Vince Staples is not letting YouTube’s age restriction kill the rollout for “Blackberry Marmalade.”

The Long Beach rapper took to X on Sunday, April 26, after the platform age-restricted the video for his new track. Instead of just complaining about the move, Staples flipped it into a message for fans.

“YouTube has age-restricted the Blackberry Marmalade video, so if you are over the age of 18, make sure to share it with the youth around you,” he wrote. “Our children deserve the truth.”

The post quickly turned the restriction into part of the conversation around the song. Age-gating usually keeps younger viewers away from certain content, but Staples framed the video as something young people should be able to see, not something they should be protected from.

He followed it up with another post addressing people criticizing the sound of the track.

“All you #newbooties mad about the sound would’ve hated me in 2013 but that’s before yall was off the porch,” he wrote. “‘Blackberry Marmalade’ on streaming next week, until then, stream ‘Hell Can Wait.’”

The reference to Hell Can Wait is doing some heavy lifting. Released in 2014, the project helped establish Staples’ cold, direct style, built around sharp writing and minimal production.

By pointing fans back to it, he made it clear that “Blackberry Marmalade” is not some random left turn.