In 2019, Vince Staples launched a YouTube music video series called The Vince Staples Show, releasing three episodes that doubled as audio singles: "So What?", "Sheet Music", and "Ad 01: Hell Bound".

Staples said the Netflix series was picked up between 2019 and 2020 following the YouTube version of the show, but production was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The show was inspired by Donald Glover's Atlanta, and Glover personally helped Staples develop the series.

The R&B group Mista's members Bobby V, Brandon Brown and Byron Reeder appear as singers at a funeral in the season 2 episode "Uncle James is Dead."

Netflix renewed the series for a second season on May 30, 2024, just three months after the season 1 premiere, but ultimately canceled the show after two seasons in January 2026.

The series holds a 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 16 reviews and a 77/100 on Metacritic, with critics praising its deadpan, surreal, dark humor while some felt it lacked ingenuity and resembled an extended music video or YouTube sketch.

Critic Leila Latif of The A.V. Club compared the show's style to Curb Your Enthusiasm, while Debiparna Chakraborty of Outlook likened season 2 to Sorry to Bother You, noting it became more linear but lost some of its surrealism.