its out..do he live up to the hype..better than GKMC?

lookin forward to hearing this.

q > jay rock > ab soul > kendrick (imo)

>
>q > jay rock > ab soul > kendrick (imo)

I am looking forward to Jay Rock's album though and think he could get hits out of him and a great album

Kendrick > Ab > Q > Rock

His flow doesn't do anything for me

He only has this opportunity thanks to Kendrick who got it thanks to Dre.

>His flow doesn't do anything for me

Should have replace Hell of a Night with Yay Yay and he would have made maybe the hardest album in what 5 years.

a. it's not a good song
b. it doesn't fit the flow of the album

Yay Yay would have been perfect right there.

inbox? please?

That dudes beat selection is on point, time to Google

... may stay in the deck for a while as well as the new Phantogram.

well-worth the wait. Hell of a Night is indeed the worst song on here (and isn't even that bad).

gatdamn this is wack as hell.

rest of the album is decent so far.

Ummm.. That's one of the hardest beats on here, in my opinion.

but it's better than Setbacks and Habits and Contradictions. Q does some really great storytelling here. More thoughts with more listens...

5/10.

maybe a 5.5.

It feels... OVERproduced. Too much going on, hardly any introspective songs that q was known for on his previous two releases. First listen through and it's a solid 6 for me. I'll be back with more thoughts.


Ugh...

Pretty surprised by the negative reaction

1st listen I don't like it that much. What happened to his rapping? It seems like his flow has taken a step back, did he stop doing drugs?

I've never seen the appeal of him. He seems like he "raps" worse than ASAP Rocky with 1/2 the personality.

Just because he's standing next to Kendrick doesn't mean they're even in the same category….

I always felt like Q was the lone member whose personality outweighed his skills on the mic. Not that that's a bad thing. He's the ODB of the group full of super lyrical cats, so he's a nice change of pace. And his production hooks, and flows are always on point. Granted I havent heard the new album yet. I'm bummed to see "ya ya" not being on the official version, that might be the hardest song I've heard in years.

>I always felt like Q was the lone member whose personality
>outweighed his skills on the mic. Not that that's a bad thing.
>He's the ODB of the group full of super lyrical cats, so he's
>a nice change of pace. And his production hooks, and flows are
>always on point. Granted I havent heard the new album yet. I'm
>bummed to see "ya ya" not being on the official version, that
>might be the hardest song I've heard in years.



Exactly how I feel. He is really growing on me with this direction. I like it but not sure I can defend it or care, like ODB's Return...

i agree with the 2nd half of that statement wholeheartedly...

I'm not in the mood for this right now.

My favorite songs are the ones we've already heard before. Also, outside of it not "fitting" with the rest of the album, what's everyone's issue with "Hell of a Night"? I feel it's one of the best tracks on here. I'd say this is a step backwards from Habits & Contradictions.

Isaiah got way better trax on cilvia too

and I ain't talkin bout the album

all this Q sucks, his music wack, he has no personality shit.

where was this circa 2010-13

ohh I get it, he gettin' some beyond the internet shine, so now the haters rising

exactly, typical "i liked his old stuff". get the fuck outta here!

>and I ain't talkin bout the album
>
>all this Q sucks, his music wack, he has no personality shit.
>
>
>where was this circa 2010-13
>
>ohh I get it, he gettin' some beyond the internet shine, so
>now the haters rising
Nah…I always thought he sucked.

There is no backlash.


P.S. I like what I've heard. Haven't heard the album yet, just the stuff already released.

It's pretty much what I wanted from A$AP Ferg's Trap Lord.

But I'm not surprised by the reactions on here.

its just pretty boring and unfocused.

I loved that song. Disappointed it wasn't on the album.

It's not as good as GKMC but his album knocks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc-Vqcud32I

..was really misguided, inaccurate, and harmful. What kind of stunt were they trying to pull with that? It's almost like they were setting him up to fail.

Guess they want that White girl money with that one. Cool album, I think Habits has better beats, but if anything he'll get more fans with this. The bonus cuts kind of mesh though. 7/10

Tweeted about this earlier.

