ScHoolboy Q's 25 Favorite Albums
ScHoolboy Q breaks down his favorite albums from Suga Free, Ghostface Killah, Jay Z, and more.
Image via Complex Original
It's been a long time coming, but Oxymoron, ScHoolboy Q's new album, is nearly here. In less than a week, we'll finally have an album to flesh out brilliant early releases like "Man of the Year" and "Collard Greens." TDE's time is now.
With all the delays, it's only natural to wonder where this new record is coming from. What's shaped its sound? Who was Q listening to while he put it together?
Complex sat down with TDE's free spirit to talk about the albums that have meant the most to him. These are ScHoolboy Q's 25 favorite albums.
As told to Insanul Ahmed (@Incilin)
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Dr. Dre, The Chronic (1992)
ScHoolboy Q: "I heard it when I was younger. That's what anybody was playing. Any car you get into, you'd hear it. But as I got older I started really understanding what he was saying. He was saying some wild shit. Calling bitches bitches. Fucking noises all in the background. That shit went platinum, that's crazy. That's the kind of music that should be appreciated more. Somebody do that, people are like, 'This dude's an idiot.' or 'This song where the girl's getting fucked, that's wack!' Niggas don't appreciate that type of shit no more, so that's why I'm so unhappy, why I made Oxymoron a little different, to get that whole feel back."
Snoop Dogg, Doggystyle (1993)
ScHoolboy Q: "I don't know why he called this album that but mothafucka was hard. He was so bold. That nigga knew he was so tight. He didn't even rap on the intro, that nigga didn't even give a fuck. 'Gin and Juice' still goes hard."
Wu-Tang Clan, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)
ScHoolboy Q: "It didn't sound like anything else. That shit sounded barely mixed, it sounded like they didn't have a soundboard or nothing. But that shit was dope. It sounds like a mixtape, like quick and outta here. [TDE,] we do our own thing, we're not thinking of nobody. We like that shit but we got our own shit."
Nas, Illmatic (1994)
ScHoolboy Q: "My cousin used to play it. He was putting out a lot of East Coast shit; Mobb Deep, Nas, Biggie, Wu-Tang and I was always around it. So I just grew to like it. Plus it was different. Everyone was listening to 2Pac and Snoop, I was listening to Mobb Deep and Nas, thinking I was different because I was from L.A. But I ended up really liking it."
Raekwon, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (1995)
ScHoolboy Q: "'Ice Cream' was my favorite song. 'Bitches want their titties sucked, ice cream!' The skits on there was classic too."
Jay-Z, Reasonable Doubt (1996)
ScHoolboy Q: "That's probably the best rap album ever, in history. That nigga was flawless. The singles were some of the hardest shit. 'Can't Knock Hustle' was so hard. How your singles so hard? I mean...I don't get it."
Nas, It Was Written (1996)
ScHoolboy Q: "To me, it's better than Illmatic. Illmatic was tight, but it feels like a mixtape, it doesn't sound like a full album. It's hard, don't get me wrong, especially at the time it came out. I didn't say it's not tight. But It Was Written has more of an album feel and way more variety."
2Pac, All Eyez On Me (1996)
ScHoolboy Q: "The hardest shit ever. 'Can't C Me?' He was too hard on that. He was the king of rap [at the time], period. You barely heard Biggie. I mean, you heard him, but 'Pac was dissing him on the radio."
The Notorious B.I.G., Life After Death (1997)
ScHoolboy Q: "From 'I Got A Story To Tell' to 'Niggas Bleed' the storytelling on there was stupid."
Suga Free, Street Gospel (1997)
ScHoolboy Q: "Nigga sptting that pimp shit. I grew up on Figg Street, there was a lot of pimping girls going on there. Prostitutes would be walking up and down streets. I come from around pimps, that's why you see me with my long nails and shit. I be thinking about pimps. I was bumping Suga Free out in the City Club. That nigga was too hard."
Kurupt, Tha Streetz Iz a Mutha (1999)
ScHoolboy Q: "Crazy from the intro to the ending. He was going hard and getting at DMX and Ja Rule [on 'Calling Out Names']. East Coast niggas be hating that shit. He was spitting that shit, he dissed the whole East Coast. He got mad some niggas. I'd be mad too."
