A Reaction To The Vince Staples Episode Of The Questlove Show

Open Mike Eagle and producer Cousin Jake react to the Vince Staples episode of the Questlove Show, which has quickly become one of the biggest videos on the QLS YouTube channel. The two unpack Vince's candor and persona, even as it applies to the Internet commentary when he stated he doesn't have a favorite song of his own, and why his blunt, unpolished honesty makes him such a good guest. Mike and Jake also look at Vince's deep Hip-Hop references, from Blu & Exile to Jemini the Gifted One and Murs, and debate whether the line between underground and mainstream Rap was ever real. Plus, they casually look back at a QLS season that ran from JoJo to Wallo, and Mike shares his upcoming tour dates. As a reminder, keep sending mailbag questions to @QLS or QuestloveSupreme.com, and tell somebody about the show. See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 2:35Speaker 00

  The Questlove Show is a production of iHeart Radio.

• 2:44Speaker 05

  Open mic eagle.

• 2:45Speaker 06

  What up, brother Jake? See, I called you brother Jake instead of cousin. I hope that's not.

• 2:48Speaker 05

  Hey, man, it's family either way.

• 2:50Speaker 06

  Okay.

• 2:51Speaker 05

  I appreciate it, man. It's nice to be back with you for another, um, you know, QLS mini, Questlove Show mini. What's going on in your world? Happy Friday.

• 2:59Speaker 06

  Hey, man, happy Friday to you, too. Another long week of work, and I'm getting ready to hit the road in a little bit. So, you know, everything feels like ain't enough time to do it, but you know how it is.

• 3:09Speaker 05

  You really are a true, like, I think I'm a traveling man, you are a traveling man.

• 3:14Speaker 06

  It's sort of ridiculous when I really think about it. I'm like, oh, this is actually a little much, like all the travel that I do. It's a little much.

• 3:21Speaker 05

  Is there anything you do, like, you know, I assume, be it gas points or airline points or hotel, like, is there anything you ever do for yourself with all of the accumulation of whatever, travel, loyalty points or whatever?

• 3:37Speaker 06

  I bought two flights earlier today with straight points.

• 3:41Speaker 05

  For yourself or for work?

• 3:44Speaker 06

  For work. I don't do, I don't look.

• 3:46Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 3:47Speaker 06

  Jake, I will not leave my house if I don't have to.

• 3:49Speaker 05

  Really?

• 3:50Speaker 06

  Because I have to leave my house so much. And I'd say that, that's an overexaggeration. Like, you know, if my son wants to do something fun, I don't travel for fun.

• 3:59Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 4:00Speaker 06

  Because I travel for work relentlessly.

• 4:02Speaker 05

  You're not somebody that has, like, a vacation on your mind, be it long-term, short-term, whatever?

• 4:09Speaker 06

  My vacation is laying in my bed. That's my vacation.

• 4:13Speaker 05

  Has it always been that way since you've been in this line of work?

• 4:16Speaker 06

  I think so, yeah, because once I started making money in this manner.

• 4:22Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 4:23Speaker 06

  It bothers me if I'm spending money to go be somewhere and I'm not making any money there. Like, it bothers me.

• 4:29Speaker 05

  I can relate.

• 4:30Speaker 06

  It occurred to me once that, like, the way that, the way we are socialized to vacation, it is, it's like, oh, I'm gonna go somewhere and pretend to be rich for a week. You know? Like, that's, like, why would I do that? That's not, that's not.

• 4:45Speaker 05

  That's a very valid point. Let me ask you this. Has there a part of the world that your career has not taken you that you would like to see?

• 4:53Speaker 06

  South America and any foreign, because that's one continent I have not been to.

• 4:58Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 4:59Speaker 06

  So I would love to see anything in South America, and I want to see way more of Asia because I've only been to Japan.

• 5:04Speaker 05

  Nice. In South America, is there, is there a ideal first stop?

• 5:08Speaker 06

  No, but I do want to see, like, pyramids and stuff, if that stuff is seeable.

• 5:13Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 5:14Speaker 06

  I want to see all of the old stuff on the earth.

