Vince Staples is one of the most prolific emcees of this generation.
With a few studio release under his belt thus far, we're anxiously awaiting the forthcoming Big Fish Theory LP. Staples has kept his name in the conversation among hip hop fans through features, mixtapes and, perhaps most impressively, his freestyles.
It seems every couple of months some of the most legendary names in the hip hop game put the Californian rapper up to the test, making him spit bars off the top. Whether it's Sway, Snoop, or Dre delivering the challenge, Staples always delivers a freestyle worthy of viral attention among his personal fans and fans of the genre alike.
With Big Fish Theory around the corner, we can't think of a better way to hold us over than to go through the LBC emcee's dopest off-the-dome displays.
Cover photo by Jim Spellman.
Sway's SXSW Takeover
Sway's SXSW Takeover
Sway gave a ringing endorsement of a burgeoning Vince Staples when he showcased him as a part of his SXSW panel, an event known for having relentless media coverage.
Staples took heed of the spotlight, battling severe laryngitis as he performed off the top of the dome, recognized only by his trademark dexterity. Each bar was coated with croaks and cracks in Staples’ voice, but he still brought fire.
This one is a true testament to Staples’ perseverance as an emcee and performer.
I'm tired of niggas shooting in the air cus they don't really want violence
My iris was blinded by money, cash, hoes
Fast forward to '05, when Game start shining
Started with a plot, pine box that we lied in
Fuckin with the guap, non-stop we was grindin'
Statik Selektah
Long before his recent career move to RocNation, Statik Selektah played host to one of Vince Staples' most impressive improvised displays.
Staples goes loose HAM for nearly four minutes, proving he's a problem when it comes to providing above-par bars. He remains fascinating to behold, his focus towards the mic unwavering as he lets his stream of consciousness spill over
I used to practice on the court to get that jump shot wet
Until I pulled up on your homies with that 10-shot tech
Then it was triple dirt, money scheme and double murder dreaming
Cash rules everything around me in my region
If life a game of love and war, it's weapons in my rubber drawer,
my father cared for my mother enough to fuck her raw.
The Pharmacy with Dr. Dre
The Pharmacy with Dr. Dre
On the eighth installment of his Beats 1 radio program, Dr. Dre turned to his Cali brethren to make the episode remarkable. Dre worked the 1’s and 2’s while Staples did his thing on the mic, resulting in the sort of magic that helped build The Pharmacy’s reputation as a forum for up-and-coming emcees. Dre doesn't hold back in leaving his fingerprints on this one, too, resulting in a cacophonic duet of noise too cool to dismiss.
I remember 2nd grade, daddy lost a whole brick
Handed it to me, told me "baby, flush it like your goldfish"
Fast forward to 06, busting out the whole clip
You could get your dome split for questioning my loyalty
XXL Freshmen 2015
XXL Freshmen 2015 Showcase Freestyle
In 2015, Vince Staples used his solo mic time as one of the XXL’s showcased freshmen to let the world know he won't hesitate to spit from his soul. Bathed in kaleidoscopic light, Staples requires no beat as he lays bare some of the haunting hood tales that he’s since become known for.
Piss poor on the WIC, like “Fuck it, I’ma crip”
Cus a blue collar nigga get treated like shit
Quiet ironic, quiet on the set
LIstening to the violence I encounter riding for the set
Tim Westwood
Tim Westwood
Tim Westwood made a good choice when he laid down Kanye West's classic “Get ‘Em High” beat and let Vince Staples loose. The rapper doesn’t open his eyes once during the lengthy display, barely coming up for air as he advertises his ability on the public stage, fresh on the heels of Summertime ‘06, his first studio release.
Staples puts forth trademark material, erring on the heavier and autobiographical side of things, slinging stories about being raised in the LBC.
Murder, murder - my momma told me I wasn’t shit
100 guns, 100 clips
Entrapment from the the government
Looking at my bucket list
and all I see is “stay alive"
Sway in the Morning
Sway in the Morning
As Vince Staples went in on Missy Elliot beat, Sway - a veteran DJ who’s seen it all - couldn’t help but geek out and let his inner fan show. You can’t blame him. It’s hard not to cheese and headbang as hard as Sway while watching Staples effortlessly turns his suggestions into tape-worthy bars.
