YouTube user Twoevils Lesser went viral this week with a video hosted on their channel in which a Christian mother rants about Vince Staples's song "Norf Norf." The unnamed woman ends up in tears during the video blog as she recalls hearing the song on the radio. She recites the lyrics, which discuss Staples's youth as a gang member in Long Beach, and laments the fact it is played on mainstream radio.
The video has nearly 700,000 views and has seen the woman labeled as an "angry lady" having a "meltdown" in headlines. However, when asked for his thoughts on the video by The Independent on Wednesday, Staples himself took a more balanced view. "I don’t think it’s funny at all,” he said. “It’s not right to attack someone over their stance, their opinions, and their religion. I think that’s very immature."
“We already have a lot of issues between black and white relations in this country based on misunderstandings,” he continued. “In my eyes, she doesn’t look like a racist. She doesn’t look like a mean person. It’s not very responsible for people to try to take that and jump, looking for some sort of commentary on these issues. It’s just not right that’s she’s being attacked. It’s not okay.”
Update: October 6, 5:35 a.m. Vince Staples has claimed he was misquoted by Independent writer Justin Carissimo and tweeted his exact thoughts on the video.
Thank you to Justin Carissimo for the misquote. Great Job.
— Vince Staples (@vincestaples) October 6, 2016
What I was saying was that the woman in that video is clearly confused on the context of the song which causes her to be frightened.
— Vince Staples (@vincestaples) October 6, 2016
She also, in my opinion, seems to be emotionally unstable. With both those things being said, she has a right to her opinion.
— Vince Staples (@vincestaples) October 6, 2016
No person needs to be attacked for their opinion on what they see to be appropriate for their children. They have a right to it.
— Vince Staples (@vincestaples) October 6, 2016
This misunderstanding of our community leads to miscommunication which we should convert into a progressive dialogue.
— Vince Staples (@vincestaples) October 6, 2016
Thats all I have to say about that. Stop asking me.
— Vince Staples (@vincestaples) October 6, 2016
Check out the video above, and revisit Vince Staples's FADER cover story here.