• 5:15Speaker 05

  That's dope. That's dope. I've never been to South America either. I've seen Venezuela. I went to Trinidad, and I saw Venezuela, like, off in the distance, and that was, that was cool, but I hope to get down there someday myself.

• 5:27Speaker 06

  Yeah, man.

• 5:28Speaker 05

  But, um, you know, we're here today to talk about a recent episode of Questlove Show, as we often do, and this is a special one. So you and I have both admitted that we're both, at one point in our lives, baseball card heads.

• 5:41Speaker 06

  Yes, absolutely.

• 5:42Speaker 05

  So with that said, like, I'm not a numbers person, but I am a stat guy. Not, like, I don't like taking the soul out of things, but, you know, in my five years of working on this show, I do like to see, like, what episodes are performing, why they're performing, and so.

• 5:57Speaker 06

  Yeah, that's good stuff to know.

• 5:58Speaker 05

  Exactly. And, but I don't even approach it, like, I approach it like a competitive way of, like, you know, what, what our listeners and viewers are telling us. And the cool thing is, so, a lot of folks make the comment, you know, like, man, why does your YouTube channel have this many subscribers? I think it's 42,000 right now, and it's a valid point. I mean, this show was always, you know, and it's Questlove Supreme days, it began out of Amir and Sugar Steve's dream of having a radio show, and other, other folks in the mix, you know, and Fonte had the Gordon Gartrel podcast. All of these forums came together to launch QLS, and, but it was never about video. And it's, it's funny, there were things during the pandemic that would hit YouTube, often

• 6:40Speaker 05

  on the Roots channel, and then it wasn't until 2024 that QLS had our own channel. You know, we're never a gotcha sort of podcast. We don't lead with the sexiest of headlines.

• 6:51Speaker 06

  Right, so it's not, it's not material that's naturally going to go super viral.

• 6:55Speaker 05

  Right.

• 6:56Speaker 06

  Video-wise.

• 6:57Speaker 05

  And the cool thing is, the reason that dovetails into Vince Staples is, in just two or so, two to three short weeks, it's really skyrocketed, and it's soon to be, it's competing right now with Ad Rock of the Beastie Boys, which was a Zoom conversation in 2024, but Vince Staples was shot in studio, and it may soon become our biggest episode on this channel. And there's some cool forces at play with that, because Vince had not done a lot of press, and he even talks about in the conversation, he doesn't particularly enjoy doing interviews. I don't know, do you, do you enjoy doing interviews?

• 7:32Speaker 06

  Um, it depends. I tend to enjoy the opportunity to add context to a project that I'm pushing.

• 7:42Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 7:43Speaker 06

  But it can get old fast if the people you are interviewing with either aren't the best interviewers, which often happens, or they aren't paying attention to the interviews you've done already, so they're asking you, like, the same questions.

• 7:59Speaker 05

  Right.

• 8:00Speaker 06

  Like, it can get old fast.

• 8:01Speaker 05

  Because it is a living, breathing thing, and I think that in this day and age, like, a lot of times, a guest and artist will bring their audience. So they might have seen, you know, if Jay-Z and Rick Rubin are doing an eight-part thing on HBO, and Jay does another conversation with Frasier Tharp, like, people are following those conversations one to the next. So I do think, in a very different way than 20 years ago, you need to be aware of what your guest has already said. And by the way, as a quick aside, you and Kenny have a great conversation with the Questions and Sean Cantrell. It's, like, amazing.

• 8:31Speaker 06

  Thank you.

• 8:32Speaker 05

  Really enjoyed that one, listened to.

• 8:33Speaker 06

  I mean, Sean, Sean's a great interviewer, too.

• 8:34Speaker 05

  Yeah, 100%. But Vince and his manager, Corey Smith, who's an industry veteran, has known the Roots and, you know, Amir for, you know, 30-plus years, they decided, which was such a gift to the show, that this would be kind of the first point of contact. And I think for reasons maybe you just alluded to, for Vince, he wanted to sit down and have a conversation with a peer. And what was beautiful is, I can, I can share this, like. They were carte blanche. They, you know, wanted to talk about life, talk about a new album, but it was a really beautiful thing. And, you know, I, I, I was, I was present for that taping. And it was the first time I'd ever met Vince Staples. Um, you know, I've been

• 9:17Speaker 05

  a fan of, of his and a listener of his supporter for 15 years or so. Um, but to see kind of how he moves was really interesting. And it's, it's funny because the, the interview, the traffic isn't just coming from, I don't even know if Vince has shared it, but it's come from people on YouTube looking at what one of the more notable artists right now has to say. And there's some beauty in that. And I, it's a real nice opportunity for QLS.

