''FM!'' is the third studio album by American rapper

Vince Staples Vincent Jamal Staples (born July 2, 1993) is an American rapper. Born in Compton, California and raised in Long Beach, California, he first became known for his appearances on projects by Odd Future members—''Earl (mixtape), Earl'' by Earl Sw ...

, released on November 2, 2018, through

Blacksmith Records Blacksmith is a music management company and record label founded by Harlem-born Corey Smyth and Talib Kweli of Black Star in 2005. Signees include Jean Grae, Strong Arm Steady, Vince Staples and Idle Warship. Kweli has stated he hopes to sig ...

and

Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The l ...

. The album is primarily produced by

Kenny Beats Kenneth Charles Blume III (born May 10, 1991), known professionally as Kenny Beats, is an American record producer, DJ, audio engineer, and songwriter. Early life Kenneth Blume III was born and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. He got an early ...

, with further production by Hagler,

Cubeatz Cubeatz (sometimes stylized as CuBeatz) are a German hip hop production and songwriting duo from Hildrizhausen, consisting of twin brothers Kevin and Tim Gomringer. Originally embarking on their careers within German hip hop in 2008, they have si ...

and KillaGraham, and features guest vocals from

Kamaiyah Kamaiyah Jamesha Johnson (born March 13, 1992) is an American rapper and singer from Oakland, California. Her debut mixtape, ''A Good Night in the Ghetto'', was released in 2016 to critical acclaim. In 2017, Kamaiyah was named as one of the ten ...

E-40 Earl Tywone Stevens (born November 15, 1967), better known by his stage name E-40, is an American rapper. Stevens is a founding member of the rap group The Click (band), The Click and the founder of Sick Wid It Records. He has released 27 stud ...

Jay Rock Johnny Reed McKinzie Jr. (born March 31, 1985), better known by his stage name Jay Rock, is an American rapper from Los Angeles, California. Rock signed with local independent label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) in 2005. He secured a major lab ...

Kehlani Kehlani Ashley Parrish ( ; born April 24, 1995) is an American singer, songwriter and dancer. She is originally from Oakland, California, and achieved initial fame as a member of the teen pop group PopLyfe in 2011. Kehlani's debut mixtape, '' ...

Earl Sweatshirt Thebe Neruda Kgositsile (born February 24, 1994), known professionally as Earl Sweatshirt, is an American rapper and record producer. Kgositsile was originally known by the moniker Sly Tendencies when he began rapping in 2008, but changed his na ...

Buddy Buddy may refer to: People *Buddy (nickname) *Buddy (rapper), real name Simmie Sims III (1993–Present) * Buddy Cage (1946–2020), American pedal steel guitarist, member of the New Riders of the Purple Sage *Buddy Holly (1936–1959), artistic ...

and

Tyga Micheal Ray StevensonMicheal Ray Stevenson

, among others.

Composition

Over the course of an approximately 22-minute runtime, the album is framed as a radio-station takeover, featuring recurring skits hosted by Los Angeles radio host Big Boy. According to ''

NPR Music NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music ...

'' staff writer Rodney Carmichael, "''FM!'' uses

terrestrial radio Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

— and longtime L.A. radio staple Big Boy's morning show — as a foil to offer subversive commentary on the ways and means

black music Music of the African diaspora is a sound created, produced, or inspired by Black people, including Music of Africa, African music traditions and African popular music as well as the music genres of the African diaspora, including some Caribbean mus ...

is marketed for

mass consumption Consumerism is a socio-cultural and economic phenomenon that is typical of industrialized societies. It is characterized by the continuous acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing quantities. In contemporary consumer society, the ...

. Even the features — Cali artists including

and two diametrically opposed interludes from

and

Tyga Micheal Ray StevensonMicheal Ray Stevenson

— present a range of extremes that deconstruct the static separating radio and Internet, alternative and pop."

Critical reception

''FM!'' was met with widespread critical acclaim. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a

normalized Normalization or normalisation refers to a process that makes something more normal or regular. Science * Normalization process theory, a sociological theory of the implementation of new technologies or innovations * Normalization model, used in ...

rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 81, based on 16 reviews. Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 7.2 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus. Neil Z. Yeung of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

gave the album a positive review stating, "Despite ''FM!''s brevity, Staples jams so much into every bar that it fully satiates, all while still managing to end so abruptly that it comes as a surprise. The electrifying thrill of ''FM!'' is a triumph for the rapper who remains at the top of his game". ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

''s Alphonse Pierre wrote, "Vince is at ease here, intertwining his personality into his somber celebration of Long Beach like never before. He's rapping his ass off, and hooks are mostly an afterthought. He dips in and out of inventive flows". Chris Gibbons of '' XXL'' wrote: "''FM!'' is definitely more centrally focused than either of those EPs 014's ''Hell Can Wait'' and 2016's ''Prima Donna (EP)">Prima Donna In opera or ''commedia dell'arte'', a prima donna (; Italian for 'first lady'; : ''prime donne'') is the leading female singer in the company, the person to whom the ''prime'' roles would be given. ''Prime donne'' often had grand off-stage pe ...

Composition

Critical reception

Year-end lists

Track listing

Personnel

Charts

See also

References