Album just isn't doing it for me. It isn't wack, but it just feels really uneven. I LOVE the highlights like Hoover St., Prescription/Oxymoron, Blind Threats, Break The Bank, etc. But momentum always dies; maybe a sequencing issue? Album just seems to go all over the place.

Plus, songs like Hell of a Night and Studio just don't seem to gel with Q's identity as an artist. And identity is TDE's main strength, IMO.

Oxymoron isn't weak; and TDE is still the best crew in rap. I might still buy this to support the camp, and because of the songs I do like. But I thought Section80, Control System, Habits & Contradictions, GKMC, and Cilvia Demo were all 4 stars or higher. For me, this album seems to expose TDE's mortality.

.

I walked away from Cilvia Demo much more satisfied. Maybe that's because I didn't have any expectations from him yet. But I thought that the production on Cilvia Demo was MUCH more cohesive and digestible than Oxymoron, and I thought Cilvia had less songs that I thought were unnecessary.

Q, Kendrick and Drake too much on certain songs

the beats are good, but the only songs that really moved me and i mean these are great rap songs were: Ronnie Drake, Soliloquy, and Brad Jordan

around the halfway point, I don't know if it's because most of the songs in that area are hovering around 5 minutes or longer, all the songs feel like they're in this same lethargy. It's almost as if The Weeknd went and made a gangster rap album.

that said, after keeping it on repeat for five or six listens and a smoke sesh earlier today I do think it's a nice, cohesive listen that flows enjoyably and has a lot of parts I could point to and say "that was nice". But it just doesn't have a lot of ebb and flow to it, so the same way there aren't many highs I don't feel like there are many lows either.

This is a better album than Setbacks but I'm not sure it's a better set of songs, if you know what I mean. Habits & Contradictions is a clear half-cut above the two for me, unless at some point these songs really open up for me and I fall in love with the lyrics.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." © Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Los Awesome, Studio, The Purge, and Hell of a Night all don't fit, and it's like they're placed at literally the worst places possible, IMO. Hoover Street gives such a menacing groove with that beat change for the second half of the song, then it goes into that soft "Studio" shit. "Prescription/Oxymoron" would've been a perfect follow-up to "Hoover St.," both sonically and topically. He would've went from talking about his relative being a drug addict to himself being a drug addict. Would've been perfect.

"Prescription/Oxymoron" is an incredible centerpiece to the album, but then it's followed by this contrived-feeling beat (and a completely useless Tyler feature) for "The Purge." What makes that more frustrating is that I think "Blind Threats" would be a VERY strong follow-up to Prescription/Oxymoron, because it keeps that dark tone to it.

Whenever this record gets a rhythm to it, it sacrifices that groove for records that it seems like they didn't want to throw away, or felt they had to make to compete commercially, so they just found a place to fit them. Doesn't feel as deliberate as the other TDE releases, to me.

From my Armchair A&R perspective:
-Los Awesome isn't my speed, but I don't hate it since it leads into Collard Greens pretty well. I'd leave that where it is.
-I would've been fine with "Studio," but not as song no. 6. Put that after "Blind Threats," or after "His and Her Fiend." It's not a bad song, but it doesn't have any place in the tone that the rest of the album sets.
-Completely erase The Purge and Hell of a Night. Maybe as bonus tracks, but they don't add to the album at all, IMO.
-Add "Yay Yay" into the real tracklist, not just as a bonus. It would fit damn near anywhere between 5-the end of the album.

This is my tracklist, at the moment:

1. Gangsta
2. Los Awesome (Feat. Jay Rock)
3. Collard Greens (Feat. Kendrick Lamar)
4. What They Want (Feat. 2 Chainz)
5. Hoover Street
6. Prescription/Oxymoron
8. Blind Threats (Feat. Raekwon)
9. Studio
10. Yay Yay
11. Break the Bank
12. Man of the Year
13. His & Her Friend (Feat. SZA)
14. Grooveline Pt. 2 (Feat. Suga Free)
15. F**k LA

It's actually startling me how much 10-13 would still fit sonically earlier in the album while still being good changes of pace. This album is the worst victim of sequencing since Blueprint 3 for me.

