Vince Staples’ new video is eerie

9:45 AMVince Staples’ style might be tucked in, but his latest visual opus is everything but. In conjunction with the release of his new EP Prima Donna, he dropped a 10-minute short film directed by Nabil, which features the Long Beach, California, native wandering through a world of psychedelic visions and mystery following a video shoot and a cab ride that starts off with intrigue and ends with a glorious dancing man signaling his arrival. Various tracks from the project are heard or performed throughout.

A dance version of OutKast’s ATLiens makes a random appearance as he wanders around a hotel he doesn’t understand. In it, everywhere he turns are either screaming fans, flash-clicking paparazzi or worse. It’s part Thriller, part The Shining with a healthy dose of Stranger Things.

Staples is 23 years old, and I imagine that since he’s moved to that secondary level of stardom where magazines ask him to do things like talk about random stuff for web videos. Maybe he’s feeling a tad trapped in. He gives back to his community and is a thoughtful guy, but fame can get to you.

He said as much in a recent interview with Highsnobiety. “Music was never really something I wanted to do, so I never thought about it as a kid,” Staples said. “I don’t have any dreams or aspirations or goals I want to meet music-wise, so there’s nothing to keep me from being level-headed.”

Let’s just hope he doesn’t become the modern-day Dorian Gray, as this film suggests.