Vince Staples' recent debut album Summertime '06 just got even more impressive with the new video to "Norf Norf," one of the double LP's standout tracks and Vince's ode to his home neighborhood, northside Long Beach.
The black and white video begins with a close up of Vince rapping, and we soon find out he's in the back of a police car. We're then taken back to the initial arrest, as a white police officer slams Vince against the hood of his car.
From there, Staples takes us through the whole get the whole shebang: the lineup for his mugshot, the ensuing interrogation — in which Vince, of course, doesn't cooperate, leading to more physical punishment inflicted upon the 22-year-old rapper. Last, he's done up in a jumpsuit and locked behind bars, receiving gang signs from his fellow inmates as he's dragged into his cell.
Throughout the entire video, Vince doesn't flinch — deliberately rapping the bleak, off-the-cuff lyrics to his Clams Casino-produced single. His hauntingly nonchalant expression gives us the sense that this is just another day in the life of a young black male from one of California's roughest neighborhoods.
With his Def Jam debut, and last year's Hell Can Wait EP, Vince has emerged as a voice with the power to change all of our preconceived notions of gangsta rap by giving us an unfiltered look at his life growing up around gang violence.
He's also proved to have one of rap's most unique visual aesthetics. If his latest video has you feeling some type of way, check out "Señorita," in which he paints an outsider's vision of his neighborhood -- some kind of apocalyptic zombie town, or last year's "Nate," in which a young Vince confusingly looks up to his drug-addicted, gang-affiliated father.
Staples was recently the subject of Sprite and FADER's "Obey Your Thirst" video series, joining the ranks of Drake, Nas and young TDE rapper Isaiah Rashad.
Purchase Summertime '06 on iTunes.
