Schoolboy Q "CrasH Talk" (2019)

Schoolboy Q is back with his fifth full length record, another cut of rugged street flavored rhymes and slick urban instrumentals. At forty minutes it represents his leanest project to date, which I can't label as quality over quantity. Many of these songs fail to show themselves without dedicated listening. Nothing to be found like a Hover Street, the sort of song that grabs you by the neck and commands your attention. This records best song by a good stretch is Chopstix, coming from the mind of Travis Scott. His synthetic production style and chorus hook nails a intoxicating vibe that would fit sweetly into one of his own projects.

Q comes to the mic as a mean front man, bringing a range of vocal styles to his new project. Often he sounds slightly agitated with a confident demeanor. Keenly pronounced, he affirms himself with steady flows and lyrics that most wavier above mediocrity. With little making a mark the record hits some stiff jarring creative choices. The dreary interlude track Drunk hits a wall with Q rapping with the signature Drake "Ahye" crutch, its one of many aproaches and he changes up his style so often its hard to know who's who. The track Floating has one of the weakest spoken word slurred flows going, I think from 21 Savage. Floating takes an award for the weakest hook, "I got that water, Yea, I got that water". Its dull and a one to endure.

The instrumentals are hit and miss, a good mix of modern kits and sampling oriented vibes. Luckily it sounds like the best hooks land on the strongest instrumentals, yielding a handful of songs to go back on between many unfavorable ones. Handled mostly by three or so producers they conjure up a variety that doesn't have any particular flow across the forty minutes. The experience tends to drag despite short songs, most of which don't pass three minutes. This was all to run of the mill, no focus or arching theme, Q's words don't leave the page to often and its not to the last song that we get a wiff of his flair. Its not awful but Ive found myself expecting so much more from this talented artist.

Favorite Tracks: Chopstix, Lies, 5200, Die Wit Em, Attention
Rating: 4/10

Schoolboy Q "Blank Face LP" (2016)

The "Black Face LP" is American rapper Schoolboy Q's forth full length and an ambitious one. Dark, mean and uncompromising Q brings a large group of producers together for a seventy two minute ride. Despite many banging beats, sharp production and musical creativity the albums stretch strolls through some weak points in the start and end. Between the psychedelic, laid back "Kno Ya Wrong" and the catchy, ghetto whistles of "Neva Change" a string of eight songs illuminate with strong verses, brilliant hooks and fleshed out production. Either side of these tracks things aren't as focused. The opening "TorcH" starts with a myriad of Q's voices over a warm bass guitar, with "Blank Face" the theme is returned to as if signaling the end of a lengthy listen. It winds down, fades out and is then followed by two more mediocre songs. Its nitpicking but as a whole these songs don't flow of one another well, the whole things feels a little disorganized.

The album gets rolling with two introductory tracks, slowly unfolding before Kanye West hops onto the albums first defining song "That Part". The mood is slow, dreary and gloomy. The hook plays over and over between broken down verses, Q stating his successes and the Independence of his "bitches". Then Kanye drops in with an unusual lively, contagious flow making timely use of his pitch and a squeaky "ugh" to add rhythmic gratification to his bizarre and unfocused verses. Its a big guest to have on and the song... Its memorable but maybe for just being different more so than banging. Another dark street song comes through "Groovy Tony" and another big name, Jadakiss, on the track. The song has a great break in the middle with violent vocal stabs and heightened drums, they transition into a powerful vocal moment before Q brings the track back.

And then a string of my favorite songs occur,  "Kno Ya Wrong" shifts through three organic, jazzy, psychedelic phases with a joyful sampling of Kool & The Gang's "Summer Madness". The constant tone shifting happens again as we dive into a ruthless gangster track with violent lyricism, dark groovy layered beats, machine hi hats and the sound of guns firing between the banging hook. Halfway through his verse Q hands the mic to Vince Staples who drops heavy verse that gets better with each line. Unsurprisingly we sway to a poppy, "accessible" tune with light trance synths and a sing along "dollar dollar be-als" hook, lots of great singing on this track.