• 9:42Speaker 06

  I mean, and, and I imagine that, and this is, maybe this is a little bit of the cynic in me. There has been a lot of controversy recently with Vince.

• 9:52Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 9:53Speaker 06

  As a result of some interviews he's done. Uh, but more like content creator style interviews.

• 10:01Speaker 05

  Like those five minute joints?

• 10:02Speaker 06

  Yeah, yeah, like that. So there was one in particular that sort of caused a huge stir recently, where somebody asked him what his favorite song of his was. And his answer was that he didn't have one. And it's more specifically, he was like, whichever one has the most streams and keep streaming it. And the interviewer, you know, was trying to follow up and get an answer. And he's like, no, he's like, I don't have a favorite song. He's like, if you work at McDonald's, do you have a favorite burger to flip?

• 10:32Speaker 05

  Right, right.

• 10:33Speaker 06

  And a lot of people got really, really upset at that answer. And he ended up taking it to social media because the backlash was so, uh, big. And he was explaining his stance, but then some of the responses from people who were upset was also very enlightening. Um, and, and, you know, almost frightening at points because

• 10:57Speaker 05

  What do you mean?

• 10:58Speaker 06

  A lot, it seemed as if a lot of why people were upset, people were saying stuff like, we want you to care about the job we gave you. Like stuff like that.

• 11:11Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 11:11Speaker 06

  You know what I'm saying?

• 11:12Speaker 05

  Right.

• 11:12Speaker 06

  And it's like, I really enjoyed, I won't say enjoyed. I'll say, I really thought that his answer was great because to me, his answer was more enlightening about the actual position he's in as an artist. Like, he has been on a major label. He is now on a, a big indie label. His album's been out a couple of months now. So this is way past the press cycle.

• 11:36Speaker 05

  Right.

• 11:37Speaker 06

  He's doing interviews to, you know, keep generating content and, and probably push live shows. And he's working. You know what I'm saying? He's working.

• 11:48Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 11:48Speaker 06

  And like, the work is making albums. And when you make albums for a living, there's no part of that that would, there's no part of that that lends itself to you having a favorite song of your own.

• 12:02Speaker 05

  Right.

• 12:03Speaker 06

  It's kind of not the position he's in.

• 12:11Speaker 07

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• 13:36Speaker 07

  pain or a serious allergic reaction. Severe side effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems. Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes before scheduled procedures with anesthesia. If you're nursing, pregnant, plan to be, or taking birth control pills. Taking Zepbound with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems. Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-5979, or visit zepbound.lily.com.

• 14:16Speaker 05

  Yeah, I mean, that's well said. And honestly, there's just people out there that don't enjoy the favorite question. Last night, um, I was sitting next to a guy in a, in a lounge in a bar or whatever, perfect strangers. And we just got to talking as one does and started talking about music. And I'm the type of guy, just as an icebreaker, would say, well, you know, what, what's the best concert you've ever seen? Or, you know, you have a favorite, you know, like Amir asks people all the time, who's your North Star? Who's, who, who is your inspiration? And I, I run into folks time and again that just don't like that question.

• 14:46Speaker 06

  Really?

• 14:46Speaker 05

  And when it comes to your own art, I think it's a product of, and, and I'm not knocking the journalists because they have a format, clearly, like the content creator, rather. But, you know, ideally, you want somebody to talk about something and surprise you and, and raise that curiosity with momentum. Vince didn't want to bring that. And that is his prerogative.

• 15:07Speaker 06

  I, I think not only is it his prerogative, I think that any, any answer that he would have chosen would have been performative, to be honest. It wouldn't have really been real. I think he gave the real answer. Like, the real answer is, like, it doesn't matter if he has a favorite song or not.

