Habits & Contradictions - Schoolboy Q Review

Yoooo, what’s gucci guys? Sorry the Left Boy review isn’t out yet.

Schoolboy Q’s album is coming out tomorrow so I decided to write a review for his previous album. 

Habits & Contradictions - Schoolboy Q

I’m literally more excited than a small child on Christmas Eve for this album. Schoolboy Q is one of my favorite rapper lately. I’m trying to see him in concert in May, either in Stuttgart or Munich, so that will be trill. 

Schoolboy actually was born in Wiesbaden, Germany. So that’s kinda cool. He also used to be in the Crips, which isn’t as cool.

Anyway here is the review, hope you enjoy.

Sacrilegious

This beat is super gloomy and depressive, but still dope. It fits the feel of the song perfectly. Schoolboy is reminiscing on his past actions and he’s showing a lot of regret for these actions. It’s surprisingly deep and he doesn’t boast about his past like some other rappers do. He actually shows a lot of regret. He must of really done some messed up things if he says that god can’t/won’t forgive him. 

He also paints vivid pictures with his words. He’s an artist with words. 

There He Go

This is one of my favorite songs right now. The beat is upbeat and full of energy and Schoolboy goes in on it. The bass is also great. 

The song is about how famous he is getting and people recognize him when he goes places.

There are too many good lines in this song, pretty much the whole song is a good line, so I just chose my favorite one:

“Nappy chin hairs, bitch, I’m motherfuckin’ Q.”

Q is partially known for his facial hair. I can relate to that because I also always have nappy facial hair. 

He also talks about how his label ‘TDE’ runs LA. He also talks about how because of them the west coast is going as hard as it was during the day of ‘Death Row Records’ AKA Dr. Dre, 2Pac and others. That’s a pretty big claim from Schoolboy Q but lately I think that he is right. 

Hands On The Wheel feat A$AP Rocky

This was the first song from Schoolboy Q that I ever heard and also the first time I heard A$AP Rocky. Perfect intro to both of them.

The intro of this song is taken from Lissie’s cover of Kid Cudi’s ‘Pursuit Of Happiness’. 

This song is literally just about getting very, very intoxicated. It’s a belligerent party song and it’s so good. 

It’s a really fast paced song and I’ve raged to it plenty of times.

Sex Drive feat Jhené Aiko

The bae Jhené Aiko is on this song. She’s so beautiful and she’s asian…ayyyyy. 

This whole song is pretty much just a big play on sex and driving cars. The beat makes the song for me, otherwise it’s not that great.

Oxy Music

This beat is so dope it kinda reminds me of a horror movies.

In this song Q is talking about his drug dealing past and Oxy. 

His flow is very interesting and makes this song nice to listen to. He also paints vivid pictures with his words again. He paints a mental image of a not so nice place.

My Hatin’ Joint

The beat is trill on this. Schoolboy Q is trying to get a girl by hyping himself up and putting her guy down. I don’t know, I don’t really like this song that much.

Raymond 1969

History lesson: Raymond Washington, who created the crips in 1969. 

Schoolboy Q was a crip and yea. This song is about gang life. I didn’t really like it that much either. It kinda made me uncomfortable if that makes sense. 

Sexting

The beat in this song is so dope, like all the beats on this album and his flow is pretty redic. The only reason I like this song is because of the beat and his flow. Otherwise I don’t think it’s that great, it’s just about sex.

Grooveline pt. 1 Dom Kennedy and Curren$y

This song is super mellow and a great break in the album. It’s so laid back. I was stressing about a lot of things today, but this song just completely de-stressed me. 

Content-wise the 3 rappers are just sweet-talking different girls. Nothing too bad.

Gangsta In Designer (No Concept)

This beat is redic. It’s one of my favorite ones off of the album. This song doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the album. That’s why it has “No Concept” in the title. This song is about how he’s a G and wears designer clothes. 

How We Feeling

This song is just like an interlude. It’s just about how they chillen, getting high, and not caring what the world does. It’s a great break in the album. 

Druggys Wit Hoes Again feat Ab-Soul

This is a continuation from a song off of the previous album of Schoolboy Q. It’s about, you guessed it, them being drug users with girls. 

Ab-Soul goes in on this song. He’s such a G. just look at this video of him during a Schoolboy Q concert.

Nightmare On Figg St.

This song has another crazy beat. This song is about where Schoolboy used to live. There’s more talk about his gang ties and everything. I think it’s cool that he got out of the gang life and is now a talented rapper.

My Homie

Again, the beat is very good and his flow is solid. This song is about his best friend, who turned out to be a snitch. It’s kinda a similar to ’S.N.I.T.C.H.’ by Pusha T. I like this song, it’s pretty good.

Blessed feat Kendrick Lamar & Ab-Soul

This is a highly emotional song for Q. He wrote this song about a friend, whose kid died. Q realizes how good he has it.

The hook is deep.

“ Stay blessed my N*gga, blessed my N*gga.

  Really think about it, could be worse my N*gga.

  Don’t stress my N*gga, yes, my N*gga.

  We all stressed my N*gga.”

No matter what, you could always have it worse, never forget that. Schoolboy isn’t saying this to the guy whose kid died, he’s saying it to everyone else. Like, oh your girl left you? Well at least your offspring didn't die. That’s some deep thoughts.

Kendrick goes in on this song and this was the first time I ever heard him. 

I also like the part where Ab-Soul comes in. The lines he said are also very good.

“And you ain’t gotta shed no tear.

I’ll be everywhere and I’mma always be right here.

I ain’t forgot those years.

I’ll be everywhere but I’mma always be right here.”

No matter what, he’ll always be there for you. Same goes to the group from Germany. I’m here for you guys, no matter where I am.

N*ggHs.Already.Know.Davers.Flow

Yes, that ‘H’ is supposed to be in there. The beat is dope and his flow is sick. This song is so redic though. The phrase “N*ggas already know” is repeated 89 times in this song. So there’s that. 

I like the idea that went into this song. I think it’s really interesting. I mean the repetition of a phrase over and over again. KYLE does that in ‘Sex & Super Smash Bros.’ with the word ‘doe.’ Schoolboy Q made it unique though.

2 Raw feat Jay Rock

This is another great beat. Q delivers two solid verses that sorta summarize the album. He talks about gang life, drugs, women. You know, he talks about his Habits and Contradictions. 

I’ve never heard Jay Rock before this I think and he just sounds like a straight up thug.

I really like this album and I’m really, really excited for his new album to drop tomorrow. 

Some pros of this album are his interesting rap style, superb beat selection, hype songs and emotional songs and that all the songs fit the theme of “Habits & Contradiction” minus that one intentional one. The only cons I can really come up with is that not many people can relate to this album, but I think that it’s good because it shows how unique he is. 

I’d give this an 8/10.