Vince Staples and Mac Miller will forever be connected through their art, but it’s the way Mac handled his business and treated his friends that Vince can’t seem to forget.
On a new episode of Drink Champs, Staples showed up to discuss his self-titled album, which has seen a bevy of critical praise over the last few weeks. Asked what Mac Miller—who passed in 2018—meant to him, the rapper began to tell the story of how they were connected via Earl Sweatshirt.
“I wasn’t really making music at that time,” Vince said. “Earl had came back and I was just, you know, moving around with him making sure, you know, he was straight and shit. And I introduced myself to him and he was like, ‘I know who you are, why don’t you make beats or whatever, why don’t you make music?’ And I say, ‘I don’t got no beats’ and he’s like, ‘Aight I’m making some beats, come over here on Friday,’ and then that’s how we ended up making music and being cool.”
Vince also reflected on when Mac gave him ownership of his 2013 Stolen Youth mixtape—which Mac (credited as his alias of Larry Fisherman) produced for the still-rising MC at the time—sharing that he “took me on tour and he didn’t want no publishing.” The tape featured collabs with Ab-Soul, Joey Fatts, and Dash, igniting Staples’ name for those who weren’t yet familiar.
“He said, ‘If you make a million dollars buy me a S-Class Benz or something like that.’ The whole project [Stolen Youth], he gave me ownership of it, he just said if you make a gang of money just give me like a S-Class—and then took me on the road and paid for my room and board and still paid me,” Vince shared. “So yeah, you know that was the homie.”
You can watch Vince talk about Mac at the 36:17 mark in the video up top.
The episode also features Staples speaking on his admiration for Tyler, the Creator and Trick Daddy, why he doesn’t smoke or drink, and his perspective on 2Pac. Vince Staples was released on Blacksmith/Motown on July 9.
