After maintaining a steady upward trajectory within the underground rap sect, Def Jam‘s best kept secret, Vince Staples dropped a scorcher of a debut album with Summertime ’06. With ubiquitous high praise pouring in across the blogosphere, Staples took some time out to provide a first-hand break down of the album’s lyrics and concepts with the folks over at Genius. In his annotations, he provides some insight into his rhymes, his neighborhood of Long Beach, California and even his hilarious (but understandable) obsession with Fetty Wap:
This guy is Luther Vandross! I’m a fan, bro. When I say I like Fetty Wap, people think I’m trying to be funny…My feelings be so hurt, bro. Fetty Wap is damn near Santa Claus!
He also had a interesting stance on the world’s perception of Long Beach inhabitants as well as prejudice in general:
Everyone thinks we drive low riders and wear Dickies. Not to hit on Dickies ‘cause they got some shit, but I’m not putting that fucking suit on. That’s what they think this community is, bro. That shit sucks. I’ve never seen that shit before!…
Until people really see themselves within other people, they can’t genuinely care for their betterment. It’s hard to understand and respect things that are different than us. We need to start looking at each other eye-to-eye.
