Source: Hip-Hop Wired / iOne Digital
Vince Staples is multi-talented and multi-faceted, but you'll probably never hear him call himself a genius or any other egotistical epithet of the moment that creatives choose. Instead, the guy you may have first met as the acclaimed North Long Beach, California-repeat rapper, or perhaps as an actor, like the scene-stealing Maurice in Abbott Elementary-Simply and humbly knocks his creative endeavors out of the park, as is the case with The Vince Staples Show.
The series, whose five-episode season premiered on Thursday (February 15), was set in 2019, before COVID-19 changed the course of the story. But while many shows ended up being abandoned, Netflix stuck with the series — loosely based on Staples' daily life — which features Kenya Barris (Blackish) as executive producer.
“Covid stopped everything so we were still close post-Covid when a lot of things were cancelled, [that] they said a lot about how they felt about the project,” Staples said Hip-Hop Wired. “So we wanted to make sure that we executed, and we executed on time, and we did something that was specific and particular to the platform. And there's so much stuff on Netflix, so we just wanted to make sure there wasn't another show like the one we were making.”
The Vince Staples Showwhich in itself can be considered the evolution of his YouTube series, will garner a lot of comparisons. Chappelle Report it's easy, with me Limit yours Excitement the Atlanta. It's not bad company, but Staples' dry wit that often comes through and is heard in his interviews filters through his on-screen persona and gives the series a grittier look and tone that makes it anything but derivative.
In one moment, Staples could be treating the “otherwise qualified black guy looking for a loan” at the bank, and then having a real conversation with the ringleader of the bank robbers who happened to be starting the heist when the protagonist was trying to get out of the bank. same building. The crushing daily struggle with “is this fight really happening right now?” cases, and many hilarious moments, is a staple, no pun intended, of the series.
“We definitely wanted to do that,” explains Staples, who wrote all the episodes alongside a writing team that includes Maurice Williams and Ian Edelman. “It was intentional because that's life, you never know what it's going to throw at you and in these environments, it can get super crazy sometimes. But also, we have learned to keep our cool. And if something is normal you don't understand when it is abnormal for the rest of the world.
He adds, “That was something I wanted to make sure the characters felt. when things get crazy by their standards, that doesn't mean they have to be crazy by our standards. And we wanted to make sure that we played that fine line of being able to know that the environment is outrageous, but not feel like it's too much for the characters because it's their environment.”
The aforementioned banking episode (Episode 2 titled “Black Business”) features one of Staples' favorite scenes, and for good reason. “I think it was shot really well. I think the dialogue was very unique and specific, and it was something that I don't think people would expect coming from me or coming from the show. So I'm really, really happy that we were able to pull it off.”
The episode is when The Vince Staples Show is really finding its rhythm and is destined to become a fan favorite. One particular line from Staples that resonates is his philosophy of dealing with redlining, gaslighting, and gatekeeping—just many realities that even the most driven people of color inevitably face.
“The line is just typical of what we're dealing with in these communities,” Staples says. “It never goes away and I think that's been an important part of this show. To show a lot of the issues we have as people, as Black people, as Black people from these environments. they're not going to go away just because you get a little more money because the systems are so deeply ingrained in the structure, in the fabric of this world, of this culture, of everything. It was definitely something that you still feel and something that I try to string through all the episodes.”
Is Vince Staples keeping it cool as daily life in North Long Beach, either blatantly or subtly, goes off the rails? Definitely on brand.
The Vince Staples Show currently streaming on Netflix.
