Schoolboy Q: "I Don't Wanna Relate To Kids At 37 Years Old"

[J-MIL]

Blue lips is his current life ? Also a 37 year old actively promoting gang life and violence even in his tweets .

He's a gang member what you expect

 

[qwasi]

But he’ll make sure he capitalizes every H he types

So mature and grown bro

Its called branding ( with a pinch of autism ). Hence the reason you can say he capitalizes his H. Nevertheless, he sees music as an evolving expression of ideas and lived experiences. There is time, effort that goes into that craft which he hopes speaks beyond the superficial. There's a reason Taylor Swift, Arianna, One Direction Trap Rappers etc are seen as bland. Its churning music accesisble to the largest possible demogragphic with zero substance. Artists dedicated to their craft grow and create material to reflect this and it goes beyond sonic diffrences. If the subject of Album 1 and 7 are the same, your shyt is stale and tired. Which Q is right to feel.

 

[Soymuscle Mike]

He's right.

He spoke about this recently in an interview too, saying too many rappers who are damn near 40, are trying to sound like 19-24 year old rappers. And it's true. Too many old dudes are trying to act like kids, when they should be leading and being way more innovative.

I was at the barbershop a couple weeks back, and they had Spotify on shuffle and a Benny the Butcher track came on, and dude was flowing like Ice Spice and the whole shop was cracking up. If you're older, act your age. Ageism isn't just older rappers being judged for being older. It's also older rappers trying to act like the younger ones and looking and sounding stupid as f*ck. Be yourself!

These dudes don't listen to music, they skim through it.

Q's music has been more about the pitfalls of gang life than anything since forever, but especially since BLANKFACE (still my favorite TDE project).

CRASHTALK was his attempt to sway out of the gangsta shyt and he got criticised for it. He made that because Blank Face fed into his depressed state and he needed an OUT.

 

[Awesome Wells]

These dudes don't listen to music, they skim through it.

Q's music has been more about the pitfalls of gang life than anything since forever, but especially since BLANKFACE (still my favorite TDE project).

CRASHTALK was his attempt to sway out of the gangsta shyt and he got criticised for it. He made that because Blank Face fed into his depressed state and he needed an OUT.

Truth.

There's really no way you listen to Q's sh*t and think he's glorifying anything.

Dude's whole sh*t is about how street life f*cks you up mentally and how he's trying to work through that. His focus the past few projects has been about growth as a person and getting away from the dumb sh*t. Even in his interviews when he was promoting the album, all he's talking about is how he wants to see rappers be more mature and using their influence to build back the neighborhoods and owning buildings to help the kids have a better shot in the future.

I've been a fan of Q's since Setbacks, day one. That was like 13 years ago. He's a completely different artist now. Clearly has learned a lot since back then too.

 

[Yaboysix]

My favorite Rappers the same age as Me

 

[FlimFlam]

He's right.

He spoke about this recently in an interview too, saying too many rappers who are damn near 40, are trying to sound like 19-24 year old rappers. And it's true. Too many old dudes are trying to act like kids, when they should be leading and being way more innovative.

I was at the barbershop a couple weeks back, and they had Spotify on shuffle and a Benny the Butcher track came on, and dude was flowing like Ice Spice and the whole shop was cracking up. If you're older, act your age. Ageism isn't just older rappers being judged for being older. It's also older rappers trying to act like the younger ones and looking and sounding stupid as f*ck. Be yourself!

While this statement is true, we got to ask: will White capital fund middle age/adult themed rap? Will white audiences (the target audience for any commercial product) consume that? Hell, lets apply same these themes beyond entertainment

Let 3 rappers blow up rapping about landscaping, what you think the next wave of aspiring rappers subject manner gonna sound like?

People are molding themselves around the incentive structure. Establish the parameters of success, and the people gon fall in line. That's in any arena

 

[Da_Eggman]

What does he rap about?

Selling drugs and gang shyt he’s a real class act

 

[AMcV'88]

he found that out when Crash Talk was a dud

he clocked his fans grew and moved accordingly and he dropped one of the best albums this year

 

[Danie84]

Rappers embracing maturity

 

[Pistolvania Prince]

Deadass I bump Blankface like that shyt just dropped. “John Muir” probably my favorite TDE song of the 2010s

These dudes don't listen to music, they skim through it.

Q's music has been more about the pitfalls of gang life than anything since forever, but especially since BLANKFACE (still my favorite TDE project).

CRASHTALK was his attempt to sway out of the gangsta shyt and he got criticised for it. He made that because Blank Face fed into his depressed state and he needed an OUT

 

[dontreadthis]

It is actually.

Bro's on the album talking about not living in the hood anymore, spending more time at home, and taking his daughters to soccer and sh*t like that. He talks about how mass shootings need to stop and how he keeps his kids at home because of what he saw when he was a kid. The album is about wanting to get away from street sh*t and focusing on mental health and dealing with the trauma of losing people to prison and death. Whole sh*t is easily his most introspective.

well put. I’m like did dude even listen to the album?

 

[Piff Perkins]

While I think he's right it's still kind of jarring to watch Q seem to struggle with the idea of getting younger fans to fukk with him on some level. You don't need to rap about pills and guns to do that....kids just want bangers. I really like Blue Lips, it's in my top 5 so far this year. But I kinda wonder how sustainable it is to basically say you don't care about sales, you won't do a real single, you won't tour because you'd rather chill in your mansion with your family, etc while on a major label. I think part of the reason he was pissed about the Toronto show being cancelled is because he curated this super small mini tour with a handful of dates because he doesn't want to do a full tour. But in all his interviews talking about how this is his job and he's dedicated to it. Sometimes you gotta tour for real, bro. Sometimes you need a real single.

He's rich as fukk off the first two albums and has an in-house studio so maybe he's just content to make the shyt he wants, take 4-5 years each time and then quietly drop the album. But to me I feel like we kinda missed part of his prime during those long ass album waits and won't get the fun Q again.

 

[Sonic Boom of the South]

But he’ll make sure he capitalizes every H he types

So mature and grown bro

Look at you of all people saying this!

 

[Pegasus Jackson]

anybody fw his Blue Lips album? just copped it off soulseek

Soulseek? You're definitely his target audience.

 

[Tribal Outkast]

We will never get everybody on the same page with growing older in hiphop. It’ll be interesting to see how the younger guys now will feel in like 10 years.. that music they’re making now ain’t gonna hit at 40.