Just realized, my playlist has Hoover Street and Prescription/Oxymoron consecutively - two songs that are more than six minutes long. If that sequencing is too intimidating for you, feel free to put Man of the Year, Yay Yay or Blind Threats between those 2 songs for a break. I personally don't think that sequencing is frustrating though, because both of those long records break themselves up with beat changes.

But while I agree with your general sentiment that the sequence of events makes the album feel a little off, we feel completely differently about why. I feel like it's an incredibly homogenous sounding album after Collard Greens wraps up, it's one long flatline of melancholy braggadocio. I think it flows so well it almost has no flow at all, the songs blurring together into one long stream of consciousness. To my ears, it sacrificed the character of Q's previous albums for a more unified front.

But maybe the subject matter isn't up to the other albums either? I only really take bits and pieces from his music, he's a catchphrase rapper with excellent beats and a killer roster of offbeat deliveries to ride them with to my ears. Anytime a song of his connects with me and it's not 100% about weed it feels unexpected.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." © Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Also, I don't usually change track listings; I usually just leave the track list as it is and skip what I don't like. But this is one of the few where my listening experience was really ruined by listening to it the way that it was originally set up. The only other album I felt that I had to do that with was Blueprint 3 by Jay-Z.

did you forget "Fanstay" w/ Jhene Aiko from Setback and "Sex Drive" w/ Jhene Aiko from H&C. "Studio" is in that lane and damn good

2cents

I just think the placement of Studio throws too much of a wrench into the narrative of the album. On GKMC, we were immersed into Kendrick's world before "Poetic Justice" came on, and "Money Trees" was a good lead-in. I thought that Studio happened too abruptly after Prescription/Oxymoron.

.

the rest is forgettable as hell to me

i feared this after all the commercial success of TDE, them being signed to interscope, pushbacks of this album, and q saying he wouldn't release it until he had a single. oxymoron sounds like q didn't know how he wanted his major debut to sound so he made a diverse tracklist with a couple of songs to appease each group of listeners and get radio airplay.

gangsta, what they want, hoover st, prescription/oxymoron, blind threats, break the bank, his and her fiend, and fuck la are the best tracks. this is the type of production schoolboy q sounds good over and it fits with his lyrics and flow best.

los awesome, hell of a night, and the purge is for the high school, molly-water-drinking, odd future type fans.

studio i guess is just for q's groupies. i can't even really listen to that song and i never want to hear schoolboy q crooning again.

grooveline pt. 2 is just silly. the verses are alright and suga free is entertaining but the chorus sounds like an SNL parody of how a pimp would sound in a recording studio.

collard greens is dope but i've had 6 months to overplay it, man of the year is boring.

album should have been something like:

gangsta
yay yay
what they want
hoover street
blind threats
collard greens
fuck la
his and her fiend
prescription/oxymoron
flylo song
break the bank

and maybe two or three more songs. the best snippet i heard from the album wasn't even on it. this flylo song: http://www.okayplayer.com/news/flying-lotus-unreleased-schoolboy-q-mp3.html in the first two vines sounds better than almost every song on oxymoron. i imagine q recorded like 20-30 songs and studio execs chose the 15 they thought would sell records.

it's a shame because i hoped q would perfect his sound on oxymoron. habits and contradictions was one of the best albums of 2012 and showed a lot of promise. this seems like a step backwards for schoolboy q. it actually reminds me of asap rocky's discography a bit. live love asap and habits and contradictions were successful, cohesive, and impressive releases that showed the promise of asap and q. love live asap and oxymoron are commercialized albums that lost the spark of their previous releases and sound all over the place. i'll give oxymoron many more listens but i'm initially disappointed. let's hope ab-soul doesn't fall into the same trap and is able to release an album that builds upon control system instead of pandering to new fans.

they're claiming to have to additional bonus tracks not on the regular deluxe version.

http://www.howflyhiphop.com/2014/02/22/schoolboy-q-gravy-download-clams-casino/

https://twitter.com/ScHoolBoyQ/status/309068795002109952

That isn't enough to justify a purchase for me though. I never get why artist make a bunch of dope songs and leave them off the album in favor or wack joints. I could understand if the songs were redundant or did't fit the sound, but banger, yay yay and the rest seem like they would be excellent additions.

i tried...maybe he lets his kid talk too much on here or something...ive peeped the bonus tracks and all that...ohh well fuck it

Its lack of focus is glaring.