Snoop Dogg, No Limit Top Dogg (1999)
ScHoolboy Q: "I still listen to that shit. That shit is gangsta."
Dr. Dre, 2001 (1999)
ScHoolboy Q: "That was crazy though. He had some shit on there. I could play 2001 all the way through, I can't really listen to Chronic all the way through."
Nas, I Am... (1999)
ScHoolboy Q: "I Am..., that shit is crazy too. There's a lot of detail in that album. [People criticize it] but I like it a lot. I like N.Y. State of Mind Pt. II", "Dr. Knockboot", "I Want To Talk To You."
Eminem, Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
ScHoolboy Q: "Eminem's best album. That's what it is right there, he's one of the best rappers. I liked the depth. He was more developed from the first album, just spazzing on the songwriting. His songwriting was crazy."
Ghostface Killah, Supreme Clientele (2000)
ScHoolboy Q: "Ghostface killed it. It's one of my favorite albums from a Wu-Tang member. He was spazzing on there. 'God damn right, I fuck fans,' that nigga too hard for that. That line set the whole album off. Wu-Tang never gave a fuck. Nigga was saying his shit, he didn't give a fuck and you believed it. You'd be like, 'Nigga I understand what you saying.' Sometimes you'd be lost, but you'd be like, 'Yeah, I feel that.' or 'I fuck with that.'"
Nas, Stillmatic (2001)
ScHoolboy Q: "That was like his comeback album, kinda like him saying, 'I'm still here.' I like 'Ether' more than 'Takeover,' but I think Jay-Z won. Jay kept going at Nas and Nas just stopped. Jay-Z kept going with little jabs, so he said the most shit. Everything Jay do is tight, so none of it was a bad song. So I'd say Jay won, but I do like 'Ether' better."
50 Cent, Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2003)
ScHoolboy Q: "50 came through. East Coast nigga selling West Coast niggas beats, talking East Coast shit. My nigga ran L.A. for a minute. All you'd hear was, '50 Cent, 50 Cent, 50 Cent.' The album sounds a lot like L.A. to me because of the beat selection."
N.E.R.D., Seeing Sounds (2008)
ScHoolboy Q: "That shit is tight. It's real hard. The one that Kanye was on, 'Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom) [Remix],' that was hard."
Jay Rock, Follow Me Home (2011)
ScHoolboy Q: "That shit was hard. My nigga Jay Rock was on his independent grind. It was just indie. That was like the first bang [for TDE]. A lot of people heard it, liked it, we got paid off of it, it did well. Next time he'll come back, drop another album, and be killing the game."
ScHoolboy Q, Setbacks (2011)
ScHoolboy Q: "It was just basically me putting all my shit out there about why I'm not able to be a rapper, not going to the studio, wanting to quit. Like, these are the reasons why. That was how I came up with the album. That album was me testing the waters with the first thing I sold. And it did well, so that was a real confidence booster. It was the record that put me in the game. I didn't understand [how it did well]. I was like, 'How?' I had only like 5,000 followers at the time [on Twitter]."
ScHoolboy Q, Habits & Contradictions (2012)
ScHoolboy Q: "I grew to be a better rapper. I came up with Habits and Contradictions. It's about my life, keeping it real, it's everybody's story. We all got bad habits, we all contradict ourselves some type of way. All of us. Nobody's perfect. We all do shit we say we wouldn't do sometimes. So that album is everyone's story, kind of. This is the reason why we have bad habits, this is the contradiction."
Kendrick Lamar, good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012)
ScHoolboy Q: "Classic album. It's 2014 and niggas act like that came out a couple months ago. Good music gone always live."
Ab-Soul, Control System (2012)
ScHoolboy Q: "Ab-Soul killed it. That's one of his best works. He's on some shit. I like 'Track Two,' 'Terrorist Threats,' and 'Pineal Gland.'"
ScHoolboy Q, Oxymoron (2014)
ScHoolboy Q: "Oxymoron is way different from my previous projects. It's crazy. If you've heard Break The Bank, it's kinda similar to that. It's an album that needed to be put out, to be heard, so I took my time with it, got all the right rappers. I didn't go get a million features on my shit, just a few, and made this shit happen. This shit was hard. I'd call it a classic. I know what I like, and I know that shit is hard as fuck. That's my life and it ain't got no history. A little Crip history, a little everything in there. It's just an album that needed to be heard."