Habits & Contradictions

On the acclaimed independent album that preceded his mainstream breakthrough, Quincy Hanley developed his gruff voice and reluctant gangsta persona with complex, emotionally ambivalent songs like “Sacrilegious.” Q and A$AP Rocky also establish what would be a fruitful chemistry on the hedonistic cult hit “Hands on the Wheel.”

Schoolboy Q is the most promising foot soldier in Kendrick Lamar's Black Hippy crew, a small circle of talented rappers currently reinventing West Coast hip-hop. His dark and moody second LP is a sumptuously produced and deeply enjoyable hour-plus slab of weed-clouded rap, but it's more than that.

Compton’s Schoolboy Q runs in the same Black Hippy crew as the most purely talented breakout rapper of 2011, Kendrick Lamar, and the two share a gift for impressive, tightly knotted verses. In spite of their stylistic overlap, though, the rappers are such temperamental opposites that they often seem to come from…

Check out our album review of Artist's Habits & Contradictions on Rolling Stone.com.

AllMusic provides comprehensive music info including reviews and biographies. Get recommendations for new music to listen to, stream or own.

MP3: Schoolboy Q - "Blessed" (feat. Kendrick Lamar) You could say Schoolboy Q has something of an itchy trigger finger. Labelmate to rapper of the moment, Kendrick Lamar, Q has been eagerly building his own name, not least of which through a timely, scene-stealing performance on A$AP Rocky’s “Brand New Guy.” Now he’s released Habits