The only cuts that I can see myself revisiting are His and Her Fiend, Grooveline Pt. 2 (although the chorus is just flat out silly and stupid), Los Awesome (great un-Pharrell-sounding Pharrell beat)and Break the Bank (catchy) and of course, Collard Greens (great single).

I can skip the rest. I actually think most of the tracks w/ the big name guests (Rae, Tyler, Kurupt, 2 Chainz, etc.) are the worst. Very forgettable.

I'd give Oxymoron a very weak 6 out of 10.

Cilvia Demo FTW as the BH release of the year, thus far.

run way too long

I think folks are neglecting the title though. He's going for that dichotomy of gangster shit and party shit, which aren't really mutually exclusive tho. Also playing with the theme that he's rapping to get away from the gangster shit, but it's what birthed him and he struggles to let go. in rap nothing really new or groundbreaking.

anyway the great:
-"Gangsta" brought this shit back 7x before i listened to the rest of the lp
-second half of "Hoover St" holy shit at Q's story telling here. It's a vivid borderline nightmare he's reliving, yet the rapping is so matter of fact and poignant

-Studio, Blind Threats, Man of The Year and Grooveline Pt. 2 (even w/ it's shitty hook) are damn good

-"Break the Bank" is great but its too damn long. absolutely no need for the last verse.

-"The Purge" is just strange, borderline wack.

-I don't care for Collard Greens, Hell of A Night, Prescription-Oxymoron or What they want. None are bad songs though

-everything else is good

i need a few more listens before i grade it though

i've done this with the previous two albums as well

1. Gangsta
2. Banger
3. Hoover St. (from when the beat switches only)
4. Blind Threats
5. Studio
6. Los Awesome (cut the interlude which is the song w/ SZA anyway)
7. Man of the Year
8. His & Her Friend
9. Break the Bank (I wish there was a sweet spot to cut this to 3min)
10. Groovline Pt. 2
11. Gravy <--- how did they leave this off. why

EVRYTHING ELSE IS BONUS:
Fuck LA, Collard Greens, Hell of a Night, Pres/Oxy, What They Want, The Purge

ALSO I hope the songs with FlyLo leak

Dude has shown so much versatility lately.

and Q does it justice. easily one of my favorites

.

I think any disappointment anyone has is based on the expectation that he was going to show up better than ever...but really its just as good as his best. Thats my take on it after the first listen. I definitely have to listen some more.


Tanya Morgan March 2014 Tourdates
(NC, ATL, NOLA, ATX)
http://vonpea.com/2014/02/21/tanya-morgan-upcoming-show-dates-nc-atl-nola-atx/

You probably wasn't a fan before so it makes sense that you think its all the same. His previous albums were much more introspective, but more importantly he was just rhyming much better. The flow seems dumbed down.

yall kill me if someone don't think how yall think about something.

I said probably. I could be wrong. Is it illegal to guess now?

.

Anyway, I wasn't saying that he isn't a real fan. I just sounded like from the context of his statement that he wasn't a fan originally. I wasn't trying to say that if you like this album you are not a fan.

He didn't say he liked it or that is was awesome just like his previous albums he just said it was the same, and again cuz people like to take offense on this board and start calling names I AM NOT MAKING A VALUE JUDGEMENT ON HIS OPINION!!!!

