By Girindra Selleck
On Saturday, SCOPE will welcome Long Beach rapper Vince Staples to the IMU Ballroom stage at 7 p.m.
Staples, 22, makes his stop in Iowa City on his sold-out tour across the U.S. celebrating the release of his much-lauded album Summertime ’06. The album was released earlier this year to rave reviews by critics, who applauded Staples’ storytelling ability and heralded him as a pioneer in contemporary rap music.
Staples, alongside fellow California rappers Kendrick Lamar and YG, has helped to contrast a new West Coast rap identity unique to 2015. One can’t help but make comparisons with Lamar, who also released his first album, Section. 80 in his early 20s. The two are distinct in their hard-nosed yet humane descriptions of the environments they grew up in. Where Lamar paints a picture of a Compton jungle both enticing and terrifying to a young kid, Staples is equal parts critical and nostalgic about his own stomping ground on the North Side of Los Angeles.
With only one full year since the release of his first EP, Staples is a rare talent with a voice matured far beyond his years. However, in a recent interview in the California Sunday magazine, Staples declared anyone would be foolish to think he would be active in the music industry for more than a few years, saying, “You’re out of your goddamn mind if you think I’m going to be doing this music shit for more than two more years.”
Don’t miss your chance to see him now; Staples is known to be somewhat of a joker, but you don’t want to make that mistake in case he’s serious.