Habits & Contradictions

Habits & Contradictions
Studio album by Schoolboy Q
Released January 14, 2012
Recorded 2011
Studio
  • TDE Recording Studio
  • House of Pain, Carson
Genre
Length 67:42
Label Top Dawg
Producer
Schoolboy Q chronology
Setbacks
(2011)		 Habits & Contradictions
(2012)		 Oxymoron
(2014)
Singles from Habits & Contradictions
  1. "Druggys wit Hoes Again"
    Released: October 11, 2011[1]
  2. "Hands on the Wheel"
    Released: April 3, 2012[2]

Habits & Contradictions is the second studio album by American hip hop recording artist Schoolboy Q, released January 14, 2012, exclusively on iTunes, under Top Dawg Entertainment. The album features guest appearances from ASAP Rocky, Jhené Aiko, Dom Kennedy, Currensy, Ab-Soul, Kendrick Lamar and Jay Rock. The album's production was handled by American producers The Alchemist, Lex Luger, Mike Will Made It, Best Kept Secret and ASAP Ty Beats, as well as members of Top Dawg in-house production team Digi+Phonics.

Background

On September 22, 2011, via his Twitter feed, Schoolboy Q announced the title of his second independent album to be Habits & Contradictions. He described it as a "prequel to Setbacks".[3][4] On September 26, he released the first offering off the album, a song titled "Druggys wit Hoes Again" featuring Ab-Soul. The song was originally titled "Extra Pills", however Schoolboy Q said it reminded him so much of "'Druggys wit Hoes' times 10".[5] The song was later released to iTunes on October 11, 2011.[1]

On October 19, 2011, he leaked "There He Go", followed by "Oxy Music" on October 28. To keep promoting Habits & Contradictions he released "My Hatin' Joint" on November 15, 2011, succeeded by a music video for a track titled "Sacrilegious" on November 29, 2011.[6] On January 2, 2012, Schoolboy Q released another song, "Blessed" featuring Kendrick Lamar and announced the album's release date to be January 14, 2012.[7]

On January 6, 2012, via Twitter, Schoolboy Q revealed guest appearances on the album would include ASAP Rocky, Currensy and Dom Kennedy.[8][9][10] On January 6, Schoolboy Q also released a public service announcement for Habits & Contradictions, shot and edited by Dwayne LaFleur.[11] Complex named the song "Hands on the Wheel" number 12 on their list of the 50 best songs of 2012.[12] Complex also ranked the album cover the tenth best of 2012.[13]

Content

The album opens with "Sacrilegious" a morose narrative following the contradictions of a killer seeking salvation.[14] Aaron Matthews of Exclaim! noted "'Sacrilegious' and 'Blessed' bookend the album as dual statements of purpose; the former sees Q lamenting his gangbanging past, while the latter unites Q with fellow Black Hippy Kendrick Lamar to celebrate life and count his blessings."[15] OnSMASH claims "The 17 track project, due out January 14, is a look into Q's life, with tales of pill selling, life struggle, partying, religious hypocrites, his block and everything in between."[5]

Schoolboy Q sat down with freeOnSmash, for an interview and spoke on some of the tracks from the album, the interview was released on January 9, 2012. In the interview with freeOnSmash Schoolboy Q stated "Blessed" and "Sacrilegious" are "basically the two title tracks".[5]

He described "Blessed" is a record where, he's saying no matter how hard times are: "you can be straight. You're blessed bruh. There's no reason to be stressing the way you're stressing. Like I don't get this; I had somebody tell me they're broke, they're stressing with money, but how are you broke and you got your fucking cable on? It don't make sense. How when we about to go to the store, you got on a leather jacket, you got some Gucci and Jordan shoes talking about how you're broke? You might have to make better decisions, but at the end of the day, you're blessed bruh. Every day you have more than somebody. Every day. Every day you'll be doing better than somebody, so there's no reason to be complaining or stressing over shit even though it's gonna happen, but it comes a time where you gotta look at it like, "I'm straight." Better luck next week. Better luck tomorrow."[5]

