ScHoolboy Q talks Nipsey Hussle and reveals his biggest career regret
Fresh off the release of his sixth studio album, Blue Lips, platinum-selling rapper ScHoolboy Q sat down with N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN for an episode of “Drink Champs.”
Q’s journey in the rap game started back in the early 2000s. The South Los Angeles-bred talent pursued the path with his engineer, Derek Ali, in hopes that they would find a deal that afforded them a chance to create music at a high level. After reaching out on MySpace, Ali was able to set up a meeting with Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith and Terrence “Punch” Henderson of Top Dawg Entertainment. After they heard Q rhyme, the rest was history.
Over the years, ScHoolboy Q released several coveted projects that established him as an avatar of style with acute lyricism. Oxymoron, Blank Face LP, and CrasH Talk are among the standout efforts that garnered much critical acclaim among fans on a commercial level. Despite that momentous run in the late 2010s, he took a five-year break from making music, only to return with a new album at the top of March.
In this interview, he reflected on his career, experience of being on one of the most talented rap labels of all time, teased some forthcoming releases and much more. Below are nine takeaways from the conversation. Plus, watch the full episode here.
ScHoolboy Q opened up about his relationship with the late Mac Miller and traced the origin point of their connection. “We met on tour, and we just bonded off the rip as just humans, just people. I thought he was a funny a** white boy; he thought I was a funny a** Black dude. We just kicked it.” When the two met, Q noted, “He was transitioning his music from, like, white-sounding, poppy and he was going more toward rap. He had so much soul, but he just came in the game the way he came in.” He then took a second to stamp their bond: “I was just happy to be his homie…That was my dawg. Sad situation, but he’s living forever.”
Over the years, TDE has gotten flak from fans who think the roster releases its albums at a slow rate. On the topic of rushing a creative process, ScHoolboy affirmed that notion and took the heat off of his label head in the process. “I mean yeah, we got a problem. And they always blame it on Top. And I’mma be honest -- it’s not [Top’s] fault,” he said. “Sometimes he may say, ‘Yeah you need another record.’ But saying like, ‘Oh you can’t drop this year at all, like don’t even think about it’ is insane. And me being in my 30s and allowing that would be way more crazy. Everything about it is out of pocket.”
When asked why he never did a record with Nipsey Hussle, Q answered, “It was presented before. I think my timing was a lil off, and we didn’t do the record. And that is my biggest regret of my rap career -- is not having a song with Nipsey. And he reached out too, through Karen Civil.” Groovy Q continued, “He got a song with Mozzy; it’s called ‘Ain’t Hard Enough.’ He sent it to me. I wish I was on that joint ‘cause I love that song too.” Though they never laid anything down on wax, ScHoolboy did say they were always cool and used to talk from time to time.
N.O.R.E. asked Q if he believes that Los Angeles is one of the most dangerous places to be for rappers and the TDE lyricist agreed. “Yeah because everybody be checking in. That’s y’all’s favorite thing to do -- check in with somebody that’s gon’ rob yo’ stupid a**,” he responded. “Muthaf**kas be having the nerve to call me sometimes. Like, what are you talking about, bro? I’m playing video games... My daughter got a soccer game tomorrow... Grow the f**k up.” Doubling down on his sentiments, he concluded, “I get it -- stay connected and all this s**t. But sometimes you don’t need to be connected. You not from over here, bro. I’m not going to Brooklyn to see what’s going on in the most dangerous parts of Brooklyn.”
Black Hippy -- a rap group that consisted of Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul and ScHoolboy Q -- had Fantastic Four-level performances through loosies but never dropped an official album as a unit. On the possibility of a full-length project by the quartet, Q responded, “That ship sailed. It was never going to happen anyway.” A little later in the conversation, he also revealed how the group came together in the first place. Years ago, the artist heard through the grapevine that TDE was upset at his work ethic. So, he found a solution that would change the narrative. “And that’s when I came up with the Black Hippy s**t. Like alright, well s**t, I’mma make a group. Then I can go bust a move and I can just do a verse,” he said. “On one mic, we was just waiting in line every day. Soon as it free up, you just gotta get your s**t off. And then I just started cracking, cracking. And next thing you know, I’m on ‘Drink Champs.’ Never stopped cracking.”
ScHoolboy Q gave Kendrick Lamar plenty of flowers throughout the conversation. Notably, he spoke about his early belief in the DAMN creator and discussed what he learned from the budding talent on their come-up. “It’s hilarious the way it panned out. I just saw it. We used to always call him the golden boy or the chosen one,” Q began. “His work ethic, everything. He taught me work ethic. He taught me all that s**t. That’s why, to this day, nobody outworks me. Nobody. I don’t know nobody that can outwork me. I’m always creating something.”
It was only right that ScHoolboy Q broke down some of his biggest records to date, beginning with “Collard Greens.” “I did that and ‘Man of the Year’ in the same night,” he said. “I finished Oxymoron. Top and them hit me like, ‘Bruh, we need a single… This could be a big moment.’ And I’m like pissed, mainly [just] because somebody’s telling me what to do.”
When “THat Part” came up, he explained that Cardo helped float it to Kanye West and how a run-in at the Staples Center locked the feature in. “I ran into him [at] Kobe’s last game,” he remembered. “We slapped hands or whatever and he was just like, ‘Ah ,yeah, pleasure to meet you, bro. That record hard. I’mma do it tonight. I'mma send it to you tomorrow. And sure enough, the next day, I had the verse.”
Lastly, when the hosts brought up “Water” with Lil Baby, Q revealed, “Kendrick had the beat and he was like, ‘I can’t do nothing with this.’ He’s like, ‘You take this muthaf**ka.’” He went on, “Cardo already had the hook on it... and I just rapped on it. That s**t was easy, and [we] sent it to Lil Baby.”
At this point, everyone knows that ScHoolboy Q’s love for golf runs deep. With the sport in mind, he addressed the narratives that surround it and its growing popularity in Hip Hop. “I don’t like that narrative that we kind of push, like you have to be rich to play golf, because that’s not true. So that be my riff with Hip Hop and golf right now. Because now that it’s coming into this world, they’re making it seem like it’s some rich s**t.” Though he let it be known that his heart is still in music, the LA spitter also suggested that one day, he may bring his passion for the sport to the TV screen. “I actually wrote a golf show. But I never pitched it to nobody or tried to do anything with it... I just wrote it,” he revealed. “It doesn’t even have a name yet, but I’ve written, I would say, seven episodes.”
On the same note of visual storytelling, he also divulged some soon-to-come releases that will accompany his latest album, Blue Lips. “I do have more visuals. And I’m pretty much making it that -- a visual album. [A] book. I’m making it an art piece, a whole theme around it,” he explained. “I filmed myself the last four years recording it too, so it’s years of footage of me just making this album. So I have a lot to do.”
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