
Vince Staples, a rapper who grew up in Long Beach, California,, never had an easy childhood. Growing up in an extremely high poverty/high violence area, Vince was unable to escape the world around him. In his music video “Nate”, Vince explains the troubles of his childhood; all focusing around his father, Nate Staples. While “Nate” portrays Vince’s childhood in Long Beach, the music video speaks profoundly about the roles of the mother and father in a family setting; specifically, in this case, a low-income, high crime rate neighborhood. 

The first shot in “Nate” is a close-up of Vince as a young child. While his arms are crossed behind his head in a very leisurely fashion, his face tells the true story. This first shot provides our first look at his current condition. He seems very sad, almost depressed. Vince raps over this first shot, “As a kid all I wanted was to kill a man/ Be like my daddy's friends, hopping out that minivan” (1-2). Immediately we get a taste of how his father and his friends have affected him. He has never lived a life other than the one he is currently living; so killing is all he knows. His face tells the viewer Vince’s negative thoughts about his situation, while the lyrics juxtapose the visuals, as they represent his blind support for his father’s situation. 

The next shot provides a more in-depth view of his father’s influence. This scene is by far the most significant, as it represents the entire message that Vince is attempting to get across.  As Vince walks into the kitchen and grabs a piece of bread, he finds his mother screaming at his father as he weighs cocaine on a scale. Within the kitchen, there is not much light except for the sun finding its way through the window, representing a darker area and time of his childhood, as that’s where his dad subjected him to such crimes. As his mother screams at him, Nate gets up and turns around, flinging his arm and almost hitting the mother. The camera then pans to a close up of the drugs on the scale, followed by a close up of the mother’s face as she holds back tears. This short but strong scene shows the roles that the mother and father play. The father is the provider of the family. He plays the “nature” role. He will earn a living any way that he has to, even if it is ‘dirty’ money, as that is simply the nature of his situation. The mother plays the “nurture” role. She wants to provide the best living conditions possible for her son. The lyrics over the shot show the character of their situation and why Vince has the viewpoint that he does; “Always told me that he loved me, fuck his foolish pride/ As a kid all I wanted was to kill a man/ Cause my daddy did it, eyes bloodshot” (16-18). The sole reason he wants to deal drugs and be in a gang is because his “daddy did it” (18). Throughout history, young boys have always looked up to their fathers as role models. 

The following scene in “Nate” gives the viewer a look into the average child in such a situation. Vince rides down his neighborhood street on his bike with the afternoon sun burning in the far background. The natural light provides a calming feeling, as Vince is away from his destructive household.  Over this shot, Vince raps, “Uncle counting money while my daddy cut him grams/ Made me promise that this shit would never touch my hands /And it never did said it'd make me be a better man/ Smoking in the crib, hiding dip inside of soda cans” (27-30). These lines, it seems, are meant to shock the reader. While Nate is blatantly dealing drugs in front of Vince, he pretends he can make up for it by telling Vince to never get near such terrible things; as if he doesn’t know that as a father figure, his son will do as much as possible to be like him. Here again, the visuals heavily juxtapose the lyrics. The calming scene represents childhood innocence. Vince, as a young boy, has no control over his state. He simply has to ride it out until it is over. 

The camera then pans down from the roof of the local general store. This quick shot seems almost irrelevant, but also says a lot. A surveillance camera looks down upon a grown up Vince, who is loitering with a large group of people around his age. As the camera pans to the teenage Vince, the young version of himself rides by in the corner of the frame. The teenage Vince’s face tells a different story than that of the young version. It seems that the older Vince has realized the danger of his situation, but has accepted it. He stands there under the surveillance camera, with a seeming lack of emotion. The next shot is a medium range scene of him walking through the local store with candy and a drink in his hands. These two shots provide a contrasting viewpoint to the rest of the music video so far. While so much violence and crime is going on, the child within still remains innocent. Bike rides in the afternoon, soda, and candy all represent childhood; and how innocent it is by nature. Children living in high-poverty/high-crime areas may only know the world that they are living in,, but at their core they themselves have done nothing wrong.

The climax comes in the next scene, as Vince rides back to his house to find two cops arresting his father, presumably for the drugs he was previously weighing. His father struggles with the police as Vince’s mother stands on the porch and screams at him, before hurriedly grabbing Vince and guiding him inside. The mother continues screaming towards Nate, as he screams back with things along the lines of “after all I’ve done for you”. The camera then pans to Vince inside the house, walking by the dents and holes in the wall. These again represent the violent nature of their household and being raised in such situations. Finally, the music video ends with the same shot as the beginning but reversed. Nate sits down on his bed and falls backwards, with the same look on his face as earlier. The words “with the seat back” echo over the shot, representing the gang life of riding around with the seat as far back as possible that Nate has been subjected to all his childhood. 

Overall, “Nate” explores the ideas of domestic violence, crime, and childhood in a bad neighborhood from a viewpoint of endearment. Because all of these terrible acts were coming from someone such as a father, Vince did not see the bad things that came along with them. He recognized that his father had to do what he had to do to put food on the table for him and his mother. 
