\n<\/p>\n
Vince Staples<\/a> is back with his first new solo song in two years and it\u2019s a dark one. Over a noise-rock beat, \u201cBlackberry Marmalade\u201d seems to be about modern anti-establishment views aligning with horseshoe theory, and includes the refrain \u201cPromise me you won\u2019t gun me down\u201d along with references to Kanye West crashing out and Princess Diana. It also comes with a graphic, age-restricted music video co-directed by Staples and Bradley J. Calder<\/a>. You can watch that below.<\/p>\n The \u201cBlackberry Marmalade\u201d video is filmed in the style of a first-person shooter game. In it, the cameraperson lifts a gun in a parking lot and targets Staples, who tries and fails to disarm them, before entering a diner to stage a mass shooting. It ends with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr.: \u201cSo the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be.\u201d<\/p>\n Near the beginning of the music video, a red hat with the word \u201cCrybaby\u201d is resting on the dashboard of Staples\u2019 car. A date is also embroidered on its side, with some fans speculating that it indicates a future release date. Not only has it been two years since Staples dropped an album, but that record, 2024\u2019s Dark Times<\/em><\/a>, marked his final project with Def Jam. That means \u201cBlackberry Marmalade\u201d is his first single as an independent artist.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not been silent on Staples\u2019 end since Dark Times<\/em>, though. He linked up with Jpegmafia for his I Lay Down My Life for You<\/em><\/a> song \u201cNew Black History\u201d and JID\u2019s track \u201cVCRs\u201d from God Does Like Ugly<\/em>. Season 2 of The Vince Staples Show<\/em><\/a> also aired on Netflix last fall, only for the streamer to cancel it<\/a> in January.<\/p>\n Revisit Alphonse Pierre\u2019s column Vince Staples Turns Rap Stardom Anxieties Into Comedy on The Vince Staples Show<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n