Inside The Credits 022: LeKen Taylor
LeKen Taylor’s Path To Vince Staples Right Hand
LeKen Taylor’s production credits begin and conclude, up to this point, with Vince Staples. His first ever credit was on Staples’ 2013 mixtape Generic for the track “Crime Pays,” and Taylor would stay with him throughout his trajectory. However, he didn’t really come into his own behind the boards until now. Taylor is the official executive producer on Vince Staples latest album Dark Times and is officially credited as a producer on 9 of the 13 total songs. I had to dive fully into the credits to see what may have made this moment Taylor’s time. I instrumentally found out why he was the one to help Vince go dark.
“Crime Pays” is far from a complex arrangement. To be completely honest it sounds a bit like a knockoff Cardo beat from his Wiz Khalifa Kush and Orange Juice era. The thing about the instrumental though, is it effortlessly broods. From the very beginning, even at his most rudimentary ability, through synths and sub-par drums Taylor helped lean Staples into his melancholy. He just had to develop more to be able to shape a full album.
Taylor's next credit came on the song “3 Commandments” by Mike G. Right away you can hear him trying to elevate, just with very minimal actual progression. The drums still don’t quite knock, but the beat seems to be Taylor’s first attempt at warping a sample (“Nautilus” by Bob James from 1974). The result is quite eerie. He forayed this placement into three more for the blog era specialist rapper RetcH off his 2012 tape Delinquents & Degenerates. “Newport Music,” “Grandma,” and “Spaced Out & I’m High” are all quintessential stoner tracks with a lucid amount of Taylor’s darkness to compliment RetcH’s desolate wordplay.
In 2013, Taylor got his first major credit on a now nostalgic collaborative mixtape between blog era darlings Casey Veggies and Rockie Fresh. He produced “All That” off of Fresh Veggies, which features Juicy J and Ty Dolla Sign. He maneuvered his way all the way to Wiz Khalifa Taylor Gang signees. Taylor found a new really important element here which would propel him, a bounce.
Then something strange happened. From 2013 through 2019 Taylor seemed to just disappear from crediting. The eventual Dark Times producer fittingly had a period where he just went ghost. There is no explanation for this really and his Instagram’s earliest post is in 2019. So we will just have to assume he was building some more ability to be able to execute out a five year plan.
Before getting back to Staples, Taylor came out of hiding to produce two songs for rapper J.R. Cruise on his 2019 album Seeds. There is a clear difference between blog era Taylor and this new modern day Taylor. His beats got way cleaner. Suddenly there is a pristine pocket surrounded by an ebb and flow of textured differentiation to make Cruise’s flow do somersaults.
Next came a six track run with Staples before one blog era throwback salute. The six staples tracks were “So What” and “Sheet Music” which dropped in 2019 but were aligned with the eventual Vince Staples Show, “Yo Love” feat. 6lack and Mereba from the Queen & Slim soundtrack, a random loosie “Hellbound (Ad01),” “In My Stussy’s” by Lil Yachy feat. Vince Staples, and “Got Em” from a random Pokemon EP. This all happened over the course of two years and it felt like a proving ground. Each song is a different kind of playful slap. Vince had seen early on that Taylor could capture his gloom, but he needed to feel secure that he could also elevate his verve.
Funnily enough, next Taylor did a re-up track in 2020 with Casey Veggies & Rockie Fresh on Fresh Veggies 2. “Demeanor” feat. Curren$y is another buoyant slap from Taylor you can ride around to. Then, yet again, he took another hiatus. But this time it was only for about two years. Two separate times in his career Taylor had to make a discovery and sit on it until he was ready to execute proficiently for Staples.
In 2022, Ramona Park Broke My Heart arrived. This was a monumental album for Staples and featured an array of big name producers in the credits who helped him tell a rounded story of his hometown. Taylor produced on three essential tracks “Aye! (Free The Homies),” “Lemonade” feat. Ty Dolla $ign, and “Slide.” This is where Taylor really came into his own. Each song has an anthemic essence balanced by equal parts slap-filled bounce and depth filled melancholy. This is, in fact, where Staples exists at his best musically. He can make you move and feel motivated, while also offering a deeper understanding of the continual bleak reality he knows all too well.
All Taylor needed was to learn how to back some artists with a bit more vulnerability and openness to be ready to conduct a full body of work for Staples. Two songs for 24kGoldn, one for Atlanta rapper Swavay, and one for Dutch singer/songwriter RIMON did the trick. The songs covered topics of perseverance, lost love, and self awareness.
What you hear in Taylor’s work on Dark Times is the essence of the first sounds he ever created with the added context of all he learned to expand his repertoire. The result is a layered album that plunges into Staples psyche more than ever before. Staples still volleys through his quintessential critique, stunts, and braggadocio, but never lets that outweigh the poignancy. For this, Taylor feels very much responsible.
Inside The Credits 022: LeKen Taylor- The Playlists