Vince Staples Interview; Come Learn Something About This Man

[HearNoEvil]

http://www.thefader.com/2015/06/09/vince-staples-interview-summertime-06

Most major-label artists put out singles that fit radio formats, but you haven’t released anything remotely in that vein. Have you felt any pressure to make a hit?

It’s changed. The last two years, no important artist has had a “single.” Drake doesn’t have a single. J. Cole doesn’t have a single. Jay Z doesn’t have singles. They just put out music. OG Maco had a single. OT Genasis has a single. You can’t predict the singles. So the fact that labels are still trying to market singles is weird to me.

No one listens to the radio anymore. We got auxiliary cords, Sirius, Pandora, and Spotify. Who wants to hear clean versions of music? In our phones is what’s important. The radio’s not breaking singles. Vine is breaking singles now. Twitter’s breaking singles.

When I die, no one’s going to play my single. You feel me? The question is, “What did this person stand for?” I feel like my songs are things I stand for. I’m trying my hardest to paint a picture with the music, because without these pictures being painted, you fall by the wayside.

Do you think the culture has shifted?

Hip-hop culture has. It’s not appreciated. You get too much of it. When you’re a kid, you don’t appreciate home-cooked meals. You want to go to McDonald’s because your mom always cooks. You want Chicken motherfukking McNuggets.

Do you think hip-hop gets taken less seriously than other genres?

Hip-hop is the most imitated, most influential, most creative, most underappreciated, underrespected music form there is.

What was it about the summer of ’06 that made you write an album about it?

It was the most intense time. We were in the seventh or eighth grade and getting away with everything, until one of my best friends ended up in jail. He’s there right now, for allegedly killing a little girl.

In gang culture, the summer is when people start dying. Everybody’s outside or at the beach with their shirts off. Now you can see the tattoos, those sleeves. “Oh, what’s that?”

This year my little brother turned 18. He got a 15-year [sentence] when he was 15. Little nikkas is getting 15-to-life, 20-to-life, when they get to be 16 or 17. But when we were 15, we were getting away with shyt. It was us against the older motherfukkers.

Did you watch the Baltimore riots closely this spring?

Yeah. I get it. In Baltimore, they saying, “fukk the police.” They’re really fighting against the police. My whole thing is everybody wants to bicker and complain, but nobody wants to take action. Whether it’s violent or not, take action. If you so mad at the police, go kill one of the police.

You’ve said before that you don’t go in the studio everyday because you need to live a normal life to have things to rap about.

Because, bro, I don’t care about rap music like that. That shyt means nothing to me. I don’t sit at my house looking at vinyls. shyt don’t mean nothing when there’s people out here dying and starving with no hope. That’s what matters, so you don’t want to get jaded and lose sight of where you came from. I might be okay now, but I’m not really okay, because nobody else is okay.

Summertime '06 is a double album, released June 30th.

 

[iFightSeagullsForBread]

"I ain't nothin' but a nikka ain't no reason to pretend."

 

[HearNoEvil]

I’ve been a gang member. I’ve dealt with that structure before. At the end of the day, I’ve been here for a minute, so I try my hardest to let the music speak for itself. I’ve seen people get big and then fall off. Even some of my very close friends were some of the biggest shyt on earth and now... That’s scary. We’re trying our hardest to stand the test of time because no one can do that. Every album release that we’ve seen recently has been talked about for a week.

Even the Kendrick album.

They didn’t give a fukk about the Kendrick album, and that shyt was culturally something, at least to me. That shyt sounds like a moment in this time period.

He's right. Hip hop albums have no staying power right now. J Cole's album went fukking platinum and I never hear about it anymore.

 

[HearNoEvil]

What do you think about the way the media portrayed the people in the streets?

People got to understand this. I am a thug and animal in the general description of the words. We live in a motherfukking zoo. They watching us on TV, but they’re not going to go to Baltimore. Motherfukkers in Iowa don’t know no better, so what are you going to do? Are you going to enlighten them on the area? Or are you just going to be like, “fukk it, it’s hard,” and do nothing? They don’t give a fukk because we don’t really give a fukk. As far as police things, take action if you believe in it, but understand that these people don’t understand where you come from. As much as people listen to YG, they wouldn’t go to Compton.

Most people in L.A. have never been to Compton.

How realistic is it that they would? People have lives to live. It’s about before this shyt happens, before Baltimore goes up. Why aren’t we letting people know about these neighborhoods? It’s documented about gang culture in these neighborhoods, but nobody sees it. You can watch the news all day and see and hear about terrorism or the war going on. You’re never going to care until you feel it happening close up, until we get a 9/11, until ISIS threatens, or there’s North Korea and nuclear threats. That’s what this album is to me.

I understand where people come from when they say, “The police do too much.” I also understand it when people say, “It’s okay for us to kill us, but they can’t kill us.” At the end of the day, a life is a life no matter who takes it. Now, is it wrong because of who died and what color they might be? Or is it wrong because somebody got killed?

I'm curious what the more race focused sections would have to say about these thoughts, considering they don't really line up with the Coli's views.

 

[Music Fiend]

His interviews are always dope. Gotta love how non PC they are. My dude gives 0 fukks lol

 

[jwinfield]

He's right. Hip hop albums have no staying power right now. J Cole's album went fukking platinum and I never hear about it anymore.

I remember Childish Gambino saying the same thing, in particular about NWTS, how even albums with a ton of hype, they come out, and then people start waiting on the next "big" album to drop.

He got bashed for that.

A few days after a big album drops, we have threads on here talking about "when's the last time you played x"

 

[MegaTronBomb!]

I'm curious what the more race focused sections would have to say about these thoughts, considering they don't really line up with the Coli's views.

He's right tho.... he does pose good talking points especially in re: how race matters with people dying and opinions from people who'll never willingly subject themselves to the environments they wish to critique.

 

[HearNoEvil]

I remember Childish Gambino saying the same thing, in particular about NWTS, how even albums with a ton of hype, they come out, and then people start waiting on the next "big" album to drop.

He got bashed for that.

He shouldn't have, because he told the 100% truth.

 

[jwinfield]

He shouldn't have, because he told the 100% truth.

Found the quote

http://www.mstarz.com/articles/2075...the-same-was-nothing-special-in-interview.htm

"There was so much hype about Drake's album and everybody was really excited," said Glover. "It felt like it was here and then gone, because people were just like, 'I listened to it. I did the thing I was supposed to do and now I'm done'."

But people took it as him taking shots at Drake.

 

[fukkyalifestyle]

my friend said he just saw this same thread and same title on lipstick alley

 

[HearNoEvil]

my friend said he just saw this same thread and same title on lipstick alley

On God I don't read lipstick alley fam, great minds think alike and all that.

They didn't format it like me though.

 

[fukkyalifestyle]

On God I don't read lipstick alley fam, great minds think alike and all that.

They didn't format it like me though.

My friend told me it has the same subject line

 

[HearNoEvil]

My friend told me it has the same subject line

I looked it up because you keep bothering me about it.

My thread was made at 1:26 PM, the other thread was made at 3:21 PM. They jacked my shyt.

I honestly don't give a fukk what they do on lipstick alley though, talk about this dope ass interview or

 

[fukkyalifestyle]

I looked it up because you keep bothering me about it.

My thread was made at 1:26 PM, the other thread was made at 3:21 PM. They jacked my shyt.

I honestly don't give a fukk what they do on lipstick alley though, talk about this dope ass interview or

just playin