• 15:23Speaker 05

  Right.

• 15:24Speaker 06

  That's not how his career works. Like,

• 15:25Speaker 05

  Right.

• 15:26Speaker 06

  Like, let's say he put his heart and soul into track three off of album two. What difference does that make now? You know what I'm saying?

• 15:34Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 15:35Speaker 06

  It doesn't help anything he's trying to do right now. And the business of music, it isn't swayed in any way by any of his products being his favorite.

• 15:46Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 15:47Speaker 06

  And gosh, somebody, oh gosh, there was a really good reply from somebody on Twitter because people were upset at him comparing his music to flipping burgers. And his response to that person was burgers cost more than songs. Which again, is like, that's the reality of doing this for a living.

• 16:07Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 16:07Speaker 06

  Like, you want him to have a favorite song?

• 16:10Speaker 05

  Right.

• 16:10Speaker 06

  When you don't pay nothing to hear it?

• 16:13Speaker 05

  Right.

• 16:13Speaker 06

  You know what I'm saying?

• 16:14Speaker 05

  And I think that mentality that you alluded to of folks saying like, we put you here, that is so wrong. I mean, that's wrong in any, in any format. And there's a lot of cringe and ugliness and deeper things to unpack in that attitude. And truly, I mean, one of the things that I admire about Vince Staples, period, is his directness.

• 16:33Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 16:33Speaker 05

  There are artists out there that are very media trained. And Vince isn't one of them. And to me, it makes him a more compelling interview guest every time. And

• 16:41Speaker 06

  Absolutely.

• 16:42Speaker 05

  You know, years ago, I always appreciated that Vince Staples, you know, he'd be asked, you know, what are some of your musical inspirations? And he would, he would all, like, the, the artist that stuck out, because he's the only person I've ever heard say this, he'd go, Ray J. I'm a big fan of Ray J. And I couldn't tell if that was him, you know, like, if he's doing an Andy Kaufman troll, if he's

• 17:01Speaker 06

  Taking the piss, as, as they say, yeah.

• 17:03Speaker 05

  Exactly. But I thought it was so interesting. And then you look in more recent years, I mean, he has that incredible, just clipped to the heavens conversation with Ziwei.

• 17:12Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 17:13Speaker 05

  Where, you know, he's unfazed in, in her special format. And so to have him on QLS, and there's a few moments, obviously, you know, that stood out to folks of, of his insights on the, the famed September 11th, 2007 battle between 50 Cent and Kanye West over, you know, and Vince, you know, truly comparing it to slavery. And like, he's just, watching his mind and how he reacts was, was, was really cool. But yeah, I, I, I think that that's just it. And, and here's what's funny too, is Amir makes a comment at one point to Vince jokingly of like, I'm gonna find one thing that you're passionate about. Because throughout the QLS conversation, Vince, you know, is like, you know, I'm grounded

• 17:56Speaker 05

  by my family. The thing that I cherish most is my family. I have the same friends I did when I was 15. I more or less live in the same place. To me, that is, that is so interesting. Versus a, a very colorful, imagination-filled answer. But what really stood out to me is, it, it's funny, like, Amir asked Vince, like, what do you listen to? And he said, he listed a few audiobooks that he keeps coming back to. And at one point, he's like, I've listened to the same hundred songs my whole life.

• 18:25Speaker 06

  Hmm.

• 18:26Speaker 05

  And that may be true, but one of the things that I find so fascinating about Vince Staples is he has a huge appreciation, um, for the landscape of hip hop.

