ScHoolboy Q, Blue Lips: REVIEW

ScHoolboy Q, Blue Lips (Top Dawg)

Even some of the nicest MCs miss out on the longevity that their early presence suggests. And as the last few years have been decidedly blink-and-miss-it in general, you’re to be forgiven if you didn’t realize the once ubiquitous L.A. rapper hasn’t made a peep after a non-stop barrage of quality output, assuming his moment in the spotlight had passed. From his 2008 mixtape debut to his most acclaimed LP, 2014’s Oxymoron and its relatively deserving successors up to Crash Talk in 2019, it’s been a stretch. Top Dawg’s roster has since found mass pop appeal with SZA but lost its flagship artist, Kendrick Lamar. The Black Hippy era is over. So the escalating buzz around ScHoolboy Q’s return with his first album in five years wasn’t for nothing. We could throw around terms like “maturity” and “evolution,” but instead, let’s say Blue Lips marks calculated progress for a talent who came out strong and didn’t sweat whether it took five minutes or half a decade to pen another classic. What’s changed? In a word, the “Collard Greens” rapper’s latest is a steadier diet of seasoned gangsta soul. 8/10 Trial Track: “Cooties”

For more on ScHoolboy Q, please visit his website.

This article was originally published in the March 2024 issue of Cult MTL. 

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