Vince Staples has always been open about his struggles and hardships from his younger days. He sang about it on Vince Staples, but which had a more mainstream song than his previous work. The change led to a project that was well-received by both new and older fans of the rapper. He stopped by N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN’s Drink Champs podcast to talk about the album and about personal aspects of his life, including why he never did drugs or alcohol.
“I saw my pops go from being up and being the man to having all the cars to being whopped,” he said during the episode. “It’s just not cool. You don’t want to be the motherf*cker who’s up, and then at one point, it all just goes away. I couldn’t let that happen to myself.” Vince gave another reason for avoiding drugs and alcohol. “I ain’t never want to get caught,” he said after speaking about his desire to always be aware of his surroundings in his childhood neighborhood which was laced with racial tension and gang violence. He added, “My sister got shot seven or eight times when I was a kid. And you ain’t really safe nowhere.”
You can watch the full episode above.