Music Review: ScHoolboy Q

ScHoolboyQ

Oxymoron

4 stars

Rap

From the very beginning of Oxymoron, ScHoolboy Q lets you know who he is: a gangsta.  The second and most recent album from the L.A.-based rapper is an updated reincarnation of West Coast street rap.

Q captivates the listener with a tale of growing up in the streets of Central L.A. With lines full of vivid imagery and menacing beats, the listener almost feels as if they are with Q during the story. 

Much like Pusha T, ScHoolboy chronicles his drug use on his album. This story leads to the climax of the album, the two-part track “Prescription/Oxymoron.” This material gives the album an intimate feel, but never gets to a point where it becomes corny.

Including spoken sections of his daughter talking to her comatose father, this song tells the story of Q’s addiction, recovery and movement into dealing.

 This tale gave the album its name, Oxymoron: doing all this bad to do good for his daughter. Although multiple genres are represented on the album, the structure is bogged down in the same repetitive format. 

This revival of street rap was much needed in a genre bloated with extravagant lifestyles and overspending. ScHoolboy Q is able to tell a story that not many can relate to, but make it feel like we can.

— Will Jackson