Vince Staples has won over the world with his new album, Dark Times. Despite being one of the bleakest and densest releases of his career, the album has received universal praise critics and fans. The L.A. MC has also gotten a co-sign from one of the definitive West Coast bands of the last four decades: Red Hot Chili Peppers. The bassist for the band, Flea, hopped on X (formerly Twitter) on May 26 to praise Dark Times and Staples' approach to songwriting.
Flea is a man of few words, but a lot of personality. It's what makes him arguably the most famous bass player of all time. His Dark Times review was predictably brief yet succinct: "New Vince Staples so deep and good," he wrote. Flea has been an advocate of hip-hop since the 1990s. He told AllHipHop that his favorite producer is J Dilla, whom he was put onto during a jam session with Erykah Badu. "I was doing this thing," he recalled in 2012. "I was playing with Erykah Badu a while ago, you know, and she really…got me into J Dilla... It was like brought me to tears because of how beautiful it is."
Flea Has Liked Vince Staples And OF For Years
Flea has also voiced support for Odd Future. "The Odd Future kids," he singled out in the same interview. "I can [relate] just, in terms, like, it’s like wild, you know." The similarities between OF and Red Hot Chili Peppers are obvious, especially considering how raucous the latter was in the 1980s. The bassist's love for Odd Future hasn't wavered, either. In 2023, Flea welcomed Earl Sweatshirt as a guest for his podcast, This Little Light. He praised the rapper's dense wordplay and production style.
He also compared the OF crew to prime Wu-Tang Clan (who he is also a fan of). "You know, Wu-tang has been, like, a big thing for me a lot through the years," he explained. "You know, all the solo records, and I love Ghostface and the Apollo Kids [album] he came out with." Given Flea's favorite hip-hop artists, it makes perfect sense that he would love Vince Staples. The rapper was an affiliate of Odd Future during their heyday, and he had arguably the best verse on Earl Sweatshirt's major label debut, Doris. Flea knows talent when he hears it.