Habits & Contradictions

Habits & Contradictions is a compellingly free album, if freedom is the assurance and the power to subject each person to one’s own whims, will, and wishes. And to just absolutely know he’ll get what he wants.

He's probably not going to be a break-out star, but it's hard to imagine that there will be many more original or satisfying rap long-players this year.

After listening and re-listening to Habits & Contradictions, it’s still difficult to put your finger on what exactly it is about ScHoolboy Q that is so fascinating.

Saying the guy’s put out an album that’s in many ways Section.80‘s sinister equal wouldn’t be much of a stretch—some might even consider it slightly better, or at least more assured.

Habits & Contradictions, the album, lives up to its title, which could throw some, but the complicated rapper always seems to convert more than he scares away, and you can blame his keen, exciting, risk-taking, vintage-styled, and deep set of skills for that.

ScHoolboy Q definitively shines through as a formidable rapper with immense future potential.

Ultimately, lyrical dexterity and a versatile delivery prove to be ScHoolboy’s biggest assets. He’s got an arsenal of different flows, sounding at home no matter the sonic direction of the record.

It’s simultaneously rigidly themed and formless, swinging wildly between deep introspection and dead-eyed delinquency, with long stretches of austerity broken up by outbursts of druggy whimsy.

It’s a damn good, refreshingly hard album that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Habits & Contradictions easily switches between these two extremes, the album succeeding most when these contradictions are presented effortlessly and naturally, a reminder of what hip-hop is capable of expressing better than just about any other genre.

Many of its strongest tracks are those that see Q take his foot off the gas, playing to more traditional communicative strengths in hip-hop.

The ‘Boy is his own man.

I’d like to know Q’s story, but it’s easier to find it on Wikipedia, and that’s a problem.

On his sophomore album, Schoolboy Q chases after a number of different sounds and personalities. For me, it's kinda hit-or-miss, but there are still tracks on here that make it worthwhile to visit this album at least once.