Oxymoron
Following in the footsteps of fellow Black Hippy member Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q makes his major-label debut with *Oxymoron*, an album as thematically ambitious and sonically adventurous as Lamar\'s celebrated *good kid, m.A.A.d city*. Detailing Q\'s days as a drug dealer, hustler, and father, the record doesn\'t just open a vein; it practically bleeds to death, as on the album centerpiece \"Prescription/Oxymoron,\" a menacing track about the litany of bad vibes caused by drug use: \"I cry when nothing\'s wrong.\" Not that *Oxymoron* is a downer–far from it. \"Collard Greens\" is addictively rambunctious, daring listeners to not bounce with its circular bassline and jittery beat. And Q\'s flow is a thing to behold. He snarls, wheezes, croons, coos, barks, and caws, playing the lascivious lothario on \"The Studio,\" the boisterous party-starter on \"Man of the Year,\" and the unapologetic recidivist on, well, pretty much on every track. Indeed, Q more than lives up to his rep as Black Hippy\'s unhinged id.
L.A. rapper Schoolboy Q specializes in hairpin turns from cautionary street tales and remorseful reflection into wanton bacchanal. His Interscope debut Oxymoron is essentially a volleyball match between his warring proclivities.
Midway through Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City, Kendrick Lamar tests his audience’s sympathy: “If I told you I killed a nigga at 16, would you believe me, or see me to be innocent Kendrick that you seen in the street?” The answer to that hypothetical, of course, is no. Innocence is Lamar’s defining trait, and undoubtedly his…
A fascinating record that should see Q move out from the shadows cast by Kendrick Lamar and 2 Chainz.
While his labelmate and friend Kendrick Lamar was jumping on Imagine Dragons remixes and counting up his Grammy nominations, rapper Schoolboy Q remained the Top Dawg Entertainment label's strongest link to the left-field hip-hop.
A.A.d. city is a major label classic debut in the tradition of Illmatic, then fellow Black Hippy member Schoolboy Q is the character Lamar observes from his project window.
Album review: ScHoolboy Q - Oxymoron. All killer, no filler from the LA rapper (and friends including Kendrick Lamar, Tyler the Creator and Pharrell) on album three...
<p>Schoolboy Q virtually demands the listener weigh his album up against Kendrick Lamar's, but it's not a fair contest, writes <strong>Alexis Petridis</strong></p>