In support of his new EP Prima Donna, Vince Staples releases a short film of the same name. Vince, who wrote the film shot by Namil, is a visual representation of everything he feels about the rap industry.
Prima Donna, the album, is actually a story of the Long Beach rapper surviving the hard lessons of the streets, only to be driven crazy by the music business. Industry politics, pressure, and the way fans clamor for a piece of him are so taxing that when he can no longer deal with it, and he ultimately kills himself. The film follows the same trajectory.
Prima Donna, the film, starts out with Vince shooting the video for the last song on the album, “Big Time.” When he finishes the video shoot he runs into an industry exec who wants to schedule a meeting and it’s obvious that he’s not interested in taking it.
He makes his way out of the warehouse and into the street to go home but stops when he’s frozen by hallucinations. The hallucinations continue to worsen as he inexplicably finds himself at the Prima Donna hotel, which captures the final moments of his life before it comes to an end.
The short video has snippets of the music from his latest release and while the dialog isn’t Oscar-worthy, the cinematography does a fantastic job of setting an ominous tone. Also, it’s great to see Vince flex his creative muscles in this manner as it’s a clear sign that he’s becoming comfortable in who he is and the message he wants to put out.
Prima Donna is available on your preferred streaming service but, if anyone’s looking for a hard copy, Staples is selling a limited-edition vinyl for $21.98 on his official site.
