Schoolboy Q: Oxymoron (2LP) [TOP DAWG/INTERSCOPE]

Why you'll love it

This EU-pressed 2LP set comes in a gatefold jacket. Oxymoron debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 139,000 copies in its first week and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Gatefold jacket
• Pressed in the EU

About the album

The title isn't hard to decode. Schoolboy Q set out to make a record about Crip history from 1969 onward and about taking care of his young daughter, two subjects that don't usually share a sleeve. Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d city had just landed, and Q said his Black Hippy bandmate left him no choice but to make a classic of his own.

The production is a who's who: Boi-1da, The Alchemist, Mike Will Made It, Clams Casino, Pharrell, Nez & Rio and DJ Dahi, alongside Top Dawg's own Digi+Phonics and THC. Kendrick drops by on the woozy "Collard Greens," 2 Chainz joins "What They Want," and Tyler, the Creator, ASAP Rocky, Jay Rock and Kurupt all turn up along the way. "Man Of The Year" is a celebratory banger, and the smooth "Studio" became his highest-charting song as a lead artist.

Q took it on the road with Isaiah Rashad and Vince Staples, and it charted high here in Canada too, as well as in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand. For a record named after a contradiction, it makes a remarkably consistent case for itself.

Also at Kops: more Schoolboy Q on vinyl · browse Hip Hop / R&B

Tracklist

Listen

On Top Dawg / Interscope, the 2014 album.