Rap star Vince Staples is teaming with Black-ish creator Kenya Barris on The Vince Staples Show, a new scripted comedy in which he’ll also star. Loosely inspired by Staples’ life, The Vince Staples Show is set in his hometown of Long Beach, California.
Staples will executive produce the series alongside Barris, Ian Edelman, Maurice Williams, Corey Smyth, and Calmatic, with Edelman and Williams also acting as showrunners. Williams previously appeared alongside Abbott Elementary’s Quinta Brunson in Broke, while Edelman wrote for How To Make It In America. Both are also writing on another of Barris’ projects, Kid Cudi’s new show, Entergalactic.
Staples says he’s “happy [the show] is coming to fruition,” with Netflix head of comedy Tracey Pakosta praising him as “one of the most talented young musicians today. We’re already excited about how his sensibility–and sense of humor–will translate into a unique comedy series,” Pakosta says.
At the end of August, Vince embarked on a special livestream, Vince Staples Live: A Walk Through Ramona Park. In partnership with Amazon Music, the online event featured a one-night-only live performance from the celebrated artist filmed at the iconic Fonda Theatre in his hometown of Los Angeles.
It wasn’t the first time Staples held a special digital event around his latest record. Shortly after the release of the album earlier this year, the rapper broadcast Ramona Park Broke My Heart: The Musical. It drew inspiration directly from the album, which pays tribute to the Ramona Park neighborhood in Long Beach, California, where Staples grew up.
“I am often told the lie that life is what you make it. For over a decade, most of my work has been an anthology of what I believed to be home. Now I’ve realized that it reaches beyond location,” Staples wrote in a statement about the album. “I have been exploring the utility of home. Security. Comfort. Meaning. The answer. The excuse. To outgrow is to love blindly no longer. Ramona Park Broke My Heart is the story of that growth.”
