When Long Beach rapper Vince Staples says anything, the world shifts. Its set rotational axis cannot stand up against Staples’ hot takes, clapbacks or unorthodox music. He has become a figurehead for clicks and retweets. A Twitter storm hailed on Saturday after the 24-year-old dared to say Eminem’s anti-Trump cypher at the 2017 BET Hip-Hop Awards was “trash.”
Eminem’s freestyle clocked in at about four and a half minutes, where he adamantly expressed his dislike of President Trump and support of Colin Kaepernick’s protest against racial injustice in America.
For the next few hours, Staples would be hated by most, particularly extremely distraught Eminem fans, who attacked the 2015 XXL Freshman’s own lyrical abilities and somehow made the claim that Eminem popularized rap … OK.
Keith Olbermann — author of Trump Is F*cking Crazy: (This Is Not a Joke) — had this to say, even calling for a 2020 presidential bid from Slim Shady.
Apparently the many rappers who have made or are still making political statements (cue Public Enemy, Nas, OutKast, N.W.A, Common, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Chance the Rapper, Kanye West, etc.) have nothing to say.
All the aforementioned artists and rap groups are black, and Staples reasoned that Eminem received such high praise because he was white. “If I said, ‘This is for Colin, ball up a fist/ And keep it balled up like Donald the bitch,’ they would be like, ‘Get this n—- out of here,'” he said at a Pitchfork event last week.
Ronnie Radke, the lead singer of Falling in Reverse, who Staples proved to be largely unknown through a Twitter poll — 57 percent of respondents voted “Cuz who is Ronnie Radke?” and another 36 percent voted that Lil Uzi Vert is a bigger rockstar — jumped in Staples’ mentions calling him a “liar.” R.I.P.
Despite the uproar, Staples would push through. He remained strong, defending his statements among hundreds of tweets intended to break him.
But Staples is not alone in his fight. Celebrities and fans alike banded together to assure Staples he was right.
Solange retweeted this:
Staples made it clear he would delete the tweets pertaining to the topic, which are close to 100.
If nothing else, Staples learned a timeless lesson in his virtual waging of World War III.
We have decided to stan forever (funny enough, that is an Eminem reference, you’re welcome).
