ScHoolboy Q | ‘Blue Lips’ Album Review

“In the case of music, I don’t have a look at it as like, ‘Oh, you must drop yearly,’” ScHoolboy Q stated throughout an interview final 12 months. “As an artist, if I deliver nothing to the desk that comes from my life, I don’t really feel I ought to put it out.”

As luck would have it, loads has modified within the lifetime of the Los Angeles native of late, and fortunately for the higher. The notorious bucket hat, which in hindsight turned out to be emblematic of a way of life he has no want of going again to, has been changed with a golf cap indefinitely. This real-life metaphor completely illustrates the numerous totally different roles he at the moment performs as an artist, borrowing from the previous whereas craftily negotiating his future.

Given the circumstances, it took the Prime Dawg Leisure MC precisely one month to safe his spot again on the heart after practically 5 years of inactivity. Whereas most succumb to a reset of traits in that period of time as extra continues to be one of many final remaining formulation to carry the general public’s consideration, Q introduced plans for his subsequent full-length enterprise on the primary day of February 2024 and previewed it two fragments at a time each week till the complete Hip Hop group was staring in his path.

With one of the crucial efficient rollouts in current historical past already in his favor, the 18 tracks that make up Blue Lips unfolded fully on March 1 to unveil an anatomy that’s sustained in equal elements by outdated habits, contradictions, readability and discernment. That stated, it harbors no regrets, virtually as if the rapper’s bygone instability is an impetus for his progress. Golfer Q doesn’t appear to be operating away from his demons however as a substitute proactively maintaining them at bay — the reminiscences clearly persist, now serving to remind him of his development against this.

The optimistic and confident transparency of the LP is fueled by a managed dramatism that enables the West Coast barman to maintain the fervor that made him a key determine within the sport all through the 2010s whereas additionally giving him the area to look forward with warning. Regardless of the absence of an outlined theme, the venture is held collectively by a patterned cohesion that distinguishes it from a compilation of singles bundled collectively and handed off as an album.

The hypnotic and carnivalesque intro “Humorous Man” typifies the dominant facet of the package deal, steered by ruminative lament and consciousness. A number of cuts down, this trope takes on a extra full form within the type of the symphonic “Blueslides,” that includes Q considering the 2018 passing of Mac Miller and the way it nudged him to scrub up his act with: “Misplaced a homeboy to medication, man, I ain’t trynna go backwards.”

Likewise, the file climaxes with one other tune on the identical wavelength because the 37-year-old shares the teachings he’s learnt in recent times with bars like “Demise and wonder all alike” and “First we gotta learn to fail/ All of us seen Hell” on “Misplaced Instances” — positive sufficient, it was produced by The Alchemist. Different tracks like “Cooties,” “Nunu” and “Germany 86′” add to the whimsical and soul-touching glimmer of Blue Lips‘ most praiseworthy moments.

On the flipside, a choose few numbers construct on the trappy vigor that made ScHoolboy Q one of many model ambassadors of Hip Hop’s occasion circuit a decade again. Contemplating the depths this LP traverses, “Yeern 101,” “Again n Love” and “Pig ft” make for its most avoidable joints regardless that they aren’t with out goal.

Add to these templates some fizz and soot, and also you get “Pop,” which not solely boasts one of the crucial absorbing beats on the file but in addition a prizewinning function from Rico Nasty (tied with Ab-Soul just a few tracks later). It’s value noting that her verse solely comes on within the final 15 seconds, setting a key precedent for the rest of the album early on: be sure to see every installment via to the top as a result of not often any of them stay the identical from entrance to again, and that is exactly what makes the venture unputdownable during its 56-minute runtime.

It’s loaded with one curveball after one other, such that sure cuts are made up of two or extra songs, like mashups that shouldn’t work in idea however nonetheless do — “THank god 4 me,” “Love Birds,” “Film” and “First” all match this description. Most notably, the Freddie Gibbs-assisted “oHio” has three separate elements that fuse into each other in tandem, transitioning from ’70s porn theme to a quivering bassline to the closing credit of a noir movie.

In different instances, the distinction is even broader, but Q’s flexibility mixed along with his aptitude for making each phrase depend like Pusha T and regularly recharging his voice in a way harking back to Yasiin Bey makes every passage harmonious.

An orderly union of sunshine, overcast, rain and starry skies, Blue Lips switches from bouncy to sedated to lit to pensive with a consistency that prompts an involuntary submission to its charmingly erratic rhythm. The uncommon situations whereby the manufacturing stagnates are compensated for by lyrical matter and vocal advantage, with cameos coming from Lance Skiiiwalker, Jozzy, Devin Malik and Infantile Main; and vice versa.

Whereas a whole lot of listeners may be tempted to ask themselves if ScHoolboy Q’s newest providing was well worth the wait, his outstanding progress additionally means that years of expertise is probably what births the richest music, particularly in a word-heavy style like rap.

RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2024

RECORD LABEL: Prime Dawg Leisure/Interscope

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