Rapper ScHoolboy Q revives the spirit of gangsta rap with a touch of psychedelic rock on his new project “BLUE LIPS.”
Q has cemented himself in the rap game with influential albums like “Blank Face LP” in 2016, but with the release of “Crash Talk” in 2019, critics and fans feared the fall of Q was upon us.
“Blue Lips” proves audiences wrong. With a run time of 56 minutes over 18 tracks, Q hosts exciting features ranging from Top Dawg Entertainment’s Ab-Soul to the eccentric Rico Nasty.
In contrast to past projects, Q does a fantastic job executing various concepts to illustrate a rugged past. While “Blank Face LP” relied on bars and heavy-hitting boom-bap beats to draw in listeners, this project feels tremendously more personal to the rapper.
On various tracks, including “Cooties” and “Lost Times,” Q gets personal about perennial problems in his love life while expressing a struggle to come to terms with the person he was before achieving fame.
Q’s masterclass in lyricism does a stellar job at communicating the emotional chaos that agonizes him.
However, his eagerness to speak on so many different topics results in a convoluted narrative throughout that doesn’t land on a single theme. Without a consistent message, listeners cannot enjoy the album the way Q wanted.
But if they can’t appreciate the narrative, they’ll surely stick around for the sound.
Sonically, this album is impeccable. I found myself revisiting banger tracks like “Pop” after just the first listen. Immediately, an addicting bassline welcomes an invigorating prologue. Seconds later, the beat switches to a chaotic electric guitar riff followed by the intense Rico Nasty verse to solidify the track as a banger.
The following track “THank god 4 me” continues the momentum with various beat switches that go so hard it can only be praised with head bops and stank faces. Songs like “Pig Feet” foreshadow the rest of the tracklist that provides listeners with an experience characterized by earth shaking 808’s and cutthroat delivery from Q.
“BLUE LIPS” was an artistic gamble for Q, considering his history with classic gangsta rap. Including unprecedented genre bending tracks and features could’ve backfired. Instead, it proved to everybody that Q’s still got it.
