Oxymoron is the third studio album by California rapper Schoolboy Q, released on February 25th, 2014. It’s a little over ten years old now, and critics at the time really liked it. As a teenager at the time, I remember bumping a lot of the hits from the album, like, “Man of the Year,” “Collard Greens,” and “Studio,” as a teenager. I recently reviewed his newest album, Blue Lips, and heavily enjoyed it and now I’m listening to this album fully for the first time. So how does it hold up ten years later?
We open up with the track, “Gangsta,” which has a quick intro from Q’s daughter Joy before we get to a chorus and post-chorus. I love the old school piano beat, and Q’s raps sound aggressive and hungry. He raps about the gangster lifestyle, and I haven’t really heard a gangsta rap track in a while. He does it in a way that sounds refreshing and authentic to him though, which makes this track a highlight so far. I like the line where he says that real gangsters “don’t have no fear and never tattoo their tears.”
Following that we have the track. “Los Awesome,” featuring Jay Rock, which is probably one of my least favorite tracks. The rappers aren’t the problem as both Q and Jay Rock have pretty strong verses, and the gangsta theme is another strength, the problem is the beat is just kind of irritating on the ears. That surprised me, because it’s produced by one of the all time great producers, Pharrell Williams. Sadly it sounds like something off of Tyler, the Creator’s album Goblin. However, I like the “reaper in your driveway,” line, as it’s very visual. “Collard Greens,” featuring Kendrick Lamar, is another favorite of mine off the album. The “collard greens,” being referenced in this track is the kind of leaf that people smoke. I like the glitzy beat, and both rappers have great verses, although unsurprisingly, Kendrick steals the show with his quick machine gun flow. This track was nice nostalgia for me, because I remember hearing it a lot back when I was 14, whether it was through GTA V, or just on the radio, growing up. “Baller futuristic, groovy gangsta with an attitude.” I wish Kendrick and Q collaborated more nowadays, because they always bring out the best in each other.
Next is, “What They Want,” featuring 2 Chainz. I love the instrumental, which is a trap beat produced by the legendary Mike WiLL Made It. Q flows effortlessly on the track about drug dealing and getting that money. “Might cop the Phantom, get ghost.” I don’t like 2 Chainz’ verse as much, but I do like the line, “Treat my Versace belt like it’s a mistletoe.” I do like the last few lines of his verse though, where he brings his party lifestyle to the track which is a cool contrast to Q’s more gangsta bars on the track. After that we get “Hoover Street,” which is a trip down memory lane, where Schoolboy Q talks about his rough upbringing with the Hoover Street Crips. It’s got an old school hip hop beat, produced by Sounwave. I like the drum kit and bass riff loops on the beat, and that the drum pattern and instrumentation changes, my one complaint is that the track is kind of long at over 6 minutes. I do like how personal the track is, and I like how he mentions the Nintendo 64 and Golden Eye 007, as things that his grandma got him when he was a kid even though they couldn’t afford that stuff.
We follow that up with the radio hit single, “Studio,” featuring BJ the Chicago Kid. According to his verified annotation on Genius, BJ the Chicago Kid says that, “I love to live in the studio. I write my lyrics, I’m hands on. When creating my album I slept there 27 out of 30 days.” This track is a definite club banger with that chipmunk soul sample over that glossy synth production. Swiff D did a good job with the production. It’s a total party track, and it’s a nice change of pace for the more hardcore gangster tracks on the album. Q is able to pull off the party guy life and the gangster life which demonstrates his versatility, another highlight.
Following that, we have a solo track, “Prescription/Oxymoron,” which samples a Portishead song and is produced by Sounwave. This track is much darker than the gangster tracks, and in my opinion, might be the most personal and raw track on the album. He talks about how his addictions to percocets, Xanax, adderall, and codeine push him away from those who are most important to him. I especially like the comparison of his addiction to a woman he’s in love with too. The beat switches to a more trap sound, where as before he talks about his life as a drug addict, he changes it to talking about selling the same stuff that he’s addicted to. In an interview with a radio station, Q, said that the meaning of the album’s name, Oxymoron, “is that I was doing all this bad to do good for my daughter.” That’s an example of an oxymoron. I like the piano over the hi hats and snares, I like how he makes the connection between addiction and dealing. One of my favorites, even if it’s a very long track at 7 minutes and 10 seconds, it’s two tracks in one.
“The Purge,” featuring Tyler, the Creator and Kurupt is a decent posse cut, but it’s arguably one of the weaker tracks on the album in my opinion. The beat is an older Tyler, the Creator, beat back when he was in his edge lord phase, but the tracks Tyler produced on Wolf, which are most of the tracks on that album, had way better production for the most part. I just don’t like the siren beat loop, as it gets kind of irritating. It just feels like a lazy beat, compared to other beats Tyler has produced. In addition, Tyler just does the chorus, he doesn’t have a verse. Kurupt’s verse is solid, but this is one of my least favorite tracks on the album.
Another Sounwave produced track, “Blind Threats,” featuring the legendary rapper Raekwon, samples “Las Vegas Tango,” by Gary Burton. I like the percussion and sample, and enjoy hearing both of them rap about the dark side of the gangsta lifestyle, and hearing Schoolboy Q rap about how he feels abandoned by God. His wordplay on this track is some of the best on the album: “bucket hat with a strap like a pilgrim.” And another line I like, is “The Ten Commandments, I can mark five checks. But I sense flaws, the Bible preaching blind threats.”
Next, is “Hell of a Night,” which is another party themed track but with dance elements in the chorus, which sets it apart from the rest of the album. I like how it switches to a trap instrumental during the verses. I like the visually grabbing lyrics that Q raps on this track, and I like the angelic vocals in the background. It feels like something that would be played at a rave or a nightclub. “Break the Bank,” has a chilling piano instrumental with boom bap drums, and samples “Something is Happening,” by Man. It’s another gangster track, but Schoolboy Q sounds a lot more introspective, so it’s another highlight for me.
Finally, we close the album with another radio friendly hit, “Man of the Year,” which samples “Cherry,” by Chromatics. Produced by New & Rio and Sounwave, it’s got a cool trap beat with hard hitting snares and the looped sample sounds a lot different than the other samples on the album. The chorus is catchy and Q flows phenomenally on the beat. It’s a track where he brags about living the party lifestyle, smoking weed, and being surrounded by beautiful women 24/7. Not exactly reinventing the wheel, but with his aggressive raps and braggadocio it provides a happy ending to an album where he gets deeply personal about being in a gang growing up, living in poverty, and how his drug addictions caused him to push away those who were most important to him.
To conclude, Oxymoron, is a fantastically produced album which paints a picture of a man who has been through hell and back, whether he’s talking about gang violence, drug abuse, or the hypocrisy of doing bad things in order to do good by providing for his daughter. There’s plenty of radio friendly party hits such as “Man of the Year,” “Collard Greens,” and “Hell of a Night,” which if you only knew the album based on those tracks, would paint a much happier picture, but tracks such as “Gangsta,” “Prescription/Oxymoron,” and “Blind Threats,” show his versatility between party anthems, and dark introspective tracks that display incredible vulnerability and resilience. This versatility, makes for a truly enjoyable listen, and even though some of the tracks such as “The Purge,” are weak compared to the rest of the cuts on the LP, the strengths greatly outnumber the weak spots.
Overall Score: 8/10
Favorite Tracks: “Man of the Year,” “Collard Greens,” “Prescription/Oxymoron,” “Gangsta,” “Blind Threats”
Least Favorite Tracks: “The Purge”
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEMsjeq43_U
Genres: West Coast Hip Hop/Trap