Vince Staples Reveals Mac Miller Didn't Take Any Royalties For 'Stolen Youth' Tape
| LAST UPDATE 07/28/2021
In a new interview with Revolt's Drink Champs, hosted by N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN, Vince Staples revealed previously unknown details about his profound relationship with the late Mac Miller.
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He recalled how Earl Sweatshirt introduced the two in the early 2010s, which led Mac to produce Vince's 'Stolen Youth' mixtape under his beatmaker pseudonym of Larry Fisherman.
"I wasn’t really making music at that time," Vince recalled. "Earl [Sweatshirt] had came back and I was just, you know, moving around with him making sure he was straight and s**t. And I introduced myself to [Mac] and he was like, 'I know who you are why don’t you make music?' and I said, 'I don’t got no beats,' and he’s like, 'Alright, I’m making some beats come over here on Friday,' and then that’s how we ended up making music and being cool."
In addition to taking Vince on his The Space Migration Tour featuring Chance The Rapper and Earl in 2013, Mac told Vince that he wasn't going to take any publishing royalties for his work on 'Stolen Youth.' Instead, he asked Vince to buy him an "S-Class Benz" if he made "a gang of money."
Vince even credits Mac with helping to revive his music career in a way. Around the time they met, Vince wasn't focused on recording, as he was dealing with the stress of his cousin nearly dying from a gunshot wound.
"He did more for me – and it’s honestly like as far as in the time of my life when I needed it," Vince said. "Because you gotta think, at that point, I already put like two music projects out and I wasn’t f*****g with it. I was like, I’m gonna go back to what I know, type s**t. And my cousin had just got shot and he almost died, so that turned it all the way up for me. My focus wasn’t on music at all."
They collaborated as rappers for the last time on 2014's "Rain."