In 2019, Schoolboy Q’s (Q) album “Crash Talk” was delayed due to the death of his close friends Nipsey Hussle and Mac Miller. Q would talk about “Crash Talk” on the podcast “Back on Figg” saying it was in his own view his least introspective album and it left him feeling empty as at the time he was just becoming drug free.
In June of last year on the same podcast, the two hosts would announce that Q was in the mixing process for his new album. Q then announced his latest work a year later on Feb. 1 titled “Blue Lips” then going on to releasing two singles a couple days after to build anticipation and three more in the following weeks.
On March 1, “Blue Lips” was released after much enthusiasm from fans.
“Blue Lips” is an evolution of Schoolboy Q’s style up to this point with more experimental touches and changes in tone than his previous works. However, it still keeps the same signature style and aggravation Q is known for on albums like “Oxymoron” and the “Blank Face LP.”
He takes on both things he mentioned in his interview as issues with Crash Talk mainly having to do with the introspection of the album. We can see the introspection the most through one specific track.
“Blue Slides,” one of the singles for the album, is a somber track in which Q directly reflects on his own life, Mac Miller’s death and has a beautiful jazz piano backing his vocals. The track’s title itself is a reference to Miller’s debut album “Blue Slide Park.”
“Lost a homeboy to drugs, man, I ain’t tryna go backwards.”
Q says in reference directly to Miller’s passing. Q then goes on to talk about trying to advance his own life and how he’s dealing with his own challenges. He even directly references his own breakdowns through various lyrics.
We can see these similarities even have an advancement of his style with the second track on the LP “Pop” which has an incredibly antagonistic change in tone and beat. With gunshots ringing throughout as Q sings the chorus. The song is almost akin to “Groovy Tony/Eddie Kane” in terms of the level of anger in an attempt to show his dominance over both the rap game as well as flexing his fortune flex money wise. Q comes into the track with Rico Nasty who has a great feature which adds to the overall feel of the song which calls back to his older style.
The features on this album add even more appeal to listeners. The two stand out features on the tracklist coming from Freddie Gibbs and TDE cohort Ab-Soul. Freddie Gibbs is featured on one of the calmer but still somewhat aggressive tracks “Ohio.” The song is able to keep you engrossed with numerous beat switches and braggadocious lyrics from Q.
“I done leveled up my livin.”
“Got me a Rollie, my roots in the soil, downin’ a bottle, my President gold.”
These lyrics lead into the beat switch and a solid feature verse from Freddie Gibbs. Gibbs, who after being featured on Back to Me by Ye, formally known as Kanye West, which has forty two million streams despite only being released for a month, seems to be building up to release his own solo album which will feature production from West and delivers a solid feature with his signature flair.
Even with the great features Q also has some incredible production from notable producers such as The Alchemist who worked with Drake and Travis Scott last year. With the track “Lost Times” showing Schoolboy Q on a tranquil dreamy alchemist production, continuing their trend of collaborations on Q’s work.
However, the main issue with this record is the constant tonal shifts. They help keep you enthralled throughout the LP but can cause some confusion with the overall continuity of the album. Songs featuring aggressive and fast beat switches often collide with the calmer tracks causing conflict in the overall continuity of the record. Such as the transition from “Time Killers” into “Pig Feet” that goes from a soothing track to a track moving at breakneck pace leaving the listener with a feeling of tonal whiplash.
However, even despite this flaw this is an incredible album. Because of the flaw the listener does get a vast array of songs to choose from when adding to a playlist or offering different vibes for specific scenarios. This album delivers on everything Q wanted to improve on “Crash Talk” in 2019 and shows his continual growth as an artist. One of the best rap albums and generally albums of 2024 so far that is absolutely worth your time to listen to.
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