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Pop Culture
Apr 29, 2014, 09:16AM

Fact Checking, Nothing Else

A 2014 L.A. Record interview with rapper Vince Staples vs. a 2011 Morton Report interview with singer/songwriter Joan Jett.

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Joan Jett: It was some kind of freak show or something. Like everybody was waiting for us to do something outrageous, but not because it was good for us, just because it was good for them.

Vince Staples: That’s slavery.

Jett: Yeah, definitely.

***

Staples: You’re not learning anything about nobody anymore because everybody is lying.

Jett: You know when you walk into a room full of bad vibes, you can feel it.

Staples: It’s hard to get out.

***

Jett: It’s a little bit dangerous. So when I am home, I'm viciously protective of my space. People always seem to be surprised that I’m just so regular. You know what I mean?

Staples: That’s human nature. Are you staying out of trouble?

Jett: Well, I should.

***

Staples: Somebody shooting at your house, you shoot one of them and kill them, it’s your fault. No matter if they pulled a gun out on you first.

Jett: The sadness of it, the beauty of it. But, God.

Staples: I’m an observer. Fact-checking, nothing else.

Jett: Yeah, you just have to, yeah.

***

Staples: Yeah. Everybody’s story is a little different.

Jett: Not making it more than it is, but a song can just hit you at a certain time in life. Then there was that southern band, Molly Hatchet. The guys said, "I can't believe we're opening for a bitch." I was ready to war; I’ve gotten verbal. But I was never mean.

Staples: I just knew my mom said you were crazy and I couldn’t hang out with you.

—Raymond Cummings is the author of several books of poetry, including Crucial SprawlSeven New Poems, and Assembling the Lord. He blogs infrequently at Voguing to Danzig.

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