• 18:37Speaker 05

  And he's this guy who also, in the same vein, was like, you know, his upbringing was a lot of folks around him kind of listening to unsigned, like, peers, you know, like, cloud rappers, for lack of a better, but like, folks in and around Southern California. But throughout the interview, and several people that probably have, you know, a breadth of interest in hip hop music like you and I do, you know, were pointing out like, yo, it's so dope that Vince Staples cites Blue in Exile, or Ghetto Pop Life, the album by the late Gemini, the gifted one, and he mentions Mers in passing. So, you can never say this guy is not passionate about music. He has dialed the F in. And that really stood out to me. Like Vince Staples is somebody, after hearing that conversation and witnessing

• 19:22Speaker 05

  it, I want to hear him talk about music more, you know, because it's deeply insightful. And the thing that really stood out to me, and I'm curious if you have thoughts on this, is like, two points stood out. At one point, you know, Amir was just speaking about how Vince, for a certain generation, represents this guy who comes from a certain, you know, set of circumstances on the north side of Long Beach, who also makes very vulnerable introspective music. And Vince was like, you can point to Blue, who's done that, you can point to Mers, who's done that. A few minutes later, was just talking about the same ecosystem of guys like King T and MC8 and the late Mossberg. And I kind of got

• 20:07Speaker 05

  to thinking, I'm like, you know what I like is, these walls and containers that so many music fans and media put on things really don't exist. And I think Vince gets that.

• 20:17Speaker 06

  I'm always of two minds in that situation, because I'm a person who came up in the era of underground versus mainstream, specifically when it came to, you know, East Coast versus West Coast, or real hip hop versus, you know, mainstream hip hop. And as an adult, I can look back and see how much of the human beings making the music were a lot of the same kinds of people, and that a lot of the distinctions, a lot of the differences, was marketing stuff, you know, being done by labels, or being done by stylists, or even being done by like, A and R people at labels who figured out the best way to package certain things,

• 21:01Speaker 06

  whether it actually fit them or not. So I do recognize that some of the walls aren't, you know, quote unquote, real. But I think a lot of rappers move with intention. And I think a lot of rappers make choices on, you know, what they rap about and what they don't rap about. And I think that a lot of people want to be seen as having a certain sort of street credibility, and so that they make sure that most of their content reflects that. And I'm not saying they're not genuinely into that, or genuinely like that. But I think that there's other artists, rap artists, who don't do that.

• 21:41Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 21:42Speaker 06

  That more so follow their own creative whims regardless of what the expectations of the genre are, or what could cost them quote unquote credibility. And so I do think there's something to be said about the people who take those creative risks versus people who play it safer. And so, in that contrast of the spectrum of choices that a rapper could make, I do think it, you know, it's not altogether wrong to group them in certain categories.

• 22:15Speaker 05

  Yeah. And I relate, and you brought this up in your conversation with Amir, and when you were a guest last year, I mean, you've illustrated this point of, like, you were very pro, like, Dr. Octagon, and folks around you were dealing with, you know, Pac and Biggie. And I remember, you know, going into record stores, and you had a finite group, you had a finite inventory of hip hop. And I'm like, man, why is there all of this and not this great stuff? In hopes, I felt the same way about radio, and now it's funny, because, you know, we can listen, by and large, to every album.

• 22:47Speaker 06

  Right.

• 22:48Speaker 05

  So, and that's what I like in this modern day, is like, Vince Staples mentioning a Mers. I hope that that, I hope that those same folks that are outraged by Vince Staples not having a favorite song, or maybe not even outraged, but have opinions and react to it, are also, whether it's a Mers or a Mossberg, taking heed of the fact that he's shouting out these artists, and listening. And also-

• 23:16Speaker 06

  And he's a product of both, or he's a product of all. And I think that's one of the things that make Vince such a special act.

• 23:23Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 23:24Speaker 06

  You know, a special rap artist, is that he is the sum of all of these influences. That not only, you know, his environment, but a rap diet that was filled with many different types of rapper, you know, and all of that is in him, and it's in his personality. And I think all of that makes him appealing, you know?

• 23:46Speaker 05

  Yeah, I agree with you. And it's funny, too, like, I, much like you, I mean, you and I have both on this format and off air talked, you know, music a good bit. And Vince even shared that many of his album covers are homages to albums outside of the genre, different, you know, Green Day, and different, like, things that I didn't even pick up on that were hiding in plain sight to me. And I, once again, I mean, and he said, like, he mentioned, he had done an interview before QLS with something involving, you know, the Recording Academy and the Grammys. And he said, when it comes to his music, he likes to put it all out there, and that is the conversation. And then if you want to have

• 24:27Speaker 05

  a conversation about life, or, you know, socio-economic dynamics, or race, he's up for it. But that was cool. And it's interesting, too, because I mentioned Corey Smith, who, you know, I've gotten to know a little bit over the years, but he also is part of the management of De La Soul. And you can look at De La, and you can look at Vince, and they're both introspective entities that are always fighting against being what folks think they are.

