Stephen Wyatt: Flume knows very well how Vince Staples can make a track turnt. The 24-year-old enfant terrible sharpens his production fangs on “Smoke and Retribution”, providing sweetness in Kucka’s deliberately quiet delivery to Staples’ untainted saltiness. As Staples’ verses drift in between Flume’s airy opus, the song’s brevity fails to underscore his purpose. Moreover, Kucka’s underutilization on “Smoke and Retribution” triggers the thought that this track was, in fact, rushed and unfinished. [5/10]
Chad Miller: Vince Staples has some nice lyrics, even though the music around him is pretty distracting. He doesn’t always do a great job of bringing them out either, along with phrasing some of the ends of his lines oddly. Kučka has a nice melody that fits a lot better with the production. And the production seems to sound best when it gets to shine on its own like it does at the end. [6/10]
Jedd Beaudoin: I almost burned this when the vocals came in. Then I realized it isn’t all that bad. It’s pretty good. A little messy but I can’t be mad at it. [6/10]
SCORE: 5.66