ScHoolboy Q jumped in the hot seat at CRWN, Myspace and Elliott Wilson's rapper interview series, for an in-depth interview on "Oxymoron," the artist's just-released studio LP.
"My name, ScHoolboy, comes from me having good grades, but it also comes from a dude who was in my neighborhood named Schoolboy, who was a pimp," Q explained. "When I was younger, he had all the Kangol hats and used to walk around in a robe."
Over the course of the conversation, the Top Dawg Entertainment artist shared stories of growing up in Los Angeles and relayed his disappointment with the current state of rap media. "Most of my albums are dark, pretty much," he said. "But this one, I wanted to keep it really raw. People hear aggressive rappers and they think 'no substance.' I don't get that. How can me talking about somebody getting killed or me running from somebody trying to kill me be no substance? You clearly live behind a computer.
"The new rapper now is super nice, you know what I mean?" Q continued. "Nobody wants to say anything about anybody. N----s are giving interviews like they're in the NBA now... There's a whole WWE thing about this rap sh-t now."
Born Quincy Hanley, ScHoolboy capitalizes the "H" to represent the Hoover St. neighborhood he's from in Los Angeles. "I'm the All-American," Q said, echoing an earlier interview with NPR. "I done had a job, I've been an athlete, I done went to jail, I've been a father, I've been a bad father, an addict, a dope dealer -- everything."
"Oxymoron" represents "the bad and the good," Q explained. "It's the mid-range of my career and my lifestyle in my past life. It's when my daughter was 1 1/2 or 2 years old."
While admitting that his "current life" is "boring," Q took attendees into his creative process: "I'm not one of them rappers that can go to the studio and can knock out six, seven songs. All my songs are real life, true. I don't know how to rap about make-believe sh-t."
When asked how he keeps in touch with his fan base, ScHoolboy pointed to "social media."
"People know my daughter's name, I just put it all out there," he said.
The Pharrell Williams-produced "Los Awesome" is among the LP's most well-received tracks. Q says he had a particular audience in mind: "When I made this record, I just wanted to talk to gang members. This was one of the ones that I didn't care if anyone got what I was saying or if they didn't like it. I made it strictly for gang members... That's why I put Jay Rock on it, we're the gang members of the group."
Q jokingly panned "Collard Greens," a sleeper hit featuring TDE's biggest name, Kendrick Lamar. "I'm just f--king around, it was a big song, don't get me wrong. It's a big song, but there's a difference between a hit record and a big song."
One of the evening's highlights was when Q explained why he doesn't do club appearances:
"I don't like going to clubs and being around all those people, being thirsty. Clubs are really just a thirsty scene. N----s are walking around with bottles and sh-t, like what the f--k? You about to drink all that? Damn. Why are the bottles like $1000? Bro, I know I make a lot of money but I'm not giving you $1000 for a bottle. It's not going to happen. I'm not buying no table, none of that. I just don't like the environment, it's not my get down. I'm chill -- I smoke weed. It's too much moving [in clubs]. People spilling sh-t on you. Like I just hit some weed, why n----s drunk? Why are they always drunk? Why can't they just go to that high?"
"So that's how you can be a rapper friend to ScHoolboy Q," Wilson offered. "Yeah," Q countered. "Don't party."
Wilson also asked the artist how he got a feature from 2 Chainz, who appears on "What They Want." "Because I make good music and I sent it to him," Q deadpanned. "If you make dope sh-t, it's going to work regardless."
For more, including why Q hates the media and how he hooked up with Tyler, the Creator, Kurupt, Raekwon and other artists, watch the exclusive video above.