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10.0
97098
10.0 |
NME
Whatever this is, it’s jaw-dropping. Over to you, Kendrick
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9.4
97196
9.4 |
Sputnik Music (staff)
The most consistent and well-versed rap album of the year
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9.2
97658
9.2 |
Earbuddy
A party jam that’s against parties. It wants the audience to question themselves even as they’re moving to the beat
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9.1
97260
9.1 |
Gig Soup
‘Big Fish Theory’ is progress via inclusiveness, songs that are as much studies in the perfect crowd-pleaser as they are deliberations on morality and mankind
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9.1
97139
9.1 |
A.V. Club
His second straight classic
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9.1
97165
9.1 |
Consequence Of Sound
One of the best writers and rappers of recent memory
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9.1
97192
9.1 |
Pretty Much Amazing
When it comes to showing off the diverse expanse of Big Fish Theory, no track succeeds as marvelously as “Yeah Right”, the album’s highest and most explosive moment
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9.0
97199
9.0 |
Exclaim
There are plenty of fish in the sea, but not many sound or think the same way Staples does
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9.0
97220
9.0 |
Drowned In Sound
Another huge stride forward for an artist that can only move in giant leaps
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9.0
97239
9.0 |
The Quietus
Hip hop is punk, it’s poetry, but also it’s party music – Big Fish Theory is an outstanding album that potently shows all of these exquisite possibilities
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9.0
97040
9.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
Vince Staples has now composed an innovative ocean entirely of his own devising, the depths of which we are just now starting to comprehend
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9.0
97381
9.0 |
Crack
Staples’ new sound palette is entirely unique but drawn from familiar sources. Grime, drill and even gqom seem to find a way into the demented swirl of Big Fish Theory, placing it beyond genre
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8.8
97326
8.8 |
AU Review
Not only is the whole album’s musically stylistic choices in accordance with a bigger picture, but the genuine quality of the music provided is going to be hard for any rapper in the game to counter
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8.7
97114
8.7 |
Pitchfork
A collection of sleek club-rap bangers. But his eye for detail and observational skills remain intact
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8.5
97428
8.5 |
Prefix
Big Fish Theory is full of thorny ideas and deep emotion, but the album also plays like a set of catchy-as-hell singles
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8.0
97365
8.0 |
Q
He possesses a talent that already sets him apart. Print edition only
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8.0
97303
8.0 |
The FT
The Californian rapper’s album features chopped-up electronic pop and guest verses from Kendrick Lamar
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8.0
97041
8.0 |
Clash
A record that not only sees Vince taking risks and progressing forward as an artist, but also another astounding example of what hip-hop should and can be in 2017
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8.0
97146
8.0 |
The Guardian
Staples might not own everyone quite yet but Big Fish Theory suggests he’s well on the way
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8.0
97242
8.0 |
State
Takes the listener on a journey quite unlike anything we’ve heard before
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8.0
97138
8.0 |
All Music
Cements Staples' status as one of the most talented and forward-thinking voices in rap in the late 2010s
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8.0
97184
8.0 |
The Observer
It’s a furious and sad party record that you can dance to
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8.0
97188
8.0 |
PopMatters
A powerful and troubling record. It’s an epic in miniature that shows a natural progression from Staples’s previous work
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7.5
97197
7.5 |
The 405
Feels more akin to an in-between; furtive steps in a new direction that will almost doubtlessly be mined even more successfully next go round – assuming our hero doesn't veer in yet another direction. What's sure is, we'll never be bored
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7.0
97121
7.0 |
Rolling Stone
Sure, it's less focused than the reportage of 2015's Summertime '06, but the varying emotions and outlooks mark a full step forward into becoming a multi-layered, genre-crossing, emotion-spilling pop auteur in the vein of West, Drake or Childish Gambino
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6.0
97169
6.0 |
The Music
Switches out menacing rap for creepy club music in a move no one saw coming, but it's unclear just what the message is
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