Earlier this week at the BET Hip-Hop awards, Eminem released a 4-minute freestyle taking aim at Donald Trump. The video has received a lot of attention and is currently the #41 trending video on YouTube. While many were happy with the freestyle’s message, Vince Staples says Eminem’s diss towards Trump is trash. In a recent interview with Pitchfork, Vince shared his critique of the freestyle.
“”It was trash. He can do better…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 nigga out of here.'”
Vince then took to Twitter to try and clear up his statements.
https://twitter.com/vincestaples/status/919203617877430272
Vince’s greater message is that he appreciates the support, he just believes Eminem could have delivered a better freestyle.
Vince is right that if it was him rapping those lines, it would be taken less seriously & there’d be less impact. But not necessarily because the bars aren’t there. For one, Vince’s outreach simply does not match Em’s. Eminem is arguably the largest hip-hop artist to ever do it, so that’s just a statistical fact less impact would be had. While I agree there’d be less reaction because Vince is black, my beliefs differ within that agreement.
Vince believes had he rapped those lines it would be labeled whack, because as a Black MC he’s expected to rap better than that. While I believe his impact would be less as a Black MC simply because Black voices are not heard as loudly or held in the same regard as White opinions.
In one of many fan engagements on Twitter, Vince was asked if he should just be happy that Eminem was speaking on behalf of Black people. Vince replied that he doesn’t need White people to speak up for him. While I understand where Vince is coming from, I don’t whole heartedly agree.
More tweets from Vince
https://twitter.com/vincestaples/status/919261802176876546
He’s right – black people don’t need white people to speak up for us. We are a resilient, confident and intelligent group of people who can intellectually communicate anything we choose to. So no, we don’t literally need someone to speak for us. However, if it was up to us we would already be liberated. We would already be free of the systemic racism that still oppresses us today and we would already have equality.
I know we’re not alone in our fight for equality, but most of our army, so to speak, is majority black people. Even in our efforts, not much has changed over the last 200 years. One could even argue we are slipping backwards in progression. We can continue spreading our message with our army as is, and yeah, maybe one day the goals of how we’re treated as black people will be reached, but how long will that be from now? Will it be another 100 years? 200 years? 300 years? Who knows. What I do know is, I want to be able to raise my children in a world where those goals have been met.
I think it’s not only important for White people to be apart of our cause, but for Latino, Asian, Middle Eastern, Indian and Native American people to stand with us as well. That kind of impact would be huge. The sooner the world realizes Black people have a legitimate cause and concern, the sooner true equality will be reached.
Overall, I feel it was unnecessary for Vince to critique Em’s freestyle. I think these comments are best kept inside, regardless if it was Em’s best performance. To compare, don’t be a beggar who receives one-dollar and say they could have given you $20.
What are your thoughts on Vince’s critique. Was he right, was he wrong, was it necessary? Let us know how you feel in the comments.
FOR MORE UPDATES ON VINCE STAPLES, FOLLOW RESPECT MY REGION ON FACEBOOK & TWITTER.
