If there’s one thing you should know about 23-year-old rapper Vince Staples, it’s that he’s got a big heart when it comes to his hometown of Long Beach, Calif.
Staples, who has been more vocal about his philanthropic endeavors, is launching a Music Technology program at the Long Beach YMCA on 7th and Linden. In partnership with Levi’s, Staples kicked off the brand new year-round program with a songwriting workshop to help kids learn how to compose and produce songs in digital audio workstations like Logic Pro.
READ: All For The Kids: Vince Staples Assists In Launching North Long Beach Youth Institute
The rapper was also joined by Dion “No I.D.” Wilson, sharing his wealth of knowledge by helping the kids with the songwriting process, which he breaks down to arranging and composing their thoughts in the form of melodies, rhymes and concepts. Staples steps in to discuss the importance of giving others the opportunity to succeed and the boost of confidence that music education can give to aspiring students. “Kids are feeling like they aren’t a superstar, they aren’t worth anything,” he says. “Anybody you care about, there was that time when they played a show with five people in it. Sometimes you’re going to fail. A lot, you’re going to fail. You’re going to fail more than anything else, and then sometimes, it’s going to work.”
Watch the video below as Vince Staples schools the youth of Long Beach on music and not letting their environment dictate their future.