Vince Staples' Summertime '06 is making quite the impression on the hip-hop scene. While it's being called an instant West Coast classic, the double LP also works as a geography lesson on Vince's neighborhood in North Side Long Beach, California.
Most of the stories take place around the Ramona Park neighborhood in Long Beach, California. While a quick Google search would indicate that this is a perfect spot to spend a day relaxing, Vince's stories of gang-banging and homicide depict quite the opposite. With its visually strong lyrics, it's important for you to get the picture of where these tales are taking place.
Flick through the locations that the 20 songs on Summertime '06 take place with our Vince Staples geography lesson.
Location: Ramona Park
Mentioned in "Ramona Park Legend Pt. 1," "Birds & Bees," "Ramona Park Legend Pt. 2"
Vince started his Larry Fisherman-produced track "Outro" with the words, "I'm here to tell the world I'm from Ramona Park," and he made that very clear in his proper studio debut. The gang-ridden Northside Long Beach neighborhood pops up throughout the course of the double LP.
Location: Poppy Street
Mentioned in "Lift Me Up," "Norf Norf," "Dopeman," "3230" +more
Vince gave Complex the tour of his Poppy Street neighborhood earlier this year, and the street is dropped in multiple tracks on the album. Most specifically, "3230" shouts it out at the beginning of the second verse by saying "3230 Poppy St, we ain't chasin', they brought the beef / Used to the sounds of violence, my neighbors ain't never call police." Vince takes you to the exact address he grew up on during the course of Summertime '06.
Poppy St.
Locaton: Downey Ave
Mentioned in "Norf Norf"
"Man down, Downey Ave and get shaded," the Long Beach MC says during the first verse of Summertime '06's third track. Downey Avenue is one of the main roads that can lead you to the Ramona Park neighborhood, where Staples can be found much of the time.
Location: 91 Freeway
Mentioned in "Loca"
Vince Staples doesn't purely stay on Artesia, Poppy, or Ramona Park for that matter. Occasionally, he'll let his inner speed demon get the best of him as he cruises down the freeway.
"I'm tryna to have a good time this evening
91 Freeway, eastbound, speedin'
Late night but the face right, I need it
Mando, I'm the man though, you see it
Niggas wanna kill me, so I gotta keep it"
Location: Artesia
Mentioned in "Señorita"
In case you didn't know where Vince Staples is chillin', he spells it out for you in the Future-sampled single.
"Got some lead for me, I'm on Artesia
Parked in my Bimmer bumping my own shit"
Location: Douglas Burger
Mentioned in "Señorita"
Vince admits to a murder in the final lines of "Señorita"'s first verse:
"We crabs in a bucket, he called me a crab
So I shot at him in front of the Douglas
I cannot be fucked with, we thuggin' in public"
He also had this to say about it, in his official annotation for Rap Genius:
"People don’t know what a fuckin’ Douglas Burger is, so they can listen to this song all they want but they don’t know what I’m talking about just because of the simple fact they don’t know where that is—they’ve never been there.
I don’t feel like I need to go too deeply into explaining my lyrics. People don’t care about what’s happening in Long Beach, or Compton, or Watts. They still look at us like we’re living in a Mack 10 video. When they look at these areas, and look at these people, they don’t see themselves. Until people really see themselves within other people, they can’t genuinely care for their betterment. It’s hard to understand and respect things that are different than us. We need to start looking at each other eye-to-eye."
Location: Roy Campanella Park
Location: Roy Campanella Park
Mentioned in "3230"
3230 Poppy Street isn't the only location that gets a shoutout on "3230." Vince talks about gang-banging with his Piru buddy from Roy Campanella Park as the first verse comes to a close, saying, "With my Ru from Campanella we was crashin' shit together."
Location: Long Beach California
Mentioned in "Get Paid"
It should be of no surprise that the LBC gets a shout out from Long Beach's hottest MC. In "Get Paid," Vince ditches the specific neighborhoods to give the greater city a quick mention.
"That's why them niggas screamin' Free Big Meech
Not me, nigga fuck police
Split a pig nigga wig for the boy, SD
Money motivated in the LBC, come and holla at me"
Location: Coronado Ave.
Mentioned in "Street Punks"
Coronado Ave is a street in Ramona Park that intersects with Poppy St., where Staples grew up. Keeping with the theme of the album, the street is mentioned in reference to a homicide: "Well you know how we rocking, nigga, you know who we wackin' now / You ain't never caught a body, know it cause you talkin' 'bout it / Catch me off Coronado."
Location: 6500 Obispo Avenue, Long Beach, CA
Location: 6500 Obispo Avenue, Long Beach, CA
Mentioned in "C.N.B."
When the first verse kicks off, Vince says, "On 65 I tell the truth, no lies," which could have a double meaning. "65" references 6500 Obispo Avenue, which is the house present on the cover of Hell Can Wait. Vince is saying that he told the truth in that residence, and on that project.