Vince Staples released his Prima Donna EP on Friday and today has released a short film to bring a visual component to the critically acclaimed seven-track EP. Instead of a bunch of music videos that can slip into the trap of cliché or fail to really tell a story in three or four minutes, he takes the viewer inside the hard life of fame.
It starts out with Staples shooting a rather cliché music video where he is standing in front of a big screen and his head is blown up as girls with big asses shake them around him. He goes through the motions until the shoot is done and he can leave, walking by someone who wants to speak to him about one more project.
He heads out to a cab and things get weird as the world starts to completely change. He starts to hallucinate the cab driver rapping to him and people dancing around a fire in a garbage can.
He admits to the driver that every day is a long day and "he needs a vacation," to which the driver chuckles and says, "I know just the place."
As he drives, the viewer sees the various people who become part of the fabric of a rapper's life - groupies, haters (played by a blind man), an angry priest and paparazzi.
He ends up in the Prima Donna hotel where the visions become more intense as he is given a set time to perform for fans in the hotel but is stuck with a crippling anxiety attack.
The whole video brings the EP to life as he tackles the reality or lack thereof of fame and the absurdity of celebrity culture. Everything comes in flashes and disappears as someone can be hot for one second and then nobody the next. Someone so aware of himself and his place in the world is so rare. It is inspiring to see.
Watch the Nabil directed video below as premiered on Noisey and go get the EP here.
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