Vince Staples wants people to know that when it comes to rappers, Snoop Dogg is king.
During the special Black History Month episode of Apple Music 1’s show The Message with Ebro, which you can watch above, Staples broke down why there is no rapper bigger than Snoop.
“Snoop Dogg has always been the biggest rapper as far as brand, and namesake, to me at least,” Staples explained at the 21:33 mark of the interview. “You can argue, people are equal, but you can’t argue nobody’s bigger than Snoop Dogg… He got the Martha Stewart show cracking right now, and nobody’s saying, ‘Who is that,’ when they watching the show. You know what I mean?”
Staples also touched on how huge this year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show was, which featured Dr. Dre, Snoop, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, and 50 Cent, and stressed that hip-hop getting that kind of shine was a long time coming.
“To me, [the halftime show]’s not even something to be super-duper excited about,” he said shortly after praising Snoop. “It’s like, finally, because you can’t lie about it no more. It’s been so many times that they’ve pretended that this wasn’t a phenomenon. You know what I’m saying?
Staples said they were “playing songs from decades ago,” which “just goes to show you how long it’s been a thing, how long it’s been the pinnacle, but it’s good that they finally stop being stubborn and start coming around because it’s unavoidable at this point.”
He then heaped praise on Snoop and Dre. “They had no other options except for the biggest hip-hop producer in the history of hip-hop arguably, the biggest rapper in hip-hop history arguably, and the biggest rapper out right now arguably,” he said. “What other choice did you have? They didn’t do us no favor. They did what they was supposed to do.”
Staples also recognized that despite the show being a huge moment for hip-hop, it shouldn’t detract from the fact that there are countless disenfranchised Black people just outside of SoFi Stadium’s walls.
“You got to think about who was disenfranchised by putting that stadium there… It’s just part of it… You got to think of Black people,” he explained. “It’s a lot of us, but not in comparison to the rest of the population in the US, not in comparison to LA County. The numbers are dwindling every day, so it’s just good to see while we still here before they try to push us all out because it’s getting kind of crazy. It’s just good to have that moment and just see how it comes full circle from Eminem taking his knee stance, to bringing it full circle with the Kaepernick situation, and the work that Jay-Z’s done in the messaging, and the lyrics, and all that.”
And while Staples thinks Snoop is the “biggest” rapper, he also believes Jay-Z to be the greatest rapper of all time. In an interview with Billboard following the release of his self-titled album this past summer, he explained why Jay is the GOAT, in his opinion.
“He’s Jay-Z,” Staples said at the time. “There’s really no other option – it’s Snoop Dogg or Jay-Z. He’s undeniable. I know what people mean by those conversations but I don’t subscribe to that shitt. You ask me that based on the parameters of the GOAT, people don’t just want to hear who’s music you enjoy the most. It’s success. Snoop Dogg is still hella famous and loved. Jay-Z is the same but he’s still doing it in a music sense. Jay-Z is Jay-Z. It’s only one.”
Watch the full episode of The Message up top.
