ScHoolboy Q Talks Black Hippy, Nas & Dr. Dre Approval, & “CrasH Talk”

With CrasH Talk set to drop tomorrow, ScHoolboy Q made sure to hit up The Breakfast Club for an entertaining conversation. “I just want it to sound completely different from my last project,” explains Q, citing Kendrick’s Good Kid-DAMN run as an example of the process. “My voice, my pattern, my beats, my features.” When Charlamagne asks if drugs to help him with the style switches, Q shuts it down. “Come on man, I don’t do drugs no more,” laughs ScHoolboy. “Your first year of trying to record the album, you in the same pocket. It takes a year just to get out of that pocket. At least for me.” 

He proceeds to reflect on the process of writing the album, which ultimately led to several variations hitting the cutting room floor. “I was writing this album for so long man. I had it super introspective. I had it all bangers. Then I just kept switching it up.” When Charlamagne asks what the ecosystem gains from CrasH Talk, Q is quick to shrug it off. “I really don’t care what the ecosystem wants, I’m here to make music. This is what I do,” he says. He also makes sure to clarify the narrative that Top Dawg is an album hoarder, who reigns tyrannically over their release dates. “We take a long time,” says Q. “It happens to be like that.” 

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“I don’t do nothing without my three homies listening to it,” says Q, referring to Jay Rock, Kendrick, and Ab-Soul. “Kendrick does all my albums, he has credits on all my shit…He always been a nerd with me. I used to be his hypeman, so it feels like he’s obligated to always help me or some shit.”  

He also opens up about receiving some lofty praise from Nas on the upcoming “Attention,” who told Q he was the best. “Maybe because he’s my favorite rapper and he had to spit something back and he probably spit some cap at me. He probably gassed me up, I don’t know.” Speaking of legends, Q explains that Dr. Dre is “the reason he got [his] deal in the first place.” “They was playing my music for him, and he was like ‘yo, I like him,'” reveals Q. “He was already with Kendrick. They signed me off that.” 

For more from the ever-entertaining ScHoolboy Q, be sure to check out the full interview below. You excited for CrasH Talk?