Schoolboy Q: Oxymoron ALBUM REVIEW

In the world of modern west coast hip-hop, it is impossible to deny the impact of the Black Hippie/ TDE collective. With acts like Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock and Schoolboy Q they have been redefining not only what west coast rap sounds like, but also reinstating competition among their peers. Even though Kendrick is the most popular and it's easy to see that Schoolboy Q easily has the most appeal when it comes to mainstream hip-hop. His subject matter and aesthetic fit perfectly with the current trend of cloudy weed raps that dominate the charts right now. However, even though there are moment on Oxymoron that would say otherwise, Schoolboy Q has a lot more to offer than your run-of-the-mill rapper.

Case and point, the tracks "Prescription/ Oxymoron" and "Hoover Street", the former starts of with a pretty heart-wrenching sample of Q's daughter telling him to "Wake up daddy" followed by Q rapping about his addiction to prescription drugs and how it makes him ignore family and friends. While the latter half of the song, aptly named "Oxymoron" sees Q rapping about he "Just stopped selling crack today." The track "Hoover Street" sounds like a classic mid-nineties gangsta rap track, but with  a slightly more experimental beat. "Hoover" also shows off Q's ability to sound a whole lot like he's some long lost Wu Tang member, with his gruff voice and gritty subject matter. 

The lead single "Collard Greens" is a song that grew on me, and may just be my favorite on the entire LP, while the track "Man of The Year" is ok, but could have used more variation between the verses and chorus. Unfortunately the third single is the track featuring the all too relevant 2 Chainz ironically called "What They Want", and let me just say I laughed a lot during 2 Chainz's verse, but it wasn't do to his "clever wordplay." 

Other snags in the albums flow come in the form of "Hell of a Night" and the Tyler the Creator produced "Purge" which wasn't bad, but felt too bland in comparison to other tracks on this LP and from Tyler's last album Wolf. 

So far, from what I've read on the ol' interwebs, this LP is either love it, or hate it; I fall in the "It's good, but not great" category and think it's worth listening to. 

7.9/10