At the Neptune — rapper Vince Staples, part of new wave

Rapper Vince Staples — playing the Neptune Theatre on Wednesday (March 2) — understands that a great deal of life is contradiction.

That idea is succinctly summed up in his song “Lift Me Up,” the second track from his 2015 double-album release, “Summertime ’06,” in which he raps, “I need to fight the power, but I need that new Ferrari.”

“I feel like it’s something everyone goes through in life,” says Staples in a phone interview earlier this week. “You always have this conflict, this battle with morals. Everyone has guilty pleasures and they inevitably clash.”

The theme of grappling with contradiction also comes through in the music video for his song “Norf Norf,” which begins with a close-up of Staples’ face. As he raps in celebration about dancing, a quick camera pan reveals him in the back seat of a police car.

Staples, 22, is one of the leaders of a new wave of hip-hop artists. His voice is sweet and smooth, but his flows are sharp and biting. He’s thoughtful and ruthless in his verses, often pointing to the violence happening all around him. He named his latest recording “Summertime ’06” because that was the year he realized he lost his innocence.

“I was naive at a young age,” he says, “But then I realized the reality of life. People are crazy, man.”

“Summertime ’06” was produced over a two- to three-year period with No I.D., whom many point to as the godfather of Chicago hip-hop, because of his close relationship with well-known Chicago rappers Common Sense and Kanye West.

“It was mostly conversation for the first couple of years working together,” says Staples. “So I guess it was more of a discovery process. Now we can make such unique things because of our understanding of one another.”

Staples didn’t grow up hungry and thirsty for music — cartoons were his main love. And though he grew up in Long Beach, Calif., it wasn’t fellow Long Beach rapper Snoop Dogg he adored, it was his mother.

“I didn’t really have any idols,” he said. “My mom was cool, though. As a kid when I was younger, you needed a CD player or a first-generation iPod and I didn’t have either. I listened to music with my mom and dad in the car.”

Despite the fact that music wasn’t his first — or even second — love, it’s the thing he spends most of his time doing now.

“The most important part is staying true to your past,” he says.