Day 56: Schoolboy Q - Oxymoron

Artist:   Schoolboy Q
Album:  Oxymoron
Source:  Spotify

Pre-listening Notes:  After getting duped by iTunes on the Pharrell "stream" (it's only 90 seconds of each song, of which isn't even half a song, and in at least one case not even a quarter), I've decided to review something that I can listen to the full thing.  So, I'll do the new Schoolboy Q album.  He is a rapper from South Central LA, he's been getting some hype based on his very positively reviewed first two albums.  This one seems to be right in line with that, so here goes.
       
Initial Reaction:  Looks like each song is produced by someone different.  Alright, I dig the flow, the beats on this song are pretty great too.  The song fits in nicely with a lot of the hip hop I've been listening to lately.  As with all hip hop, I am going to need to relisten to determine how I feel about the lyrics, because there is so much packed into a song that I miss a lot of it the first time around.  This first song was pretty cool, I'm buying in so far.   

Random Thoughts:  This song is produced by Pharrell, which normally means I'll like it, and really this doesn't disappoint.  There seems to be a lot of good rappers, around their mid 20's, coming out of California these days.  The guest on this song, Jay Rock is another one.  Here's another one, Kendrick Lamar, on this song.  Who I surprisingly liked on his track on Pusha T's new album.  This song is great, I might have to check out Kendrick's stuff.  I get a little weird feeling any time I see 2 Chainz listed on a song.  I usually can't hang.  And that really didn't do much to change my mind.  I probably never thought that I'd be singing along with a song with lyrics "I just stopped selling crack today", but I sure enough was about 30 seconds go.  Some of the stronger songs were towards the end of the album.           

Final Reaction:  Overall, this was a pretty damn good album.  I am going to be revisiting this for sure.  This was a quality hip hop album and this kid is still young and we might be looking at one of the next rappers that sticks around for a long time putting out quality album after quality album.  I love going into things with no real expectations and walking away with something I plan on going back to in the near future for repeated listens.             

Final Grade:  8.0/10