Framing Cry Baby as a rapper doing a rock record is inaccurate, because what Vince Staples has made here is a record that acknowledges the deep, long and complicated role of Black performers with the groove of Curtis Mayfield, the political fury of Gil Scott-Heron and the energy of Outkast. Calling it a rap-rock record misses what matters, and this context is important, because Staples has wanted to perform and record with a live band for years but his major label told him it wasn’t commercially viable. Cry Baby is his first record as an independent artist on his own Section Eight Arthouse label, and it’s a deeply political release on multiple levels.

Built around murky and understated backing that gives every word room to land, Cry Baby is a visceral, serious and intense record about state violence against Black people and racism at the highest levels of American government, as politically confrontational as NWA or Public Enemy but delivered with a deadpan understatement and a vocal performance that’s largely quiet, controlled, and matter of fact, only exploding at key moments. Blackberry Marmalade opens the record with a rock band behind it but drawing on a far broader and older template. Go! Go! Gorilla is built on a fun and bouncy refrain over subject matter that’s horrible, contrasting groovy music over reflections on the dark underbelly of the city in a way that’s powerful and unsettling. White Flag captures the exhaustion of the battle, and The Running Man is as exhilarating as a gritty film soundtrack feeling intense, murky and uncomfortable. TV Guide touches on media hypnosis and The Big Bad Wolf is built on a Slick Rick sample that demonstrates how little has changed since the original clip was first recorded. The subject matter is too morose for this to be a fun listen, but it sounds like the record Staples has always wanted to make.