• 24:54Speaker 06

  Right, right.

• 24:55Speaker 05

  And that's just super cool to me. And I, this, this interview was really special. I think that QLS has had a really interesting summer. And one of the things I'm proud of is we can have JoJo, you know, who is bold and real, and, again, redefining her own legacy one week, and then you can have Vince, and then, you know, we had Wallow on.

• 25:17Speaker 06

  Oh, word.

• 25:18Speaker 05

  Yeah. And the Wallow episode reminded me, and actually Amir, I think, looked at me in the middle of that taping, and he goes, man, I open mic eagled this one, because-

• 25:28Speaker 06

  He gotta, he gotta stop using me as a verb like that, because people don't know what he means.

• 25:33Speaker 05

  But I think Wallow came in and disrupted Amir's life in a really positive way, which I know for sure you did, but it ends up being a very different interview than, and there's a beauty in that. Everything is not structured, everything is not talking points, but needless to say, I'm proud of where we are this season, and the variety has been really, really positive.

• 25:56Speaker 06

  Sick, man. I'm, you know, happy to be here to see it.

• 25:59Speaker 05

  Absolutely, man. Well, I know we're just, you know, just in brief, talking about things, but I do want to encourage people, as always, you know, please keep sending in those mailbag questions. I think we're gonna get some days ahead with you and Amir to go through some things and weigh in. And I've been, you know, when I'm in New York, taping episodes, I've been asking Amir a lot of the questions y'all have been sending me. He really enjoys that. But also, you know, if there's things that, that folks, you know, want to hear about, or you have any questions on how the sausage is made, please hit the DMs at QLS, or go to questlovesupreme.com. But we are so grateful. I encourage everyone, two things, well, three things. Definitely check the episode if you haven't,

• 26:42Speaker 05

  if you made it this far in the episode about it. But it's a really powerful 85 minutes. And definitely check out Vince Staples' Cry Baby album, and then, which is, I do think that one of the reasons he's doing some press right now, it's that season where, and I hate that artists do this, like, not that they do it, but that it's part of what's necessary. We are coming up on awards season. So folks, remind the powers that be, they made a great album, check it out, because, you know, in the, in the third and fourth quarter, that's when folks, especially with Grammy, decide these things. And Vince definitely has made one of the stronger albums this year. And my third and final thing is, so have you, Mike.

• 27:24Speaker 06

  Hey!

• 27:25Speaker 05

  You know, Doomed, check it out, definitely. And Mike, you're going on the road. I know you're hitting the East Coast.

• 27:31Speaker 06

  I am.

• 27:32Speaker 05

  I'm trying to line up some childcare and catch you in Baltimore.

• 27:34Speaker 06

  Oh, that'd be dope, man. Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, Baltimore, DC, Carrboro, North Carolina. And I feel like I'm leaving somewhere. Nashville and Chicago with DJ Shadow, too.

• 27:48Speaker 05

  Oh, nice. Okay, great. Well, please do that. And thank you, everyone. And please, tell somebody about the show. We appreciate you all.

• 27:57Speaker 06

  Tell everybody about it.

• 27:58Speaker 05

  Everybody.

• 28:18Speaker 00

  Questlove Show is a production of iHeart Radio.

• 28:27Speaker 03

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  Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-5979, or visit zepbound.lily.com. If you love music and great artists' interviews, check out Before the Moment, hosted by Nile Rogers. This new series follows Nile as he travels across the country, talking with some of today's most fascinating artists about the moments that shaped their lives and careers. From hitmakers like Miguel, to rising stars like Alex Warren, Nile explores the stories behind the careers, the songs, and the moments that changed everything. Because every musician remembers the point where everything changed. And this podcast tells the stories that came before. Listen to Before the Moment, a Lincoln original series, on the iHeart Radio app, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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  This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.