Andrew Veeder on October 16th, 2014

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After putting out a mixtape a year since 2011, and guesting on multiple tracks from Common, Earl Sweatshirt and Mike G, Long Beach rapper Vince Staples put out his first official release last week, an excellent EP entitled “Hell Can Wait,” via Def Jam Recordings. Its first track, “Fire,” finds him spitting rhymes over an Anthony Kilhoffer-produced beat with a deep bassline and distorted drum kicks. In the accompanying video, Staples strides into a dark church before entering the confessional booth and declaring, “You dig your own grave when you f*ckin’ with the Lord,” and that he’s “probably finna go to hell anyway,” as the bemused priest furrows his brow. At least the stained glass is pretty.

||| Live: Vince Staples plays Odd Future’s Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival at Exposition Park at the Los Angeles Coliseum on Nov. 8.