In an interview with Time Magazine Vince Staples made some suspect comments about ’90s rap, which is known by many as the golden-era. It was perceived as disrespect, quickly sparking a very public outcry. Staples said, “The ’90s get a lot of credit [and] I don’t really know why. Biggie and Tupac, those are the staples of the ’90s — I think that’s why they get the golden-era credit. There’s not a 50 Cent in the ’90s—they didn’t even have a Kanye [West].”
On paper Vince sounds like a rookie, and his comments reflected as much. Sure there was no Kanye, but there was Common. And yeah there was no 50, but there was The Pharcyde and a whole laundry list of legends who don’t resonate with a lot of these young lyricists, Tyler, the creator included.
Twitter predictably blew up, N.O.R.E. emerging front and center to try and remind Staples of the weight of actually living through an experience, Staples firing back, “Niggas telling me I wouldn’t exist without 90s hip hop as if I don’t have a mother or father.”
The differences in opinion didn’t go far, however, and the two quickly squashed the beef, if you even want to call it that. Staples later called in to Sway in the Morning to clarify his statements, and in the process made some valid points about culture and how people identify with it. He wasn’t bashing the ’90s, he was only praising his influences. And that seems to be the norm where a person can’t give props without bringing another movement or artist down.
Staples made the comparison with Michael Jordan, saying something to the effect that he could watch Jordan videos all day but will never know what it’s like to watch his legacy unfold in real time. And that if his nephew thinks LeBron is the greatest who is he to say otherwise.
Staples is right in that regard. What good does it do to say that some thing or person or era is the greatest? Superlatives like that put a lid on progress. Saying that Michael Jordan is the greatest is suggesting that no other ball player from here until the end of time could surpass him, which if true is a sad day for the sport.
Generally speaking, every generation feels that their movement is the most significant. Why? Because they experienced it firsthand, it’s human nature. But unfortunately it puts a big fat thumb on the generation gap. Culture moves at such a fast clip that it’s hard to keep up with the trends much less make sense of them. And that’s the problem — the machine is a slave to routine and hates change so it looks to rehash and profit off of time tested formulas. The less the youth know about history, the more profitable it is for the bottom line. The irony is that Vince Staples is part of this generation’s golden-era, and he’s too blindsided by his own hype to realize it. His time will come and go just like everyone else.
Young rappers can learn a lot from the golden-era, and if they can’t identify with it through research maybe artists like Vince can learn from contemporaries who do heed the call like the Joey Badasses and Bishop Nehrus of the world. Maybe those lyricists can translate something that YouTube can’t.
Staples isn’t wrong in his opinion but it is ignorant. What he fails to see is that by glazing over such an important part of rap history (and as a member of Def Jam he should know better) he’s destined to repeat the same tired tropes, which is perhaps why his lyrics are so dry and redundant and his live performances, geriatric. And why ten years from now fans will still be talking about Nas and Guru and not Vince Staples.
