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Things Take A Deadly Turn In Vince Staples’s 'Prima Donna' Short Film: Watch

This one'll bend your brain

A week after dropping his EP Prima Donna, Vince Staples has shared a brain-bending short film that reflects on celebrity and the psychological toll of fame. Be warned: this one is quite the mindfuck.

Directed by Nabil, the 10-minute visual takes us through a bizarre series of events, soundtracked by snippets of the EP’s songs. It begins with Staples wrapping up a generic music video shoot, then taking a hallucinatory cab ride to a hotel with heavy The Shining vibes. The hook of the EP’s title track (“Is it real?/ Is it? Is it real?”) becomes more poignant as the Long Beach rapper starts unraveling, catching glimpses of Kurt Cobain, Tupac, and Amy Winehouse in the hotel hallways. As the Andre 3000-featuring “War Ready” plays, crazed fans clamor for a piece of him, and the clip soon takes a bleak, startling, and ultimately deadly turn.

Speaking to Zane Lowe last week, Staples reflected on how the trappings of celebrity inspired the EP, saying, “You’re not a person when you make music. You’re a link. They just want to click it. It gets kinda crazy out here.”

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