Back to the Future was 'perfect': Vince Staples on the films he loves
Vince Staples says he doesn't have any good ideas. His latest North American tour was called The Life Aquatic Tour, named after Wes Anderson's 2004 movie, but he is quick to point out that he has never actually seen it. "I needed a name for the tour, I Googled The Life Aquatic, I found the picture and said, 'Put me and Kilo Kish on the boat,'" Staples explains. "It's pretty simple, I don't really have that many deep ideas, to be honest."
Staples still has a string of tour dates to finish up this summer and while the name of his upcoming sophomore album has surfaced already (Big Fish Theory), don't count on hearing it anytime soon. "As soon as we're done the tour and we get home, we'll work on trying to finish it up," he explains. "I can't really work much on the road."
So, while Staples is still working on the record, we decided to ask him about something else: movies. Staples wouldn't necessarily call himself a movie buff, but he does enjoy watching them, and talking about them, and getting into debates with friends about the best gangster movies ever (he hates Scarface). It was a pastime that he says kept him out of trouble growing up. Even if he hasn't seen The Life Aquatic, he does admit that "Bill Murray was cool in Space Jam."
Below, Staples tells us about some movies he loves.
Back to the Future
"That s--t is cute, it's really heartfelt. Marty just wanted to save the day and he kind of messed it up a lot. If you look at movies set in the future with time travel, they're all pretty horrible, and Back To the Future was able to make it perfect."
Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2
"It was the first time I'd seen a movie like that, and Vol. 1 and 2 are really just one movie. It was interesting how they played with the colours and all the cuts and the storyline, breaking the fourth wall and things like that."
American History X
"It was very reminiscent of how it was where I grew up. Venice is very similar to Long Beach so it felt very familiar."
— Melody Lau, q digital staff