For instance, sometimes I will check out an album of someone I am not much of a fan of to see if their latest album was dope. I might mention that is sounds just like the rest of them and others might be of a different opinion. Making note that a longtime fan may have a different perspective is not a slur or an offense it is just discussion of the music. Now some people might say "Hey I am a longtime fan and I have a different opinion" and others might ignore any discussion of the music and spout off that you are some type of ignorant asshole who can't take others opinions.

I am fine with people having different opinions, I just think someone who has enjoyed his music up to this point will think this album is somewhat different in tone from the previous albums it is entirely possible that many people will feel differently but I do not think I am an "asshole" just for having this thought.

Im not saying its all the same as in its interchangeable...Im saying there isnt a drop in quality IMO. He absolutely is using a more accessible method of songwriting but I wouldnt call it "dumbed down" because theres a skill to the way he put these songs together


Tanya Morgan March 2014 Tourdates
(NC, ATL, NOLA, ATX)
http://vonpea.com/2014/02/21/tanya-morgan-upcoming-show-dates-nc-atl-nola-atx/

He had that joint about the cycle of violence in the hood. Much of it seems to be geared toward him being a rapper rather than a gangster. It felt more like he was looking back to me.

I became a fan not too long after Setbacks came out...before it got re-released for free.

I played it again immediately after playing H&C and I decided I like more songs on OXY than I like on H&C but the best songs on H&C are better than the best songs on OXY....then again I have memories attached to those songs so I could change opinions again later.



Tanya Morgan March 2014 Tourdates
(NC, ATL, NOLA, ATX)
http://vonpea.com/2014/02/21/tanya-morgan-upcoming-show-dates-nc-atl-nola-atx/

I think leaving banger off was a mistake but Oxymoron is a really dope album.

If a nigga from OKP uploaded this for us to listen to we would trash it completely. Especially these retarded sounding ass hooks

But goddamn.. All this hype and this is the third best album out of your 3 disc catalog.. Not saying its a completely shit album but its definitely not great.

for me my fav 3 releases go

Oxymoron
GKMC
Cilvia Demo

This knocks. Prefer the beats on this to G.K.M.C

I can't mess with this. Goin' back to bumping the Cilvia Demo.

I think it sounds great, it's just a little sluggish.

The more I listen to it (and it's been on repeat a lot, because I have to write about it and because I really like it) I'm swinging the other way, too. There are quite a few awesome verses on here, and even though "Studio" and "Hell of a Night" feel a little weird with the rest of the album it's hard to say these types of songs can be done much better, either (and I like these kinds of songs when done well).

It definitely feels like the culmination of all his other projects to me. I really, really liked Habits & Contradictions but this feels more like an album to me.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." © Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Studio is no different than Sex Drive or Fantasy from his previous LPs. there is nothing out of place or strange about that record

its a damn good song as well, one of the best 4 or 5 on the album

Folks who've been following the Top Dawg camp for a few years now have likely settled into what's become a pretty familiar catalog: Jay Rock plays the straight-faced gangster rapper and spiritual leader, Kendrick Lamar plays the prodigy, Ab-Soul plays the introspective lost soul and ScHoolboy Q...ScHoolboy Q does drugs and listens to Portishead records. But his career has always been more interesting than that, with the other members of the crew often regaling the media with tales of the potential they saw in a younger Quincy Hanley who spent his days the same as most other young Californians: looking for hip-hop glory atop classic mid-90s east coast boom bap and Dr. Dre knockoff beats. A look back at 2009 mixtape Gangsta & Soul reveals an artist not too far removed from a Ca$his or Bishop Lamont of that era, a far cry from the manic firebrand set before us today.

I say that to say the appeal of ScHoolboy Q in many ways has been his ability to keep listeners guessing, sonically if not lyrically. 2012's Habits & Contradictions saw ScHoolboy Q coming fully into his own over samples as esoteric as Menomena's "Wet and Rusting" and Portishead's "Cowboys", not to mention the smoothest beats in Lex Luger and Mike Will's short careers and "Nightmare on Figg St."'s transformation of "Niggas in Paris" to a house of horrors. I think this is what makes Oxymoron a bit of an oddly disconnected listen the first few times you fix yourself to approach it; for the first time, ScHoolboy Q's dropped a full-length that trades in subtlety rather than obtuse shock value.

