Vince Staples Performs "Señorita" and "Lift Me Up" on "Jimmy Kimmel Live"

Photo via Def Jam

It’s a big week for Vince Staples, whose great debut album Summertime ’06 dropped on Tuesday. Also, today’s his birthday. And last night, he performed “Señorita” and “Lift Me Up” on “Jimmy Kimmel Live”. Check out video below.

In other news, Staples has annotated a number of songs on Genius. In addition to his own tracks verses on tracks by Earl Sweatshirt and Common and others, he’s also weighed in on a couple songs he wasn’t involved with: Sean Paul’s “Gimme the Light” (“It’s just one verse on ‘Gimme the Light’ and the song is five minutes! Just one verse. That’s my shit, man.”) and Fetty Wap’s “My Way” (“This guy is Luther Vandross!”)

He also provided an extensive statement on the ideas and themes of his new album:

A first album is a coming-of-age type situation. You are stepping into a new realm and it’s a time of revelation. The summer of 2006 was also a time of transition—a strong turning point in my life. That is where I drew inspiration from for this album.

I think I was 13 in 2006. I thought I was so hard. Big ass white t-shirt and then a super small white t-shirt when I got into skateboarding. I was at Hot Topic every day stealing t-shirts. It was a great time period—just being young and dumb and feeling like you rule the world. Every kid feels that way at a certain time.

I want people who listen to this album to define it in their own way. I don’t believe in telling people how to articulate the music. You could ask my opinion, but we all have the right to interpret the music and have it affect us in our life in the way that we want it to. I want people to understand the reality of what my situation was and then apply it to their own life. It’s like the Bible—you take the Bible the right way and it can help you tenfold. This album is my Bible.

Read our Rising interview with Staples here.

Here’s his episode of Pitchfork.tv’s “Over/Under”:

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