Started around the same time as the sessions that yielded his 2021 self-titled album,
Ramona Park Broke My Heart, the fifth studio album from California rapper
Vince Staples, continues down a path of introspective and sometimes nostalgic tones. The Ramona Park name-checked in the album's title refers to the Long Beach, California neighborhood where
Staples grew up, and he seems to flash between memories of his upbringing and how the present day was informed by his past throughout the album. The infectiously funky "Magic" finds
Staples remembering the harder times of street hustling and public housing squabbles on his way to success, flowing over a mellow, bass-forward
Mustard-produced beat. Tracks like the solemn, weary "East Point Prayer" and the booming "DJ Quik" are similar, as he remembers his early days of gang affiliation and reflects on how the pressures from those days never really lifted, they just took different shapes as
Staples found fame. He spends some time dissecting his complex relationship with sex and love, as well, starting the sharp anti-love track "Rose Street" with the ad-lib "I don't sing no love songs, ain't never sang no love songs!" and transferring the sentiments of a romantic relationship onto his gun on the clever "When Sparks Fly." The production throughout
Ramona Park Broke My Heart is metered and languid, with unrushed tempos and relaxed vocal deliveries on most of the material.
Staples goes even deeper into memory and self-reflection on
Ramona Park Broke My Heart, presenting his pain, glory, and contradictory emotions in sharper definition while turning in some of his most engaging music to date. ~ Fred Thomas