Concert Review: Vince Staples at Hawthorne Theater, 2/28

The rising Long Beach rapper gave a master class in how to do a bare-bones hip-hop show right.

Vince Staples always plays things straight-up. He's blatant, honest and unwavering in interviews. He's explicit, direct and ruthless on record. And onstage, he's resolute.

At the Hawthorne Theater on Feb. 28, backed only by his DJ, Westside Ty, the 22-year-old Long Beach native wielded the microphone with poise and power from the moment he stepped into the light, to the eerie sounds of seagulls and waves that introduce his full-length studio debut, the double album Summertime '06. "65 Hunnid," from the rapper's breakout Hell Can Wait EP, ignited bouncing in the crowd that hardly subsided all night.

With two official releases under his deal with Def Jam, Staples ran through a slew of cuts from both Hell Can Wait and Summertime '06, the wailing West Coast synths and booming 808s threatening to shake the theater off its moorings. After a marathon of songs off Summertime—plus "Nate," a relative deep cut from his unsigned days he openly doubted more than five people in the crowd would know—and the audience wilding through "Jump Off The Roof" and "Norf, Norf," Staples called for a mosh pit ("I want you to look at the person next to you," Westside Ty instructed, "because you're going to be punching them in the face") before dropping the menacing keys to the Future-assisted trap eulogy, "Señorita." Then, after quick sprint off stage, the piercing synth of "Blue Suede" hit the speakers for the California wordsmith's forceful encore.

Staples is a known introvert, often accused of acting surly in interviews. That cynicism was absent onstage. He was charismatic and ceaselessly energetic, even taking the time to sign a fan's vinyl record mid-show. However reticent he may be off the mic, he makes up for in his total command of the crowd. In performance, Staples is unrestrained but totally calculated—forthright in his intentions, and meticulous in his execution. MATT SCHONFELD.

All photos by Thomas Teal.

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