During a panel discussion with Long Beach Mayor Rex Richard, Vince Staples commented on the ongoing rap feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. When asked by a fan about his thoughts on the matter, Staples spoke about major changes affecting the Black community within the music industry, rather than getting involved in a rap beef.
Staples signed with Universal Music Group at the age of 17 and explained that over the years, the label has gone through several changes in how they handle and distribute music. He noted that UMG has “folded” multiple independent labels and subsidiaries into each other, firing all of the heads of the labels. The majority of those let go were people of color who were involved in hip-hop and R&B.
The rapper went on to explain that Black musicians are being negatively impacted by streaming, causing them to be priced out of their contracts and imprints. While Taylor Swift fights for people to be able to have streaming money, Staples believes that people should be lifting up Black artists instead of “celebrating” two rappers “tearing each other down.”
Staples ended his remarks by saying, “We all matter and I think that’s our problem is that we looking too high up. We need to kind of look at each other. If we don’t do that then we wasting our time.” Long Beach Mayor Rex Richard followed up Vince Staples’ sentiment by adding that people should be lifting up Black artists instead of exacerbating a feud between two rappers.
In recent weeks, Kendrick Lamar and Drake have been trading verbal jabs over a constant back-and-forth of diss tracks. Drake just released his new diss track, “The Heart Part 6,” in which he suggests that Lamar’s disses are based on false information provided to him by Drake’s team. He denies allegations of pedophilia lobbed against him by Kendrick Lamar on “Meet The Grahams.
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