A Review of ScHoolboy Q's "CrasH Talk"
California rapper ScHoolboy Q hopes to make waves with the release of his 2019 album titled “CrasH Talk.” ScHoolboy Q, known for his aggressive cadence, has found success with hit songs like “Studio” featuring BJ The Chicago Kid, “Collard Greens” featuring Kendrick Lamar, “Man Of The Year,” “That Part” featuring Kanye West and many more. Prior to this release, ScHoolboy Q had put out two singles which both appear on the album, the first being “Numb Numb Juice” and the second being “CHopstix” featuring Travis Scott. Both singles were cool to me, however, I’m interested in the role the singles may play in the overall landscape of the album. With all this being said, let’s take a look at this tracklist. With “CrasH Talk,” ScHoolboy Q drops off fourteen songs which make up a total of forty minutes of music. Travis Scott, 6LACK, Ty Dolla $ign, YG, 21 Savage, Kid Cudi, and Lil Baby are featured on this album over the course of six songs on the album. The artists featured on this album add intrigue to the body of work as a whole for me, so without further ado, let’s get to the review!
Categories
The songs on this album divided into three lanes that are prevalent throughout the project
Turn Up Q
“Gang Gang” (1), “CHopstix” (ft. Travis Scott) (1), “Numb Numb Juice” (1), “Die Wit Em” (1)
These songs have a turn-up vibe to them with powerful bass-driven beats and the expected ScHoolboy Q aggressive cadences.
Slow Paced Q
“Tales” (1), “Drunk” (ft. 6LACK) (1), “Black Folk” (1), “Dangerous” (ft. Kid Cudi) (1), “CrasH” (1.5), “Attention” (1.5)
These songs are a chill turn from the Turn Up songs on the project. Their slow-paced beats and delivery by Q set a chill vibe throughout them.
Chillin Q
“Lies” (ft. Ty Dolla $ign & YG) (1.5), “5200” (1.5), “Floating” (ft. 21 Savage) (1.5), “Water” ft. Lil Baby (1)
These songs have a turn-up aspect to them as well as a chill aspect to them, leaving the listener to find the vibe within each song.
Must Listen Songs
The concept of Must Listen songs are the songs that would give the best overview of the album as a whole. Songs that stand out for reasons to be described in the pending descriptions of the songs.
“5200”
On the seventh song on this album, Kendrick Lamar makes an appearance on this album in the intro counting down until the bass-driven beat drops. This beat produced by Sounwave and !llmind is a nice one with a bass that doesn’t overpower the high hats and flutes in the background throughout the verses but the bass becomes more prominent towards the end of each verse creating a darker vibe to it. On the second verse, we see ScHoolboy Q incorporate the “ayy flow” which is something that we have seen throughout the album. He starts off the verse ending every line with an “ayy” or “uh” which gives the verse a bop to it.
“Die Wit Em”
The story on the eleventh song on “CrasH Talk” is ScHoolboy Q’s use of the “ayy” flow throughout the song. Firstly, this beat produced by Cardo and Johnny Juliano screams 21 Savage or Offset on it because of the darkness created by the bass that doesn’t seem to go away. I love the vibe of this beat with the bass in the forefront and with the high hats and melody in the background. Back to the use of the “ayy” flow, which I like as ScHoolboy Q’s default flow. The way he says “ayy” is so attention-grabbing that it’s hard to tune out his lyrics. The “ayy” flow also shortens the length of lines which make the lines more digestible for the listener.
“CrasH”
“CrasH” comes right after “Die Wit Em” on the album and let me just say that the transition between the two songs is executed perfectly. No dead space at all, I could never overlook a beat switch within a song or between two songs. That being said, this beat produced by Boi-1da is a background type beat allowing the lyricism of ScHoolboy Q to shine through on this song. Especially on the second verse where Q raps,
“You buy a chain, but won’t buy no land
That hashtag should say, “desperate”
It’s clear that the messages on this song were important and that is shown by the lyricism and how that works in conjunction with the high hat driven beat with a bass that comes in once in a while.
Final Review
ScHoolboy Q’s “CrasH Talk” is one of the best projects thus far into 2019. Q uses a lot of the “ayy” flow on songs like “Gang Gang,” “5200,” and “Die Wit Em” which brings a nice pace to each of the songs, also connecting them for one vibe that is consistent throughout the project. Q also shows some switches from his aggressive cadence on his song “Floating” featuring 21 Savage and many songs throughout the project. ScHoolboy Q also does a great job of incorporating features and putting them in spots where they would be comfortable. For example, “Lies” featuring Ty Dolla $ign and YG is a west coast beat that resembles the beats that they are known to be on while “Floating” featuring 21 Savage is a darker beat closer to the beats 21 Savage usually raps on. There was also a focus on drugs and the feeling of being on them that resembles close to J. Cole’s “KOD.” Throughout songs like “CrasH” there’s a deep-voiced adlib similar to J.Cole’s alter ego kiLL edward who appears on songs like “FRIENDS” on J.Cole’s last album. Overall, this is a great project from ScHoolboy Q, bordering taking the place as the classic ScHoolboy Q album.
Scoring
Raw Score: The number of good songs on a project versus the overall amount. Songs must have a +1 or above to be counted.
Quality Score: The total amount of points accumulated over the total amount of songs.
Playback value: The resonance an album is perceived to have if played again in full. Scale out of 5.
Raw Score: 14/14
Quality Score: 16.5/14
Playback Value: 4/5
Go out and listen to ScHoolboy Q’s “CrasH Talk” wherever you listen to your music! Also, don’t forget to check out OLDMLK’s Instagram page (@OLDMLK) and Twitter (@OLDMLKDOTCOM) for updates on OLDMLK.COM: The Most Essential Hip Hop Blog, The OLDMLK.Com Playlist, The OLDMLK Radar and more!
