Who Is Schoolboy Q?

The rising West Coast rapper talks about gang-banging, collaborating with Kendrick Lamar and A$AP Rocky, and how hip-hop helps him release stress.

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Image via Complex Original
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Intro

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Growing Up

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Growing Up In L.A. & Playing Football

Schoolboy Q: “I grew up in L.A. on 51st Street, a few minutes away from the Staples Center and the USC campus. My childhood was good. I got whatever I wanted. My grandma was really there for me. I wasn’t like one of them rappers who were super poor coming up, but I wasn’t rich either. My mom—she did what she could for me.

“I played football from when I was six years old until I was 21. I didn’t have to do gang-banging; I made that choice. I could’ve made the choice to keep playing sports but I just started to do both.


 

When I was in school, all the homies called me Schoolboy. I had a 3.3 in high school, before f*cking up my senior year gang-banging. My name’s Quincy, so I just stick to Schoolboy Q.


 

“I played receiver, corner, and tailback. But in college, I just played receiver and returner. Two years I made All City. I fucked up on my shit. I couldn’t go to a university. I could’ve went to a Division II school, but my shit wouldn’t have gone [through because of my case]. I fucked up by gang-banging.

“I went to West L.A. college, I went to Southwest college, LACC, and Glendale. I didn’t really get the school like that. I would go to practice and go home. I wasn’t really paying attention in class. I was just in there making sure I did enough work so I could still be eligible. I wasn’t really trying to pass the class. I was just trying to be eligible to play football.

“When I was in school, all the homies called me Schoolboy. I had a 3.3 in high school, before fucking up my senior year gang-banging. My name’s Quincy, so I just stick to Schoolboy Q.

“I wish I was rapping then because I didn’t go nowhere with football, so I wish I was rapping then. That’s why I could really be in the mind state. I don’t regret football, I just wish I was rapping then. It would just make me better now.”

Gang-banging

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Gang-banging

Schoolboy Q: “I was gang-banging at 12. I was a Hoover Crip. My homies were doing it and I wanted to do it. I can’t really explain that. I didn’t get into it [having beef] with another hood or anything like that. I was just following the leader.

“I wasn’t thinking about it like it was nothing. When I was 16, it got real for me, like, ‘Damn, I’m really gang-banging.’ It’s all good—it got me to where I am now. I probably wouldn’t be rapping these bars if I didn’t gang-bang. I got shit to talk to about. I got a lot of aggression in my music and it probably wouldn’t be there if I didn’t gang-bang. 16 to 21, I was like, ‘Yeah, this is what I do.’ I stopped gang-banging like four months before Setbacksdropped.


 

I didn’t make a whole lot of money selling crack or weed or any of that. I made a lot of money selling Oxycontin. I used to go out of town and get it. You just sit back, your homie tell you about this person, and that person spread the word. And then they come to you. 


 

“I was selling Oxycontin. I sold crack a little bit, but I didn’t make a whole lot of money selling crack or weed or any of that. I made a lot of money selling Oxycontin. I used to go out of town and get it. You just sit back, your homie tell you about this person, and that person spread the word. And then they come to you. You don’t need to get that hype.

“So I was selling all types of shit. Got beat up, beat shit up. When I was 21 I got arrested and went to jail. I got a felony charge and they gave me a strike too. I don’t be putting out what my charge was but it wasn’t a sexual thing.

“Gang-banging is not the same as it once was. That shit is all watered down now, gang-bang ain’t up to what all these niggas that be shooting all these videos make it look like. Because you go over there the next day [to where they shot the video] and ain’t nobody be partying.

“Don’t get me wrong, niggas is still gang-banging but its only a handful of people that are actually gang-banging. I think people are starting to get to the point where it’s really not cool. It’s cool to listen to the music and all that shit. But to be actually out there playing with your life? People got too much to gain and too much to lose. The Internet is probably saving lives.”

Rapping

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Rapping

Schoolboy Q: “I wrote my first verse when I was 16. I wasn’t really rapping, but you know everybody wrote a verse before. I wrote the verse but I wasn’t really fucking with it. By 21, I started to really get into it and gained a passion for it. You got to let your aggression out, so you got to get in the booth and let it out. I was really working on my craft, studying music, and I became Q.