There is a consistency to the sound here - lethargic, dusky - that would appear in short bursts like "Blessed" before but takes center stage now, allowing the listener to slowly acclimate themselves to what ultimately reveals itself as ScHoolboy Q's most soul-baring effort yet. Initially I was a bit put off by the front-loading of the high energy tracks folks likely came for. "Collard Greens" is still a fantastic single, blending the irreverant wordplay of the Pharcyde or Camp Lo with the reggae-tinged g-funk of DJ Quik or Warren G. "Los Awesome" might not be far off, a Pharrell track that's immediately clever for all the ways Pharrell tries to obfuscate his involvement with new tricks, immediately intoxicating for his and Jay Rock's repetitive, call-and-response chorus.

But the album opens with "Gangsta", an audible representation of walking with a gangsta lean if ever there was one. On it, ScHoolboy saunters around in his trademark fisherman's hat and skater shoes delivering all the tales of Figueroa Street, weed and women we've come to expect, but the track really serves as a tease of what follow's the opening four-track appetizer with lines like, "my grandma showed me my first strap." Later tracks like "Hoover Street", "Prescription / Oxymoron", "Blind Threats" and "Break the Bank" offer an unprecedented look into the inner workings of the Hanley family, and the joy of listening to Oxymoron quickly becomes discovering how ScHoolboy hopes to make such dreary imagery work with his energetic, party boy persona at large.

What's there is as ripe for material as anything coming from the Duckworth and Stevens households. While he's admitted to including lines like the aforementioned from "Gangsta" as much because it sounds cool to him as it is an artistic step forward, it becomes clear over the album's meaty middle half that this album was clearly intended to exorcise some long-held demons. "What They Want", featuring 2 Chainz, is more indicative of what an Oxymoron party would be like than its most single-worthy cuts; everything about the track's DNA screams fiesta right until the point it stumbles out of the speakers, all "this that car that won't park, pedal to the floor, it won't stop" and "push my penis in between her lap" in a striped sweater and Jason mask.

Pulling quotes from ScHoolboy Q tracks is as fun as it ever was. He's taken another step forward in his use of imagery as a cipher for absurdism, and where he so often sounded in awe of his peers during the early days of his career Oxymoron is very clearly his show - not the guests, not the producers, not the samples, just the dude who's finally safe enough in his own skin to deliver the second verse of "Hoover Street", a sublimely bleak tale of drinking whiskey as a pre-teen to spur urine into a cup for his probationary uncle (who was in the other room stealing from grandma) and a family circle almost stubbornly insistent on introducing a young Quincy Hanley to firearms. Q delivers these bits of his life in such animated, somewhat gleeful fashion it's hard to find the pathos in it that folks draw so effortlessly from his Black Hippy cohorts but it's clearly there.

Even when ScHoolboy gets into hitting for the cycle mode with a little black dress cut like "Studio" or "Hell of a Night" he manages to keep them rapt with a sense of looming dread; the groovy as hell "Studio" in particular sees BJ the Chicago Kid and Swiff D reminding everyone that these diversions can add something to a rap album so long as the rapper on the spine doesn't dive head first into corny sex metaphors (I suppose opinions could vary wildly, but I think Q did alright). "The Purge" likewise satisfies every artist living or doing a work study in Los Angeles' urge to fill an Odd Future quotient and seems a little cushioned between the soul baring ("My mommy call, I hit ignore / My daughter call, I hit ignore") "Prescription / Oxymoron" and throwback to his east coast dreams ("Blind Threats") with Raekwon, but taken on its own merits is likely the most easily digestible Wolf Gang tribute in a minute thanks to ScHoolboy and the legendary Kurupt.

