Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
Ever since the end of “Atlanta,” the culture has needed something new. We needed another TV show that communicated the vibe of hip-hop culture the way “Atlanta” did. It’s so much fun watching the spirit of hip-hop on TV. “Dave” does this to a certain extent — I love “Dave” immensely — but now we have “The Vince Staples Show,” and some might call it the West Coast “Atlanta.” That would be high praise, and it would be accurate.
“The Vince Staples Show” on Netflix is extraordinary. It’s draped in dry humor, Blackness, intelligence and the sort of daily craziness that Black people know all about. Rapper Vince Staples stars as himself, a well-known rapper — check out my 2017 interview with him. This is similar to the way that Lil’ Dicky stars as himself on “Dave,” but where “Dave” is about his life inside of the music industry, “The Vince Staples Show” is about Staples’s life outside of music. Like Paper Boi on “Atlanta,” he’s famous, but we never see him rap. This show gives us Staples moving through his normal life and dealing with the madness that can be way more compelling than the rap star life.
There’s a collision between Blackness and absurdity on both “Atlanta” and “The Vince Staples Show” that I love. In one epic episode, Staples is at a bank when four Black men burst in, their faces covered in black and white makeup in a way that evokes the makeup the bank robbers wore in 1995’s “Dead Presidents.” Turns out Staples actually knows the robbers for real. They say hi, dap each other up and end up helping each other out.
Staples’ dry sense of humor is a big part of the show. It’s the sort of show where you’ll think, “This is really funny,” even though you never laugh out loud. It’s also the sort of show that makes…
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