Vince Staples says “we deserve better” than Kendrick Lamar and Drake feud

nme.com:

Vince Staples has weighed in on the ongoing rap feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake – see what he had to say below.On Saturday (May 4), Staples sat down with Long Beach Mayor Rex Richard for a panel discussion to celebrate Youth Day.

During the chat, Staples was asked by a fan in attendance what he thought about Lamar and Drake going at one another.Staples, who has been an advocate for raising up Black culture, spoke about several major changes happening in the music industry that affect the Black community, signalling that more people should be paying attention to that instead of a rap beef.To begin his response, Staples noted that he has been signed to Universal Music Group for 13 years, first signing with them at the age of 17.

Over the course of his time with the company, UMG has gone through several changes in the way the label handles and distributes music.Most recently, UMG has “folded” multiple independent labels and put numerous people of colour out of jobs: “That record label just folded all of its independent labels and subsidiaries into each other.

None of them exist no more. They fired all the heads of the labels and if they didn’t, they turned them into glorified A&Rs.