VINCE STAPLES with JPEGMAFIA at Rebel (11 Polson), Tuesday (March 5), doors 7 pm, all ages. $35. ticketweb.ca.
When I reach Vince Staples on the phone in Washington, D.C., he’s smack in the middle of a massive two-month tour. His voice is hazy and nonchalant as he gets ready for soundcheck.
“It’s cool – you do one, you do ’em all,” he sighs when I ask how the shows are going.
Through touring with his close friend and collaborator Mac Miller in 2013, Schoolboy Q and Isaiah Rashad in 2014 and Tyler, The Creator in 2018, Staples has become a seasoned vet at life on the road. But after last year’s short and hard-hitting album FM! continued his ascent, he’s now on his biggest headlining tour of his own.
The 25-year-old Long Beach rapper is known for being unflinchingly real. He talks frankly about his sobriety and his attention span, while getting uncharacteristically quiet talking about the death of Mac Miller. But he’s stopped by our PR chaperone when I ask about R. Kelly, who Staples is apparently no longer allowed to comment on after his viral call-outs on Twitter and at Coachella last year.
I quickly get the sense that answering questions under a watchful eye might not be Staples’s favourite pastime. But even in those circumstances, he doesn’t hold back.
I saw you tweet “tour so boring it’s nothing to do but clown people and eat unhealthy.” What else have you been doing on the road?
Nothing too crazy. There’s not really a lot of downtime. We’re just trying to fit the most shows in the amount of time as possible. Everyday it’s like, perform, shower, leave. We have a lot of 1 am bus calls to the next city.
I’ve done this a couple times and you don’t want to burn yourself out too early. You don’t want to get sick, lose your voice, things like that. It’s about focusing on doing what you have to do to get the best show possible. You know, making sure that you don’t cheat anybody.
You’ve played a lot of shows in Toronto since the beginning of your career. Is there something about the city that keeps you coming back?
I’ve spent a lot of time in Toronto and I feel like it’s one of the first places I’ve had steady support. From the early stages till now, it hasn’t dwindled at all. Canada in general, but especially Toronto. And how they constantly let me in the country – I appreciate it.
Are there any artists you’d like to collaborate with while you’re here? Or other artists you’ve been inspired by lately?
When I listen to other people’s music I just appreciate it I never really think of interjecting myself into it. But I’m surprisingly not, like, the biggest music listener. It’s not because of any negativity. I’m just not the biggest fan of sitting around listening to music. My attention span is too short for it. But you can find an appreciation and brilliance in anyone’s talent, no matter who they are and where they come from. It’s just I would rather not engulf myself in the world of music too much when I have to operate in it. I just make very simple hip-hop music.
“Simple” seems like a pretty humble way of putting it.
Literally in the actual creation of it, we keep it simple. We never have multiple drum tracks. We usually just stick to one snare. We kind of do the same frequencies on the low end, pretty much the same tempo. So that’s very simple. I think that’s why people are into it.
FM! is structured like a radio broadcast, which seems somewhat retro in the age of streaming. Where did that idea come from?
I grew up listening to [Los Angeles radio DJ] Big Boy before the internet and streaming and things like that. He was at the forefront of our childhood. From weather to news, and just anything, that was how we learned about it because there wasn’t much on television for us, especially locally. And 106 & Park, all those things were based in New York. Big Boy was like our version of all that.
You often talk about being sober. Do you have any tips for other artists who are trying to be creative without drinking or drugs?
No, but I’ve never thought about being creative, if that makes sense. It’s not something that crosses my mind when I create something. Make it, either I like it or I don’t. At the end of the day, it’s just a song. And the fact that it’s just a song, what’s the worst that could happen? If you don’t like it, you don’t like it. We’ll all be okay.
You’ve been ending your shows on this tour by showing Mac Miller’s full NPR Tiny Desk concert. What’s the inspiration there?
I wanted to commemorate him. That was my friend.
@nowtoronto | @claudiamcneilly
