Rebecca HaithcoatThis week's music feature is on Schoolboy Q. Lounging on a couch in his manager's house in Carson, the rapper told us about transitioning from stuffing a baggie of crack in his cheek to selling out headlining shows across the city. Q, who often adopts a slightly unhinged, snarling rap persona, was relaxed and spoke openly about his spirituality, why he won't spend more than 15 minutes in his old hood and the one question he hates. Below are excerpts from our conversation that didn't make the story.
On why he hates some of his songs:
“I hate all the real true songs I have, like 'Birds & the Beez,' 'Blessed.' I haven't listened to 'Blessed' since I made it. All the real true, true, true songs, no lies in them? I make those 'cause I feel like I have to make them. It needs to be done. You have to do certain records so people won't categorize you as this [rapper who talks about nothing]. To make sure they don't say that, you gotta make 'em cry at least once on the album.”
On his jail time:
“I got sentenced to 180 days, but I finished it on house arrest. Jail house judges was like, 'Don't take it, it's a trap,' but I'm like, I'm with it. Get some pussy, smoke weed, eat, take a shower. I had my peoples make me a fake workers' [document], 'cause if you have a job you can leave the house. I said I worked at the studio. I had it made! I made my baby on house arrest. I told my girl we were gonna have a baby as soon as I got outta jail and to stop taking her birth control pills. Got out, we had Joy-Joy. One try.”
On spirituality:
“One of my homie's uncles was talking all this God stuff, and this nigga was a pimp, beat on his wife. I thought he was one of the worst dudes, ugh. I came up with 'Sacrilegious' because of him. I hate people that beat on they wife and shit like that. Trying to preach to us, about what we doing, and we come in and hear you beatin' on your wife? [But] I believe in God. I found myself. I'm happy with myself. My daughter and her mom showed me God. My mom and I just started getting back cool again. I went like two years without seeing her. We were beefin' and shit. She never noticed what was really goin' on. She didn't know I was gangbanging till I went to jail.”
On why first-time offenders' records should be clean:
“You can change your life in a month. I hate that they give you a record after you go to jail. You don't even give me a chance to start over. You gonna let everybody know I fucked up before. After your first time getting out of jail your record should be clean. After the second time, you can't be mad at 'em giving you something on your record. But the first time? Hey, some people make mistakes! Some people was down on they last; they had to go in and do what they had to do to make they daughter or they son feel better. Some people HAVE to do bad cause they're put in fucked-up situations.”
On why he stays away from his old hood:
“Why would I still be going to the set? Stupid. I won't be over there more than 15 minutes. Niggas be bragging about how much they be in the hood, but when you really really, really, really from your block, and really been over there doing shit? Your goal is to try to stay away from it, 'cause you know what goes on. I got a strike. I got a daughter that's 2 years old. Last thing I need is to be hanging with one of my homies, and be playing around, and police come by. We got gang injunction over there. My name is in the gang file. My homie's name is in the file. You gone three or four years. Just for hanging out. Then my daughter's 6 or 7 years old.”
On musicians as role models:
“Artists, we influence kids to smoke weed. We influence kids to gangbang, to do some fucked-up shit. It's sad to say, and most rappers try to act like we don't, but we do. Kendrick [Lamar], for instance, he puts a lot of people in good spirits. He influences them. What makes you think a nigga going through some shit in his life and you talking about some gangsta shit, he not gonna want to do it? I tell him how I was broke and I hit a lick and got $2000, what makes you think he's not gonna wanna be like, 'Ahhh, Q made it. He did it and still made it. I used to listen to 50 Cent and say, 'Ah he still made it, so can I.'”
On the best rappers:
“I hate [being compared to Kendrick]. But I'm not gonna sit here and act like Kendrick didn't help me become this artist. I learned a lot of shit from Kendrick. Kendrick is the man, bro. It's gonna be Jay-Z and Kendrick as the best rappers. Jay is the best rapper, hands down, dead or alive. If niggas say he's not, I be like, yeah, right. He's 43 years old, and I still don't think I can outrap that nigga.”
On (not) being underrated:
“I hate the question, 'How does it feel to be underrated?' How are you calling me underrated when I dropped one project? I'm not underrated, I'm actually doing good! Now, after I dropped Habits & Contradictions, and I'm still [not popping], THEN I'll be like, ok, I'm underrated.”
See also:
*Born and Raised in Compton, Kendrick Lamar Hides a Poet's Soul Behind “Pussy & Patron”
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