Long Beach, CA · hip hop · west coast hip hop

Vince Staples

1 upcoming festival

Long Beach rapper with a comedian's timing and the bleakest source material — never once sentimental, and funnier live than most comics.

Vince Staples grew up in Long Beach, California, and emerged in the early 2010s through mixtape work associated with the Odd Future circle before establishing himself as a solo artist. His records pair terse, deadpan writing about Ramona Park, gang life and Black American life with production that leans toward cold, minimal electronics as often as conventional West Coast boom bap.

Staples is known for refusing the romanticism that usually accompanies his subject matter, and for a dry, quick sense of humour that has carried over into interviews, podcasts and screen work. On stage he tends toward a spare presentation, letting the beats and the delivery do the work between stretches of off-the-cuff talk.

hip hopwest coast hip hop