After scorching the earth, the west coast export stays humble, giving props to his Sway In The Morning predecessors King Los, Lupe Fiasco and Common.
“[They’re] on steroids,” Staples jokes in the video, confessing “I’m not up there with them. I need a blood test from every single one of them niggas."
The highlight of this verse came when Staples turned to Sway and addressed his off-the-top abilities:
"Sway, this is coming off of the top
My daddy moved yay, shaved grams off of the top
In the DM, sweet talk off of the top
Leave the G-string on, but it’s off with the top
I was really at the park with the glock
These niggas going to the mall when they shop
Hit the Def Jam office and park right in the spot
Cus I’m the best thing going since Kanye opened for Kwe-li."
2015 XXL Freshmen Cypher
XXL 2015 Freshmen Cypher
2015 was a stacked year for XXL’s annual celebration of hip hop’s freshman class. Among a list of emcees that included Chance The Rapper, Rich Homie Quan, OG Maco and Ty Dolla $ign for starters, it would be easy to get outperformed and subsequently lost in the shuffle. Vince Staples evaded any potential pitfalls and proved to be a standout, outshining GoldLink and the aforementioned OG Maco in their cypher showcase.
Shit gets dark here, but as usual with Staples it doesn't really matter. He's too magnetic a force when he rattles off raw bars.
"I’m just a viewer on the streets you was afraid to visit
Live your life through my lyrics
Now watch me paint this picture, Jabari blood on my easel
My homie died through the negligence of a policeman."
GGN with Snoop
GGN
Vince Staples did a hell of a job representing Long Beach emcees in front of host and fellow LBC native, hip hop legend Snoop Dogg. Staples’ freestyle is as catchy as it is fleeting, making up two minutes of a larger 20-minute episode Uncle Snoop’s’ GGN web series/podcast.
“I got one cold freestyle a month,” Staples says at the conclusion of his ‘mean sixteen.’ I mean, for real though.
If our endorsement isn’t enough, Snoop Dogg’s should do it; he goes full Snoop in the video - laying back, smoking endo, and bobbing his head in approval.
The biggest takeaway from this verse is the tragedy that Staples’ quip "we was on the block like it’s hunger games" never made it to a recorded hook.
"They tried to kill me in my younger days
Slave to the block, not a runaway
Funny how a nigga get a whip or run away
Funny how a nigga get a chain or run away
They tried to kill me in my younger days
We was on the block like it's hunger games"
The Green Box
The Green Box
There may be no freestyle that exceeds in intimacy like Staples’ performance in The Green Box. Staples sits in a mostly-vacant stairwell as he spits acapella, shot in tight closeup.
Staples is vulnerable here, perhaps because of the dark subject matter of his lyrics, or perhaps because he’s only 19 years old, still some time away from breaking through on a mainstream level.
"Violent, white, or mary-jane, to the pigs it’s all the same
Slaughterhouse sitting on my west, let them get a taste
That p19 got springs like Gerald Green
Shit, what more can I say? I load and I spray
You see it take a real man to shoot a soul in his face"
Funkmaster Flex
Funkmaster Flex
“Everyone can’t come up here.”
Funkmaster Flex says it himself as the smoke stemming from Vince Staples’ three minutes of relentless bomb dropping begins to settle. The Long Beach, California native took heed of the exclusive opportunity of mic time in Flex’s HOT97 studio. Dressed as though he’s going to a funeral, Staples eulogizes his doubters to the score of the RZA produced beat to Raekwon’s “Ice Cream”.
Staples goes uninterrupted like a man possessed, craning over the mic as he coherently ties together commentary on a wide-range of topics, including but not limited to Black Lives Matter, gunplay, his own depression, and his sisters.
It’s almost impossible to cherry-pick a singular standout lyric from this particular piece of improvised brilliance. Nearly every bar is remarkable. It’s the displayed ability to intertwine emotionally evocative sentiments about BLM and straight up bars that makes a good case for Staples being the best going off the top today.
For that, we’ll shout out this sequence:
"Had a .22 in the TK Crew fleece
Used to have depression, used to have a couple mood swings
Real shit, now I’m on some bottom of the deal shit
Not here now, a nigga not here now
But a guarantee a nigga goin on, write four rhymes every night
On my knees I pray
My next girl look like MIA
And my enemies die like Kennedy's,
We by any means tryna get paid"