summertime '06

Background and promotion

Staples revealed that he was working on the album, and he said that it would be serving as a follow-up to Hell Can Wait (2014). He also said that this album will be touching a subject on these events about what have happened throughout his life during the summer of 2006 at the age of 13 and going forward. On June 8, 2015, Staples released the album's official artwork via Instagram, where he wrote:

"Love will tear us apart. Nov 30th, 2005 was the beginning of the loss. The following summer multiplied it. Beaten paths, crowded with the hopeless. Same song every day, listening to the words of a dead man destroyed by his own mind and body. Why? Because at the end of the day we're all dead anyway. At least where I come from. Love tore us all apart. Love for self, love for separation, love for the little we all had, love for each other, where we came from. Jabari, Chris, Shard, Tom, Richy, Tyson, Tony, Shelly, Phil, Marcel, Brandon, Steve, Jaron, Tay. Too many to name, too much to forget. Some lost to prison, some lost to Forest Lawn, some turned snitch. Some still here but it will never be the same. Bandanas, Stealing Levis and Nike Sb's. Derringers and Sidekicks. Its crazy how little you notice and how greatly those things impact. Summer of 2006, the beginning of the end of everything I thought I knew. Youth was stolen from my city that Summer and Im left alone to tell the story. This might not make sense but that's because none of it does, we're stuck. Love tore us all apart. Summertime '06, June 30th."

On June 2, 2015, Staples revealed the track listing for disc one of this double album on his Twitter account, and then for the disc two on June 6, 2015. On October 7, 2014, Staples released his debut EP, titled Hell Can Wait. The EP received generally positive reviews from many mainstream critics, including Pitchfork, XXL and HipHopDX. On June 21, 2015, Summertime '06 was made available for streaming on NPR First Listen.

On August 24, 2016, the full version of the album's final track "'06" was released on Adult Swim Singles Program 2016.

Singles

On May 4, 2015, Staples released the track "Señorita", as the first single from his debut album, titled Summertime '06.

The album's second single, "Get Paid", which features guest appearances from Long Beach-native rapper Desi Mo, was released on June 15, 2015.

The album's third and final single, "Norf Norf" was released on June 22, 2015. In October 2016, an 11-minute video of a Christian mother surfaced on social media ranting about “Norf Norf” being played on the radio.

Critical reception

Summertime '06 received widespread acclaim from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 87, based on 24 reviews. David Jeffries of AllMusic said, "Splitting this weighty and rich effort into digestible chunks, the album's physical release comes on two separate discs, making Summertime '06 an artistic triumph wrapped in conceptually fitting package." Evan Rytlewski of The A.V. Club said, "It's a major triumph disguised as a minor one--60 minutes of lean, inventive, important rap music that never pats itself on the back for being any of those things." Alex Gale of Billboard said, "[A] promising, unapologetically dense debut." Adam Kivel of Consequence of Sound said, "Former Kanye mentor No I.D., DJ Dahi, and Clams Casino handle production on the album, but they work together with Staples so that the seams between the different dreams, hallucinations, memories, and nightmares don't show." Lanre Bakare of The Guardian said, "In a year of impressive solo rap albums, Staples has managed to create one that's arguably the most idiosyncratic of the lot." Erin Lowers of Exclaim! said, "Summertime '06's coming of age tale is complemented perfectly by production that finds the nuance in Staples' stories and matches it, couching Staples' rhymes in a way that the streets can understand best."

Jay Balfour of HipHopDX said, "No I.D. and company have helped him make music that's both uncomfortable and lived-in, and Staples sounds more himself inside of it than ever before." Colin Fitzgerald of PopMatters said, "Summertime '06 is the kind of coming-of-age story that's common to hip-hop, but Staples delivers his account with a furious passion and refreshing insight." Jayson Greene of Pitchfork said, "Summertime '06 is breathtakingly focused, a marathon that feels like a sprint." M. T. Richards of Spin said, "Virtually every song slaps like crazy." Dan Rys of XXL said, "It is, simply, one of the best rap debuts of the year." Martin Caballero of The Boston Globe said, "Vince Staples goes all-in on his sprawling double-LP commercial debut, and the returns are decent if not world-beating." Christopher R. Weingarten of Rolling Stone said, "It adds up to a hard-hitting 20-track portrait of life and love in a mad city." Will Heibergall of Tiny Mix Tapes said, "The album may sprawl too widely, but its second disc makes a strong argument for the continuity and self-awareness of the whole package."

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 39 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 13,000 album-equivalent units in its first week. It ranked 20th on Billboard's Top Album Sales chart for the week of July 18, 2015.

Track listing

Notes

Sample credits