"Dope Dealer" gets dark, really dark as Q paints an ugly picture of the gritty life doing the illegal to survive. The drums really bring the spacious, paranoid instrumental to life and its another killer hook. "John Muir" might be my favorite, something about this flow and beat reminds me of the 90s. "Big Body" jumps in as the albums romp track with the tightest beat, thudding bass pedals, slick claps and a melodic bell instead of hi-hats. Its crowned by a timely roll of hard and swift sub kicks. Tha Dogg Pound, friends of Snoop Dogg, also make a great feature. "Neva Change" gets a little pop once again with a friendly instrumental and brilliant vocals in the chorus, topped of by a G-Funk ghetto whistle its another subtle banger. And that's where the magic ends for me. the album strolls out with what feels like a pre-outro, "Black Thoughts" are spoken thoughts over an experimental instrumental reminiscent of DJ Shadow.

Production wise its fleshed out with many ideas. A lot of songs come with breaks, big variations and an organic sense of instrumentation. The records flow though is all over the place with a handful of distinctively different styles not meshing together well. The features were brilliant and Q was on the mark with his fiery flow, his words had bite and wasn't short of creativity when writing hooks. Its interesting because even the weaker tracks had something to offer, but in the grand scheme of things it just doesn't play well between some tracks. Very ambitious but unfocused, more like a compilation than album.

Favorite Tracks: Whateva U Want, Dope Dealer, John Muir, Big Body, Neva Change

Rating: 6/10

Schoolboy Q "Oxymoron" (2014)

In my search for more consumption of modern Hip Hop I stumbled across this well received record. Its album cover grabbed my attention with its ghostly black and white look, the balaclava implying an air of violence. On my first listen I very nearly turned it off, I was bombarded by boisterous boasting, over exuberant swagger and derogative, demeaning lyrics. I've always understood and accepted that this is a part of Hip Hop, its a window into another world, another lifestyle and I've appreciated that ever since I heard NWA's "Fuck The Police", but this time it felt excessive with no relevance, unlike police brutality. I wasn't keen on the "gangsta gangsta gangsta" chants, but I told myself what I always do, familiarity is key. So I kept listening, the album grew on me with some more charactered songs later on the record and by the time I was listened to the second and third times I was loving the opening track "Gansta".

Modern Hip Hop hasn't shifted its focus to beats, more so its shifted away from the lyrical creativity of past. Repetition, and stylistic inflections have become the focus, further resembling instruments to compliment the instrumentals than tell stories and deliver memorable raps. The most memorable moments on this record were a couple of catchy hooks and a few shocker lines, nothing resembling the past where you could quote an entire verse for its mesmerizing articulation (IE Nas on "Live At The BBQ"). With this in mind I found my enjoyment was a little altered, and I certainly missed a lack of lyrical substance, but theres enjoyment in the catchy hooks, raspy shouts and reverby vocal effects at work alongside the beats. The occasional tracks had some great verses "Hoover Street" & "Break The Bank", and plenty of great choruses throughout.

The beats across this record are fantastic. Theres a lot of variety, and the production feels like it passes through many hands as track to track changes consistently. Describing the direction of this record would be a continual snaking of styles and vibes. The range of influences and moods is a strength, it gives this one a constant excitement as each track jumps to something refreshing different to what came before it. Midway through the record theres a couple of tracks which take on a strong DJ Muggs vibe, firstly "Blind Threats", which samples the classic Cypress Hill "Illusions" or at least its source, and two tracks later "Break The Bank" which has a "Temples Of Boom" vibe with its grooving bombastic beat and simple, repetitive dark keys. It also homes my favorite line "Fuck pigs I bust back" in a sequence of short lines that groove with the beat. This record was really enjoyable, defined by an array of fantastic beats and artistic input from a range of producers and guest features, but a lack of lyrical fidelity across these number just left an empty feeling in my desire to consume the words of lyracists, the chemistry of beats and rhymes is still king.

Favorite Tracks: Collard Greens, Hoover Street, Hell Of A Night, Break The Bank

Rating: 7/10