We just wanna have fun. We don’t wanna fcxk up nothing. – Vince Staples, FUN!
Yes Vince, Yes.
So it’s March and I’m in Detroit to see Vince. For anyone wondering…. No I don’t live in Detroit anymore. Yes, I miss it. Here’s a recap of my trip back.
So boom.. this is what happened. I missed my first flight to Detroit by two minutes. Literally. The gate was closing as I arrived (thank you Spring Breakers for clogging up the airport). Because I missed this flight, I missed my hair appointment (I cried big tears in my mind) because I had to take a later flight. My flight took me to Dallas and then to Detroit which seems as backwards as sdrawkcab (that’s backwards spelled backwards). But I finally made it! While I was in Dallas, I stopped by an art museum/ish that they have inside. Then I tried What-A-Burger and listened to a local musician named Quenten Moore sing and play piano.
After Dallas, I made it to Detroit. Let’s talk about the fact that I tried to get food at Yum Village but I missed the time and they were closed, so it was a wrap. I was sad but hey, I clearly have to come back again. I took this time to go Downtown and see what new sights and sounds existed.

Okay so I visited family and friends. The day of the show, I went to Naomi’s Trice’s Designer Hack event. (Yes, she was Naomi’s first. Recognize and respect it). The event was so cool! Check out Trice’s site to sign up for her next Designer Hack event.
Okay on to the show. Y’all I was speeding from Downtown to Royal Oak to get to the show in time. When I arrived, I was able to bypass everyone because I paid for a meet and greet. Yessss my dollars are hard at work.

So fast forward to the meet and greet. Note: I’m only writing about the meet and greet so that I can remember this years from now. Great.
I stood at the back of the line because I was waiting for my friend to come but it didn’t work out. So my turn finally came and I said hola! He goes “you’re not supposed to hit me with the hola. that’s my thing”. I told him that I had two things to say and then I’d be out of his face. He was cool with it
1. Please consider showing up in Memphis to perform. (At the time, I didn’t really know about how the money works but I thought that fan demand has to count for something right?) I prepared an AirDroppable image to give to his manager so that if they needed to reach out (I doubt it) they could contact me.
2. Can I take a photo of him for my friend (Naomi’s Trice) who wasn’t at the meet and greet yet but she paid. She’s wrapping up her event. He said yes. Here’s the proof.

In that moment, I knew the guy was chill and that my friends, is a win. I always want to remain chill and unphased when meeting celebrities because I don’t know about the energy that they’ll have . Like are you a nice person?
Yes. Vince Staples is a cool person. I’d highly recommend the meet and greet pass for his shows. Support this man and pay extra (if you can).
The Actual Show

Katori Walker was the first act to go on. I wasn’t super familiar with him. Truthfully, I thought Buddy was at this show so I had Black on loop the day before. But anyways, Katori was lit. He rapped a new song called Facts and it was lit. I’m excited for it to come out. After the show, I ran into him and he was just a calm, chill guy. Much appreciation to him. Here’s a Youtube playlist with more of his music.

Up next, was JPEG Mafia. JPEG Mafia is vibrant and has the energy that I wish I had. JPEG Mafia is literally Vitamin B as a person and everyone needs to witness him perform once. Looking for more JPEG Mafia? Here’s his COLORS performance.

Vince Staples came out next. He opened to Feels Like Summer and ran through the EP, FM! He played fan favorites such as Señorita and Norf Norf. This is the fourth time I’ve seen him play Señorita live and the second time, I’ve seen someone get carried out during this song. I’m not saying it makes the people go wild, but there’s a 50% chance (in my experience) that someone will go wild enough to get carried out. The security officer in front of us was not phased or amused throughout the entire show until War Ready came on. He heard the Outkast sample and instantly felt like the rest of the show would be good. We told him it would be a good show in the beginning, but did he believe us? No. Now he does. Welcome to the crew, security officer.
During the show, Vince gave out merch and boyyyy was I in for a treat. He came to my side of the stage (first row, stage left) and handed out merch. I flagged him down so that Trice could get a hoodie or something signed. Like help us out Vince. He saw me waving and then tossed her a hoodie. Success!!!!! Honestly. I feel like I won a championship of sorts. (Also FWIW he said, “Awww. Y’all are so cute” before tossing her the hoodie.) But wait, there’s more. He had more merchandise and came back to toss me a shirt. At first, I was shocked. ME? You want to give it to me? He was like, yes you. Then he tossed me the shirt and now I have an autographed shirt to go with my tour shirt. It’s lit! *cues Travis Scott Antidote type of lit*.
He ended the show with a Tribute to Mac Miller by playing his NPR Tiny Desk Performance and mannn it hit hard. One of these days, I’ll talk about how I didn’t know Mac Miller, wasn’t a diehard fan, but felt impacted by his passing. Not today though.
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