“With his major label debut, Schoolboy Q has set himself apart from his peers. But it’s difficult to see a competitive future for the artist as his music seems stalled with little promise of progression or change.” —Brianna Patterson
If you listen to Schoolboy Q’s new album, Oxymoron, expecting anything similar to labelmate Kendrick Lamar, you’ll be disappointed. The only things the two rappers have in common are that they’re both from Los Angeles, have signed with Top Dawg Entertainment and have released their major label debuts — for Lamar, it was the instant classic, Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (2012). Now, it’s Schoolboy Q’s time to shine with Oxymoron, released on Feb. 25.
The two artists have completely different styles — Lamar is more insightful and conscious with a hint of roughness, while Schoolboy Q is the unapologetic, gutsy gangster. The hype surrounding the latter’s recent release was compounded thanks to the constant delaying of the release date. Schoolboy Q felt the pressure to produce an epic product: “Kendrick left me no choice but to make a classic record,” he said in an interview with 2DopeBoyz in November.
But Oxymoron is far from a classic.
The album is an ode to Q’s past life as a gangster and drug dealer. It hints at old ’90s West Coast gangsta rap vibes with the laid-back yet speaker-knocking beats and overtly vulgar lyrics. But overall it’s mediocre and bland, plagued by stale production and concepts — nothing we haven’t seen from Schoolboy Q before. The overhyped compilation is a typical thug-life memoir with nothing new or interesting to offer listeners.
Songs such as “Los Awesome” — featuring fellow TDE labelmate Jay Rock — are hackneyed and dated. The ode to the rapper’s home city and life as a gangster — produced by Pharrell Williams — comes off as gimmicky and cartoonish.
“What They Want” is a typical trap song featuring an unsurprisingly atrocious and corny verse from 2 Chainz with Schoolboy Q’s own verse no better than his collaborators: “Might pull up in my bucket/ This nine holds a good dozen/ Might slide up in your cousin/ Just made a mil and still thuggin’.”
Yet the latter half of the album is much more enjoyable than the first, a more chill vibe.
“Hell of a Night,” produced by DJ Dahi, has a slick electronic trap vibe with a pounding beat that builds and drops like a typical club banger. The overtly seductive “Studio” has a smooth bass-heavy feel — an ideal West Coast vibe — accentuated by BJ the Chicago Kid’s featured vocals.
Gangsta rap is what Schoolboy Q does best on this album. He gets gritty as he delves into his personal life as a former gangbanger and drug dealer. Songs such as “Prescription/Oxymoron” and “Hoover Street” feature explicit storytelling with his signature grimy flow and animated vocal inflections: “Since a young n—- I admired the crack sellers, seen my uncle steal from his mother/ Now that’s the money that I’m talking ‘bout/ Think about it, the smoker ain’t got shit and every day he still get a hit.”
But the best songs on the album are by far the singles; “Man of the Year,” “Collard Greens” ft. Kendrick Lamar and “Yay Yay” (featured on the deluxe version) are well-crafted tracks that have been fueling the album’s buzz for months.
With his major label debut, Schoolboy Q has set himself apart from his peers. But it’s difficult to see a competitive future for the artist as his music seems stalled with little promise of progression or change. His singles and hits survive as great anthems for blasting in the car with the windows down, but the album’s longevity is questionable. Oxymoron settled for average and missed the classic mark by a long shot, leaving the build-up hype insatiated.
