Vince Staples Went to the Same High School as Cam Newton

Long Beach's Vince Stapes was a guest on ESPN's Highly Questionable on Thursday (Jan. 7) and among the many things the articulate rapper shared was that he was once enrolled at the same high school as Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton. "I went to high school with Cam Newton, in his last year at Westlake," Staples mentioned when detailing his childhood, which included a brief stay in Atlanta, where Newton is from. Newton, who will turn 27 in May, registered an MVP caliber season in 2015, leading the Panthers to a 15-1 record and a first round playoff bye. Staples, who turns 23 in July, meanwhile dropped his debut studio album, Summertime '06, last year to much critical acclaim. While the two were separated by considerable age, it's a noteworthy fact as both continue to lead their respective fields.

Later on in the interview, Staples spoke on his involvement in gang culture, saying that, "Gang life is just something thats a part of our community where we come from. If you think about history of black people and hispanic people in Los Angeles county and southern California in general, that’s one of the only things we have culturally. It’s just part of our culture. With idle time and immaturity which comes from being a child, you kind of fall into the wrong things. And especially with the wrong guidance. Things sort of get diluted the longer they’ve been separated from their origin. So it’s just something that's already there. But if you have nothing better to do, you often find time to do the wrong things."

The whole conversation maintains a serious tone, as Staples details the circumstances surrounding gang culture and his involvement saying in summation that "the gang is a product of the community not a product of the people." It would appear that sports was discussed as well, specifically Vince's disdain toward Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul. Vince had gone on Twitter last July to detail his hatred and backed it up yesterday, tweeting out that he had challenged CP3 but it had been edited out. Check out the entire interview above and listen to iLoveMemphis discuss the Panthers QB in episode 5 of the XXL Ante Up podcast.

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