Vince Staples has a unique perspective on the Kendrick Lamar vs Drake beef. To him, it’s deeper than rap.
When asked which side he takes in the ongoing beef between 6God and King Kendrick, Staples shared a completely different perspective instead of picking a favorite. Vince responded to the question with the following realization:
“That record label just folded all of its independent labels and subsidiaries into each other. None of them exist no more. They fired all the heads of the labels and if they didn’t, they turn them into glorified A&Rs. They cut off 50 percent of the people who work in all these departments, most of those people is us, people of color, that come from hip-hop and R&B and these other things, right?”
He continued: “Then you got record labels opening up IPOs. You got record labels destroying their relationships with TikTok, Spotify, things that pay our artists because they want to start their own shit.”
Staples highlights that record labels impact Black artists in the streaming era. He mentions Taylor Swift as an example of a musician fighting for artists.
“So then we getting priced out of our contracts, we getting priced out of our imprints. There are no labels, basically, that are incentivized to sign Black music and it’s happening in front of our eyes,” he said. “While Taylor Swift is fighting for people to be able to have streaming money, n***as is on the internet arguing with each other about some rap shit. So that’s how I feel about it, honestly.”
“So then we getting priced out of our contracts, we getting priced out of our imprints. There are no labels, basically, that are incentivized to sign Black music and it’s happening in front of our eyes,” he said. “While Taylor Swift is fighting for people to be able to have streaming money, n***as is on the internet arguing with each other about some rap shit. So that’s how I feel about it, honestly.”
After analyzing the situation, Staples offered a solution that goes beyond the feud between two of the biggest rap stars.
“Personally, I think we better than that. I think we deserve better than that because we’ve been saying for decades that we want people to respect Black music and Black art and Black people,” said Staples. “I think for that to happen, we gotta respect ourselves and they don’t make it easy for us, but we gotta try to work a little bit harder at that.”
While his thoughts on the beef were in-depth, Staples would revert to his light-hearted ways on Sunday afternoon as he hung out with DJ Mustard, the producer of Kendrick’s latest track “Not Like Us,” in the studio.
“This nigga Mustard in the studio tryna brainwash me so f*cc it if we beefing we beefing! Who gon pop Shai Gilgeous Alexander for the West Coast?”
Then he tweeted to West Coast DJ and host DJ Hed, “Come picc up blower @DJHed.”