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68. Oxymoron - ScHoolboy Q (2014)

Hip Hop

2014’s Oxymoron features ScHoolboy Q, undeniably Top Dawg Entertainment’s most eccentric member, coming into his own as a party animal with a penchant for dropping house party bangers guaranteed to rattle frat house windows for decades to come. With plenty of assists from his TDE brothers Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul and Jay Rock along with high profile features from 2 Chainz, Raekwon and Tyler, the Creator, the album is a celebration of excess and gleeful indulgence. Well executed weed influenced west coast gangsta rap (“What They Want” and “Break the Bank”) fills the spaces between party anthems (“Collard Greens”, “Hell of a Night” and “Man of the Year”). 

While most of the album is a relatively shallow but fun exercise in escapism, there are moments of honest introspection where Q ponders some of the contradictions that confound those relegated to lives of poverty in America’s forgotten neighborhoods. “If God won’t help me, this gun will. I swear I’m gonna find my way” he raps on “Blind Threats”, reluctantly succumbing to the desperation his lot in life has left him. 

But the album doesn’t dwell on dark realities for long. Ultimately, the message is an emphatic embrace of all things over the top. Temporary cerebral road trips away from reality are welcomed, and all substances available serve as viable vehicles. “Break the Bank” and “Man of the Year” are raucous celebrations of ScHoolboy Q’s unlikely ascent out of gang life on Hoover St. in South Central LA, and Oxymoron eventually served to elevate him to the level of legitimate rap star.

*image; cover art for the album Oxymoron by the artist ScHoolboy Q