Pete Havlatka
Since the beginning of hip-hop music, rappers have stepped into the arena with their respective crews. Before Dr. Dre came N.W.A. Before Busta Rhymes took over the world, Leaders of the New School did its damn thing. *NSYNC had millions of girls screaming at them on stage, but only Justin Timberlake rose to equal—or perhaps greater—fame as a solo artist. Counting all of music as a whole, Stevie Nicks, who apparently is a woman, rode dirty with Fleetwood Mac for years before amassing eight—count ‘em, EIGHT—Grammy nominations after she set off on her own. Freddie Mercury was THE GREATEST before he died of AIDS. I may have already gotten off-track, but my point is that when a member of a group or collective goes solo, typically that first member to go solo is the most successful. That’s why Dr. Dre has his own line of headphones, while Eazy E is… oh, shit—he died of AIDS, too? Damn!
Anyway, in this case we have Top Dawg Entertainment, starring its undisputed ring leader, Kendrick Lamar, who – in my opinion – is one of the few MCs in history who can be so highly esteemed without being even remotely overrated. The man spits blazing unicorn cocks out of his mouth when he raps. Yes, that’s a good thing, and yes, he’s that good. Deal with it.
Also in the TDE stable are MCs Ab-Soul, Jay Rock and the focus of this piece, Schoolboy Q. All are talented, sure—otherwise they wouldn’t likely be part of the Black Hippie tribe at all—but the reason they didn’t bat lead-off for their team is, presumably, because Kendrick Lamar is better, which isn’t hard to fathom because of the aforementioned unicorn cocks. Still, after K-Dot, Schoolboy Q is next up to bat with the newly released Oxymoron, and he certainly doesn’t disappoint.
Bonus Cut 