Schoolboy Q

In the mid-2000s, the independent label Top Dawg Entertainment began building a portfolio of young artists that would have a major influence on the future sound of hip-hop. Progressive and experimental in their production and lyrical content, Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, Jay Rock and ScHoolboy Q were put together as the rap collective Black Hippy, but they all quickly started to emerge as individual artists in their own right. More of a throwback to aggressive, 1990s gangsta rap than the others, ScHoolboy Q was raised in South Central, Los Angeles and despite being a talented athlete and bright student, he ended up joining the Crips gang and dealing drugs. Telling dark, gritty tales about growing up in his grandmother's apartment with a violent addict for an uncle, his breakthrough album Oxymoron became a huge success in 2014, topping the Billboard Charts and selling over 400,000 copies. The new level of fame and life as a major-label artist didn't come naturally to him, though, and he considered quitting the music industry before returning two years later with the Blank Face LP featuring guest appearances from Kanye West, SZA and Vince Staples. In 2019, after several delays, he released his fifth studio album CrashH Talk, debuting at number three on the Billboard 200. After a five-year break between albums, he returned in 2024 with his sixth studio effort Blue Lips, which was released through Top Dawg Entertainment and Interscope Records and charted at number 13 on the US Billboard 200.