Oxymoron is not an album that goes down easy, mostly because from "What You Want" on forward the album remains mired in a low end deluge without any intention of coming up for air. It can become remarkably easy to miss just how sudden and detailed ScHoolboy's decision to let his listeners into his childhood is, a truth that speaks as much to his growth as a craftsman as the homogeny of the album here. Unlike his previous efforts Oxymoron picks a brand of momentum and sticks to it, avoiding the peaks and surprises that have so often signified a ScHoolboy Q project. But once the songs open up, once the mind begins latching onto whatever phrases happen to stand out from track to track alongside the larger personal narrative and getting lost in the blunted haze provided by Mike Will, Sounwave, Alchemist and Nez & Rio among others, it's hard to remain as aloof as initial impressions might feel.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." © Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

At one time I wrote hip hop reviews and positioned for freelance, but my partner (the music) went south, literally. This is a great take on a difficult subject and it shows to those who knows.

Can't be bothered to nitpick or rationally discuss why any of u pussies don't fuck with this.

I woulda broke many windows off this shit at 14.

There's maybe 2-3 duds...the rest is heat

I would have liked to see Yay Yay and Banger on there instead of a few joints

Just listened to it on spotify; gonna go buy the CD later.

always listen for yourself

The only song I can't mess with is Los Awesome. I just can't fade it. I like Hell of a Night. Los Awesome could have been swapped with Banger and I would be a happy young man. I agree with folks that are saying this isn't better than H&C. That's his zenith thus far. That said this is better than Setbacks. Really only Los Awesome won't get play from me otherwise it's a solid album.

Q seems to have found a pocket that he loves to flow from and if anything this album may suffer from that but if you like that pocket then this album is for you. The only thing I would really ask for is a few injections of the energy he displayed on Oxymusic. That's my favorite song from Joe period. That song is damn near amazing and I can't really say why.

It's a solid 3.5. Hopefully next up is my boy Soul and he can knock one out the park.


Edit: I'm giving Los Awesome another shot and it looks like I'll make it all the way through the song. Jay Rock did his thing and on this song he sounds like Freeway a lil bit. Not a bad song it just probably should be on the album. Doesn't suck though.

they usually pull that album only shit.

the highlights are at the end of the album, for sure.

http://www.underthegunreview.net/2014/02/25/schoolboy-q-and-aap-rocky-deliver-heat-on-californication/

with some legitimately good/bright spots.
it's not an overall repeat album to me though.

that's my first listen impression.

Been listening to this for a few days now and only 4 tracks I don't care for. Not better than GKMC but a solid release. I wonder how they got away without credited Portishead on "Prescription"!?

I love TDE but this bonus track shit is out of control.

yall anchored Step-Brothers and it hasn't even reached 100 replies

kinda on the fence about buying this album.

but i'd hate to finally check this LP in the summertime--and really dig it--only to find out that the target exclusive release is sold out forever.

i'm a SUCKER.

This album is like his others in that there are some truly bright spots, and some that you don't care for. The dumbed down flow criticisms don't hold up in my opinion, simply because I never thought he was that skilled of a rapper. And the content criticisms seem silly because to me he's doing what he's always done. But to me, the star of this project is the production and Q's ability to do something interesting with it the majority of the time.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/MicrophoneCheck/2014/02/26/282136851/schoolboy-q-i-call-myself-all-american?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=share&utm_medium=twitter

It's cool to see Ali-Shaheed is a fan.

he was hella knowledgeable of Earl and Vince's music when they interviewed them a couple months ago

but yeah, agreed, it was a good interview

After a few spins this is pretty dope. I still think he left off too many bangers (pun totally intended) but it's solid. Not his best effort but good.

promoter gave me 4 tickets but I have zero interest


hit the inbox if you want em

i'd jump if LA

.

i smiled like shit when i heard sugar free

hell of a night,studio, grooveline and yay yay were the high points imo

Original reaction likely just clouded by high expectations. This is a good album.

but still, he got off LOL.

Interesting to see more people coming around on it.

White/Mixed crowds like Rock The Bells, SXSW, and Paid Dues. That hook/breakdown where the BPM doubles is gonna get em HYPE.

