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.

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