“I did all of it, school and the streets. I was just lost; I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I was just trying to do something. Then I found music and it was just over after that. I made my first little bit of money doing music, after that I wanted to get used to doing it, and I kept rapping. Then it became something that I had to do.”

Influences

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Influences

Schoolboy Q: “My influences are Nas, 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Mobb Deep, Kurupt, 2Pac, Biggie, Kanye West, Beanie Sigel, Wu-Tang Clan. But Biggie, Nas and 50 Cent [are my biggest influences].

“I got [my rhyme style] from Jay-Z though. If you really listen to Jay-Z, he has a new sound every time he raps. It’s never the same. He might use a little swag, but it’s always like a different flow. So that’s all I try to do.


 

A few months ago, I was up in the studio with 50, Dr. Dre, and Kendrick Lamar. We was all in there chilling. 50 said he wants to work with me—he likes my music—we just got to make time in the lab.


 

“But at the same time, its just a feeling I can’t really explain. You got to be wiser to stay on the track, but there’s no rules. When you start rapping with rules, it’s when you start sounding boring. You may hear me fuck with my voice, you may hear me do a two-bar pause, you may hear me do an odd 33 bars instead of 30. Give you 14 bars instead of 16.

“I’m a real big fan of 50. A few months ago, I was up in the studio with 50, Dr. Dre, and Kendrick Lamar. We was all in there chilling. 50 said he wants to work with me—he likes my music—we just got to make time in the lab.

“We talked about the industry, what to do and what not to do, and he gave me some words. 50 told me to keep doing what I’m doing. Do what you want to do, but at the same time, you have to make them records. Don’t get caught up in the bullshit. Get your money and do you. That shit was real inspiring. Made me want to get into the lab the next day. [Laughs.]”

Top Dawg Entertainment

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Joining Top Dawg Entertainment

Schoolboy Q: “Me and my engineer Ali have been working together before we were in TDE. He knew about TDE before me. He said he was going to bring me through the studio. Around the end of 2006, I came through to the TDE studio, House of Pain—they call it that because if you coming in, you better have your shit right. Punch—one of the managers from TDE—was there, so were Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock, and Ab-Soul.

“I walked in and the beat was playing. Ali told them that I rap. Punch told me to jump on the beat. It was a record that Jay Rock and Ab-Soul were writing to, so then I wrote it. Punch liked it and he told me to come back through. I kept coming back, kept getting better, and eventually they signed me to TDE.

“I was in TDE officially in 2008. That’s when they started to announce TDE. But the actual paperwork, that came came in 2010.”

Black Hippy

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His group, Black Hippy

Schoolboy Q: “We formed that in like 2009 [with Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock and Ab-Soul]. When I was slacking on music and I was on selling Oxycontin, I decided to come up with the group. I figured if I wrote on one verse I would be straight. I figured that could work because I was too busy trying to make money. I figured I could just write a verse and they can handle everything else, so I figured let’s just come up with a group.

“I always was just running with the name Hippy and Kendrick put the Black in front of it and we came up with Black Hippy. We did it to just fuck around. We did the record and everybody went crazy for it and then we just had to stick with it.”

Setbacks

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His previous independent album, Setbacks

Schoolboy Q: “The concept behind Setbacks was [to talk about] all the shit that’s the reason why I can’t rap. The reason I can’t accomplish what I want to accomplish is because I’m doing all this dumb shit. I put it all together on the album. Like, ‘Druggys With Hoes,’ I’m out here drugging and I’m not even trying to fuck with hoes. ‘Kamikaze,’ I’m not even trying to rap—keep going broke. Different shit like that, I sum it up all in one album.

“My life did a whole 180 after that dropped. A lot of people still didn’t know the name though, but a lot of people did. It was weird. It just took me to the right spot. I made some fucking money off the project, it helped me see that I needed to do more positive shit in life, and it made me into the person I am now. All I do now is just chill. I’d rather just chill, work on my music, be with my two-year-old daughter, and smoke weed and shit.”

A$AP Rocky

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A$AP Rocky

Schoolboy Q: “I meet A$AP Rocky through my manager. My manager showed me the ‘Purple Swag’ video. He told me that he wanted to work with me. I was like, ‘That’s tight. I’m with it. I’ll work with him.’ When I was in New York, I was in the studio. A$AP was trying to come through and work. I was like, ‘Hell yeah, tell him to come through.’

