Vince Staples for Red Bull's 30 Days in LA

After an intense 3 weeks of shows every single night, the Red Bull 30 Days in LA series was in the fourth quarter. The first 3 quarters included expertly curated lineups with stellar performances and, by the looks of it, the 4^th and final quarter would be no different. For the 24^th show of the month, Red Bull Sound Select artists Martin $ky and Loaf Muzik opened for Long Beach rapper Vince Staples at the El Rey Theatre.
The line-up for this night had representatives from the Midwest, East Coast and West Coast ready to get the crowd hype on a Tuesday night. Performances kicked off relatively early with Chicago rapper/producer, Martin $ky, being the first to connect with the crowd by performing moody yet 808-heavy tracks that made everyone nod their heads from his latest EP, Everywhere But Here. His set was followed by New York rap collective Loaf Muzik. While Martin $ky performed mood music with heavy drums, Loaf Muzik came out ready to light the theatre up. All four members fed off of each other’s energy while bouncing around stage, giving a performance that heavily influence by 90s era rap.
The curtains lowered to prep the stage for Staples and folks in the theatre shuffled around to find the closest place to the stage in anticipation. After a short break, Staples made his way to the stage that included an LED screen and a DJ. He kicked off the performance with a high-energy performance of “65 Hunnid.” Early into the set his DJ yelled that the crowd wasn’t hype enough. Although Staples maneuvered back and forth across the stage effortlessly and the crowd that shuffled to claim their real estate in the center of the room rocked along with him, that announcement from the DJ seemed to strike a nerve with Staple. From that point forth, Staple became preoccupied with getting a bigger reaction from the crowd in between songs by making controversial statements, bickering with fans, and repeatedly saying the crowd was too industry.
LA has a reputation for not partying as hard as other cities; and yes, there will be lots of members of the industry at the show if you’re making noise. Staples’ reaction could be due to youth and being new in the game or this could be another one of his controversial antics. Staples’ has too much talent to burn that hard. Hopefully with more time (if he doesn’t retire in 2 years, as he anticipates) he’ll learn to let disappointments in crowd participation roll off his back.
PHOTOS: Red Bull Content Pool