Top Dawg Entertainment.
08/Schoolboy Q/Habits & Contradictions
I grew up round here, between them walls of Normandie & Western. Los Angeles. Southern tip. Also known as South Central. (You might have heard of it, no?) Elementary thru high school. West Coast. And for a minute there, my soundtrack (OUR soundtrack) within the region and for my youth was pretty stellar on the Rap/Hip-Hop tip. And then it wasn't. And I moved on. And out. And onto other genres. And rap from other states and zip codes. In other words, I stopped paying attention.
Fast forward to the present. Youth gone, adulthood in tact (for better or worse), and back within the city limits. And oh shit, what do we have here? Don't call it comeback BUT okay So Cal Hip-Hop, I see you. It's nice to have you back in my life. You got me, and I'm paying attention. And in 2012, for a few months there at the top, no one, repeat NO ONE held my attention more than the homie, also birthed and raised in my neck of the woods, Schoolboy Q.
Habits & Contradictions. So many spoken on and discussed here, all familiar. I've chilled with this dude. Gotten lit at functions with this dude (Not actually, but you get what I'm saying). I know these haunts. I know these characters. And I know these people. But don't get it twisted, you ain't gotta be "from around the way" to connect with Schoolboy Q, his habits, and these situations. Q is that affable gangsta (Former full time"gangster". Still "gangsta". Like a more approachable WC. To clarify) who can get the party started (SEE: "Hands on the Wheel"), woo your girl (SEE: "My Hatin' Joint", rock the mic (SEE: Tracks 1-17), and "bust yo shit up" if need be/it comes to that.
At the base level though, Q is just a talented American male easing his way into adulthood, looking to up his station, get that dough, and hustle hard from within the confines of these here city walls. A city whose vibe, sound, and presence runs rampant throughout Q's retellings and look back on his habit and contradictions. Props to all guests, and the production team in particular -The Alchemist/Mike Will/A$AP Ty Beats and them- for helping to further sketch out Q's ferociously stark (but often fun loving!) wrinkle in time from Los Angeles/entry into the West Coast Hip-Hop Canon. And for ensuring that Habits & Contradictions came out the way it did: Another fully realized mixtape with bright promises of things to come. Los Angeles, STAND UP! Holla at ya boy.
KEY TRACKS: My Hatin' Joint/Nightmare on Figg St./Niggahs.Already.Know.Davers.Flow
09/Joey Bada$$/1999
10/Alabama Shakes/Boys & Girls
11/Hot Chip/In Our Heads
12/Grimes/Visions
13/Santigold/Master of My Make-Believe
14/Japandroids/Celebration Rock
15/Bat for Lashes/The Haunted Man
16/Fun./Some Nights
17/the xx/coexist
18/Solange/True
19/John Mayer/Born & Raised
20/The Walkmen/Heaven & 21/Grizzly Bear/Shields
22/Beach House/Bloom
23/Lower Dens/Nootropics
24/Cat Power/Sun
25/Prinzhorn Dance School/Clay Class
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