I'm not a big fan of it, but I can just tell it's gonna work for that slightly Hipster-Trap type crowd.

this time around tho.

but yeah even Q says all the singles flopped. That was THE hit they thought they had. I remember people telling me that was the one.....They should do a sick video and spark some life back into that song

http://forum.trshady.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=160405

there are 3 or 4 songs on here i really like
the rest?
mostly garbage
relative to the anticipation the album is def disappointing
can't really see myself rocking this more than 4,5 times before moving on

no more no less

he and TDE gave us so much material you could really make any size playlist off the 19 songs, NONE of which are out right wack, at the most some tracks are just boring / forgettable, SOME. MOST are good to great

few songs this year will be as good as Gangsta, Hoover St. or Gravy

because the album is so relentlessly stark/dark and gangster, I wonder how much he'll sell and it seems many of the reviews have been mixed thus far

next week's totals should be interesting

7cents

>few songs this year will be as good as Gangsta, Hoover St. or
>Gravy

i've listened to rap damn near everyday since i was 12. i know when i have favorite tracks, when i hear a damn good rap song. those are fantastic rap songs. All three songs have 17-21 plays on my iPod already. shit I brought "Gangsta" back 13x before I even listened to the rest of the album.

when Chance's album dropped early last year I knew "Pusha Man", "Lost" and "Everybody's Something" would be 3 of my favorite tracks of the year. by the end all 3 were in my top 20 plays of 2013. I listened to damn near 85 albums last year!

same thing happened in 2012 with Kendrick's "Cartoon & Cereal" and AB and Riff Raffs "Bird on A Wire"

so whateva whateva

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/the-juice/5922946/top-dawg-entertainment-cover-story-kendrick-lamar-schoolboy-q-anthony-tiffith?page=0%2C1

"Meanwhile, Free thinks the long-awaited debut from Black Hippy - the supergroup featuring Lamar, Q, Rock and Ab-Soul - is likely to appear in 2014; Tiffith indicates that TDE is planning to release a new Lamar album this coming September, too."

done better by G-Side?

Even the way he started rapping on it.

I like this album overall tho...

don't hear much of an explicit direct influence here though.

break the bank is on repeat

I don't know about some of y'all sometimes

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Why niggas be trying to prove Internet hypotheses?

http://www.billboard.com/files/styles/flasbox_image/public/media/top-dawg-billboard-cover-990.jpg

wtf yo

i mean

http://youtu.be/5ycAvy0ESE0?t=1m32s

this was only 4 yrs ago

fam needs to monitor that, straight up

the album is banging tho

He looks like a bum.

it's "pills and syrup destroying my normal organ function" weight

slow down on the substances, quincy

at least he says so

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOchrmMgzjA

hope the homie gets help for real.

but he was off of it for about a year, on a kind of similar plan as 2 Chainz when he was doing his Codeine Withdrawal gimmick (luckily when he also found his voice as a performer).

Not sure about the other drugs, a lot of his camp says he's getting a gut 'cause he's eating good according to the Grantland profile ( http://grantland.com/features/schoolboy-qs-hunger-pains/ ) but it's a little hard to believe, he looks even plumper than how I look after the past three years of heavy boozing.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." © Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

.

1. Gangsta
2. Fuck LA
3. Los Awesome
4. Yay Yay
5. Prescription/Oxymoron
5. Hoover Street
6. Blind Threats
7. Californication
8. Collard Greens
9. Studio
10. His & Her Friend
11. Grooveline Pt. 2
12. Break The Bank
13. Man Of The Year

http://www.complex.com/music/2014/02/schoolboy-q-oxymoron-compromises

I don't particularly like Studio but apparently other people do.
It'd be even darker an album but a lil more cohesive.

Even those that don't like "Hoover Street" but like "Studio". Q could have kept "Studio" IMO. Or just make it a bonus track.

That would have made for a solid blend of dark gangsta music right there.

I buy music, but It's hard to justify a purchase when my favorite song from the album isn't even on the album, and I have two wack songs to delete.

Los Awesome and Studio are straight skippers for me, but everything else is bangin.

i still play a lot of the songs 3 months later

i love kurupt's verse on the one song.