Vince Staples Previews His EP ‘Hell Can Wait’ At SOBs In NYC

What a wonderful New York City evening yesterday (Sept. 24) was.

SOBs had a very busy Wednesday night. Before Vince Staples' show began, R&B sensation Luke James held his album release party, swooning a swarm of ladies off their feet. When 10:30 p.m. hit and SOBs began getting the stage ready for VS, the audience differentiation was very evident. Waiting for Staples was a line as far as the eye can see of young aggressive men patiently waiting to mosh inside the venue. Coming out of the SOBs was flocks of gorgeous women with the most jubilant smiles on their faces (enter sad face here).

Starting the night was Da$h, an up-and-coming spitta from Hackensack, N.J. The energy was electric and his stage presence was very impressive. He wore a t-shirt with the word "Suicidal" on it that was designed to look like the Seinfeld logo. With plenty of "Free Retchy P" chants, the central N.J. MC put on show and held the crowds' full attention.

By 12:33 a.m. Vince Staples snuck on the stage, starting out really strong with "Truck Rattle." Next he ripped through deep cuts like "Matlock," "45" and surprised the crowd by unveiling the cover art to his highly anticipated EP Hell Can Wait. The cover depicted what appeared to be a couple of gang members relaxing on the porch in Long Beach, Calif. while all around them chaos broke loose.

The Def Jam MC performed his record that was inspired by "the hunting of gang members by police" titled "Hands Up," and continued on to "Oh, You Scared," "Back Sellin' Crack," and "Humble." By this time Staples began to grow tired. He was expending so much energy in his previous songs that it began to take a toll. He would recover minutes later and perform "Guns and Roses," do a cover of Snoop Dogg "Ups & Downs," spit his verse from "Kingdom" off of Common's recent album Nobody's Smiling and Earl Sweatshirt's standout record "Hive" (top 5 verse last year, hands down).

After performing "Blue Suede," Staples shared with the crowd who was delaying Hell Can Wait. "Due to sample issues the Hell Can Wait EP has been prolonged," said Staples via Twitter last week. The person that had a issue with the sample was Mary J. Blige. He thanked her for finally clearing the sample and performed unheard songs off the new EP. The first song was "Fire," which is the intro to the project and is about when he stopped going to church when he was younger. Next was "Feeling The Love," "Screen Door" and "6500 Degrees." All the songs sound very promising and feature Staples doing what he does best, painting vivid truthful imagery of what it's like growing up on the wrong side of the tracks. After he performed "102," "Locked & Loaded" and he ended the evening with crowd favorite and ode to his father "Nate."

Staples thanked the crowd for coming out and ran off the stage, drenched in sweat and completely exhausted. Hell Can Wait can't come soon enough. It appears the West Coast has another star.—Emmanuel C.M.

Previously: Vince Staples’ New EP ‘Hell Can Wait’ Has Been Pushed Back
Vince Staples’ EP ‘Hell Can Wait’ Will Feature Aston Matthews And Teyana Taylor
Common Featuring Jay Electronica And Vince Staples “Kingdom (Remix)”