“I was just saying come through, I didn’t think he would come through. I tell rappers all the time to come through; they never show up. But he actually came through. He came in, we introduced ourselves, turned the beat on, and got to work. We finished the record and then we started being cool. We didn’t really get cool until after we did the song.

“We’re just like each other. He’s the East Coast version of me and I’m the West Coast version of him. We basically do the same shit, we do the same lifestyle. We don’t give a fuck.”

Tyga

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Tyga

Schoolboy Q: “I used to know him back in the day. I met him in ‘05. I met him the same way I met TDE, through a homie. I had to do what I had to do and move on. It didn’t fit what I was doing. The music don’t match so I decided to keep it moving. There was no beef or nothing. I just decided to keep it moving to better myself.

“There are no hard feelings. It don’t even matter. He winning and I’m winning. It proves that I was right. I haven’t talked to him in a minute. You get caught up in the music, lose track of time, and before you know it, it’s over.”

Detox

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His comments on Dr. Dre’s Detox

Schoolboy Q: “[When I said, ‘Word to Dre, Detox is a mix away’ on ‘There He Go,’] I was talking to Dre at the time and he was talking about going in to mix with somebody. I don’t know what happened. But Dre told me to keep going and be hungry.

"He told me that he hasn’t left the studio in 23 years or something like that. He talked about different types of rappers—I’m not going to say no names—but certain rappers aren’t hungry. You gotta be hungry. As long as you hungry, you are going to always win. You hungry and you are determined to make it, and then you are going to do it.”

Habits & Contradictions

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His latest project, Habits & Contradictions

Schoolboy Q: “It’s the prequel to Setbacks. The reason why I had setbacks is because of my bad habits and how I kept contradicting myself. So I figured just like Setbacks, I put it all in the same album. People see the vision in that. There’s a lot of fun records on there, but they all mean something.

“My bad habits are smoking weed, hanging out too late, being lazy, hustling, gang-banging and shooting shit. Normal nigga shit. All that gangster shit, that’s all bad habits. I contradicted myself when I went to jail and I said I wasn’t doing this type of shit no more, as soon as I got out, I came in and did it. Praying up to God, praying for forgiveness, I promise I won’t do this no more and then getting druggy with hoes again. ‘Druggy with Hoes,’ that’s a real bad habit. [Laughs.]


 

I never took pills before in my life. I like to say it in music, but I only did ecstasy five times. I’m not really into that sh*t like that, but I mean it’s cool to talk about it in music. [Laughs.]


 

“But I never took pills before in my life. I like to say it in music, but I only did ecstasy five times. I’m not really into that shit like that, but I mean it’s cool to talk about it in music. [Laughs.]

“I was a sacrilegious person. I was praying to God, asking him for forgiveness. I come around and I do something else. I was the worst type of dude when it comes to that. I’d go to church but not really go to church. Read the Bible, act like I’m really trying to learn the words, and then go do some dumb shit.

“Every time something wrong, I sit there and pray like I didn’t know what I was doing. I think there was some of the weakest, dumbest shit ever. You know what you doing. We grown men out here. You know what you doing. Sometime you just gotta have that straight. I know it’s hard, but you gotta fight for a lot of shit.”

The Alchemist

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The Alchemist

Schoolboy Q: “Me and The Alchemist talked about working on a mixtape. We haven’t said that it was coming out. After this project, I have to bring my album. I can’t really bring out a mixtape right now. I have to keep going and drop this album.

"But Alchemist is definitely going to be on the album for sure. I cut four records with him. Me and him doing a project together are definitely in the talks, but I have to get everything else situated with him. That’s something in the future.”

Future

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The Future

Schoolboy Q: “I’m working on my album right now. We got people talking, but we ain’t really talking about [the label situation] right now. I’m on some other shit. I’m just going to be there for my team. Whatever happens, happens. We are talking to some people, a few people.

“My next move is my album and letting people know who I am. There’s a lot of shit that I ain’t said in the interview that I want to put on my record. I gotta give ’em the full Q now, it’s my debut. They got a piece of me, so now they need to see what’s going on with Q.

“We have some talks in the tours coming. We are getting some things settled, but I have to see what’s going on. I don’t know for sure. I’m more into the music part; TDE gets the shows, and makes it happen. I trust my people to make it happen for me. I ain’t struggling, I ain’t hurting, so they doing something right.”

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