Vince Staples Says Black People Are Viewed 'Like We're Entertainment

Long Beach, CA native Vince Staples isn't one to shy away from expressing opinions and critiques about the hip-hop industry and society at large. During a recent interview with The Guardian, Staples explained why he thinks black people are seen as sources of entertainment rather than human beings. 

“I feel like a lot of the time, we get this voyeurism: ‘Ah man, it must be so hard,’ or, ‘I can’t imagine growing up where you grew up, experiencing what you did.’ People look at us like we’re entertainment and not people,” he told The Guardian. “That’s how we look at rap music. That’s how we look at Black people.”

Staples noted how fans “engage in trauma porn for people obsessed with poverty and violence who don’t know it, don’t digest it or really care about it.” He added, “The truth is, someone can like my music, but if I did one of these things that’s talked about in music for survival I would be shunned by the world.”

“We just don’t care about people like me and where I come from – we just pretend to.”

Source: theguardian.com