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Vince Staples Funds Program Dedicated to Helping Kids in Long Beach

INDIO, CA - APRIL 23: Recording artist Vince Staples performs onstage during day 2 of the 2016 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival Weekend 2 at the Empire Polo Club on April 23, 2016 in Indio, California. (Photo by Michael Tullberg/Getty Images for Coachella)

On Tuesday, Vince Staples appeared in his hometown of Long Beach, California to announce the launch of a program dedicated to helping the youth in his community. The Summertime ’06 rapper has teamed up with the YMCA to teach filmmaking, 3D printing, product design, music production, and graphic design to eighth and ninth grade students at Hamilton Middle School. Staples donated an undisclosed amount to the program.

“I think the most important thing is opportunities,” Staples said, according Long Beach Press-Telegram. “What I can say is, living over here my entire life, I’ve never had an opportunity given to me from the area, only examples of how to mess up, and what I didn’t want to do.”

One of the central themes of Summertime ’06 is the lethal consequence of the lack of opportunities for impoverished youth. Its bleakness is grounded in real circumstance. Staples alluded to this during his statement.

“I want to be able to be one of the people that reinforces the fact that we matter just as much as the next person,” Staples said. “That’s actually the biggest thing I can do for this community.”