Vince Staples has announced a new album, ‘Cry Baby’, and dropped the powerful lead single ‘Blackberry Marmalade’. Check it out below.
The new record marks the seventh record from the Long Beach rapper, singer, and actor, following on from his 2024 release ‘Dark Times’. It is set for release on June 5 via Loma Vista, and available to pre-order here.
Whereas ‘Dark Times’ and 2022’s ‘Ramona Park Broke My Heart’ saw Staples take a look inwards, the new record is seeing him turn his sights outwards – analysing the endlessly repeating cycles of American tumult and reflecting them in his music with clarity and intent.
To accompany the album announcement, Staples has dropped the lead single ‘Blackberry Marmalade’ and shared the thought-provoking video for it, which is presented from the perspective of a first-person shooter.
He gave fans a first-look at the video via his Discord and YouTube channels this weekend.
“Blackberry marmalade and sweet tea/ Beats the summer blaze, they say/ Honesty’s the best policy, OK,” Staples sings in the hypnotic, unsettling climax, before leaping into the fast-paced post-chorus: “Promise me you won’t gun me down”.
As for the album as a whole, Staples is also set to push the boundaries of his instrumentals. As well as outward-looking, politically motivated lyrics, the rapper is also mixing things up by building each track around live instrumentation.
This, he explains, helps capture the album’s immediacy and urgency, and reflect the tension and emotional weight felt across America.
“As the world burns, I have decided to release this album. Thanks for listening,” he shared.
1. ‘Blackberry Marmalade’
2. ‘Go! Go! Gorilla’
3. ‘White Flag’
4. ‘Run and Hide’
5. ‘TV Guide’
6. ‘The Big Bad Wolf’
7. ‘Only In America’
8. ‘Do You Know The Devil’
9. ‘Cotton’
10. ‘7 In the Morning’
Staples has been announced as part of Bonnaroo’s 2026 line-up, alongside The Strokes, Turnstile, Skrillex, Noah Kahan and more. The festival returns to Manchester, Tennessee from June 11 to 14.
In 2024, the actor and musician launched his own show on Netflix. Titled The Vince Staples Show, the series was inspired by Donald Glover’s Atlanta, and followed the rapper in a surreal fictional version of his life as he navigated daily challenges in his home of Long Beach, California.
The first season debuted successfully on Netflix, although the second season did not get the same momentum when it premiered in November 2025. At the start of the year it was confirmed that the streamer had cancelled the show.
Staples’ 2022 album ‘Ramona Park Broke My Heart’ scored a four-star review from NME, which praised it as seeing “the artist dig deeper than ever before.”
“Yes, ‘Vince Staples’ was a beautifully personal reflection from start to finish, but ‘Ramona Park…’ enriches the listener’s relationship with the rapper – who hasn’t looked back on their former home with mixed feelings and deep nostalgia?”
The post Vince Staples announces ‘Cry Baby’ with thought-provoking single ‘Blackberry Marmalade’: “As the world burns, I have decided to release this album” appeared first on NME.
