Navindra Persuad
Top Dawg Entertainment’s artist Schoolboy Q debuted his first major label album Oxymoron, which is sure to leave fans as satisfied as they were with label mate and Black Hippy companion Kendrick Lamar’s debut album.
Hip-Hop fans have eagerly awaited the arrival of Schoolboy Q’s album in hopes that it would parallel his previously released mixtape Habits & Contradictions, all the while further solidifying his position as one of the hottest artist in the rap industry today. Much like Lamar, Q’s life was gang and drug oriented, so there is no surprise that the overall subject matter revolves around these issues. Q’s daughter also makes many small guest appearances, giving spoken word, serving as the intro for a few of the songs on the album.
The opening track “Gangsta,” features the adorable voice of Q’s daughter stating “My daddy a gangsta.” The aggressive beat and repetition of the word gangsta drills the idea of a dark past as Q recollects the days where he was broke, speaking in first person about selling drugs and being in violent altercations involving firearms. Along with “Los Awesome” featuring Jay rock “Hoover Street” and “The Purge” featuring Tyler, The Creator and west coast legend Kurupt, “Gangsta” is nothing new for fans; just the same old Schoolboy Q that they are used to which makes this album so successful. His ability to deliver a harsh and hardcore demeanor on a track is reminiscent of older hip-hop groups like Onyx.
Schoolboy Q has done nothing to alter his image and has remained the same artist, the only change perhaps comes from his growth as an artist as his name becomes bigger. He discusses his transition from days of being poor and being raised in a community where “Du rags and flat lines, drive-bys at bedtime,” were a norm according to “Break the Bank,” another one of his excellent storyteller songs. Q’s ability to tell a story aids him yet again, as he painted so many pictures of violence, drug abuse and even success.
Surely, the highlight of the album has to be “Prescription/Oxymoron,” this song serves as the halfway mark and might be one of the best tracks Q has written. In the first part of the song, Prescription, Schoolboy Q is recording the image of his life as a drug user and abuser. In the second part, Oxymoron, he talks about how he is selling the same drugs he talked about being hooked on. When interviewed by radio station Hot 97, he told that the meaning of the album’s name, Oxymoron, is that he was doing all this bad to do good for his daughter, that’s the oxymoron, that is also why this track is titled “oxymoron”. The song highlights the dangers of being addicted to prescription drugs, Xanax and Percocet, in his case. In this song Q spirals out of control with his addiction and recollects nodding in and out of a drug coma, he raps, “Prescription drugs, I fell in love/My little secret, she gon’ kill a thug/My body numb, she like to give me hugs/I love her touch, I get a rush/When she don’t come around/I start to go nuts My heart erupts/I’m curled in pain/My phone ring, ring and ring and ring/If you ain’t selling drugs, then I don’t hear a thing.”
In an NPR Music interview with Frannie Kelley and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Schoolboy Q says that the album is a very dark album. In regards to the masterpiece that is “Prescription/Oxymoron,” Q stated, “Since the album is called Oxymoron, I switched ’em up, put it first and then that behind it, but the reality was that I started selling Oxycontin, then I stopped selling Oxycontin, went broke, then got addicted to another prescription drug — three different ones: Percocets, Valium and Xanax. And codeine, actually.” Q clearly explains the many “highs” in his life some coming off of the drugs he was addicted to and others off of the joy he got when the addiction and selling was over.
“Oxymoron” features the obvious radio hits such as “Man of the Year,” “Hell of a Night,” and the hit single “Collard Greens,” featuring Kendrick Lamar. Other features on the album include 2 Chainz, BJ the Chicago Kid, Raekwon, SZA and Suga Free. Schoolboy Q has delivered with this album and should be in any hip-hop fans rotation throughout the year.