His representation or account in words of "Sacrilegious" is: "It's about a motherfucker that's — he's trying, but he keeps contradicting himself. He's basically going to church and as soon as he leaves church, he's going to kill somebody. He just can't get over that hump with life and shit. With the video, I made the video to where at the end the nigga just killed himself going through so much trials and so much trouble in his life. Just wig yourself man, fuck it. That's what it comes down to when you're in that mind state and you just keep fucking up and bringing yourself down. All that shit just catches up and wears you down. People that are sacrilegious are the worst type of people man. They're worse than a liar to me."[5]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.5/10[16]
Metacritic78/100[17]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllHipHop7.5/10[18]
AllMusic[19]
The A.V. ClubB[20]
BPM87%[21]
The Boston Phoenix [22]
DJBooth3.5/5[23]
HipHopDX4/5[24]
Pitchfork8.4/10[25]
Rolling Stone[26]
XXL4/5[27]

Habits & Contradictions received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 78, based on 16 reviews.[17] On the week of its release Stereogum announced Habits & Contradictions as their 'Album of the Week'.[28] Jon Garcia of AllHipHop praised "his aggressive, almost angry, rapping style" claiming "there is no shortage of that here. 'Raymond 1969' sounds like something out of a horror film, with Schoolboy riffing about endless violent acts. The horror theme follows on 'Nightmare on Figg St', where Q makes a play on last year's biggest hit."[18] Nathan S. of DJBooth Called ScHoolboy Q "a versatile swingman with undeniable talent and the potential to become an All-Star in his own right" - referring to his Black Hippy cohorts Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar and Ab-Soul.[23] Exclaim! writer Aaron Matthews called the album's guest appearances "infrequent but well-chosen: 'Hands on the Wheel' reunites Q with ASAP Rocky over a moody Lissie loop to big up illegal substances, while 'Groovline Pt.1' boasts a surprisingly smooth Lex Luger concoction with verses by Currensy and Dom Kennedy." However Matthews ended with "Habits & Contradictions is a cohesive and compelling exploration of a man torn between his past and his present. Get the album."[15]

Ivan Rott of Hip Hop Is Read described Habits & Contradictions as "an impressively thorough project which further establishes [ScHoolboy Q's] trademark as a solo artist."[29] Henry Yanney of SoulCulture wrote "ScHoolBoy Q definitely stands as the most animated of the quartet and H&C really brings to life his attention grabbing, wild styles. From residing in a mellow trance on 'My Hatin' Joint' to breaking into somewhat scary hysterics on 'Oxy Music,' ScHoolBoy provides an energetic, eclectic listening experience. Yanney praised its raw sound: "Sounding very much like an underground album where the 'rules' are few and far between, ScHoolBoy Q's second street album is unadulterated material – which at times is raw even to the most sternest of ears. But Habits & Contradictions is a mesmerising listening experience; mixing the anger, exuberance and passionate flow of its protagonist with an eclipsing score, making for yet another staple moment for the small West Coast outfit taking huge strides with each release."[30] Jayson Greene of Pitchfork noted "Habits & Contradictions is, accordingly, a dark and moody listen, but it never bogs down in momentum or succumbs to despair".[25]

Accolades

Habits & Contradictions was named the fifth best album of 2012 by Complex.[31] The album was listed 31st on Stereogum's list of top 50 albums of 2012.[32] Pitchfork ranked it 25th on their Top 50 Albums of 2012 list[33] In October 2013, Complex named it the ninth best hip hop album of the last five years.[34]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 111 on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 3,000 digital copies in the United States.[35] In early hours of release, the album moved up to iTunes Top 10 Albums chart and stayed over within days after release. With only two days at retail the Top Dawg Entertainment release scanned nearly 4,000 units to crack the Top 100, without any marketing or advertising.[35] The album also debuted on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums at number twenty-five, Top Rap Albums at number sixteen, Top Independent Albums at number seventeen and at number three on the Top Heatseekers album chart respectively. As of February 2014, the album has sold 48,000 copies in the United States.[36]

Track listing

No. TitleProducer Length
1. "Sacrilegious"  Tabu 3:31
2. "There He Go"  Sounwave 3:20
3. "Hands on the Wheel" (featuring ASAP Rocky)Best Kept Secret 3:17
4. "Sex Drive" (featuring Jhené Aiko)THC 3:22
5. "Oxy Music"  THC 3:48
6. "My Hatin' Joint"  Mike Will Made It 4:15
7. "Tookie Knows (Interlude)"  
 1:26
8. "Raymond 1969"  
  • Sounwave
  • Dave Free
 4:51
9. "Sexting"  DJ Dahi 3:22
10. "Grooveline Pt. 1" (featuring Dom Kennedy and Currensy)Lex Luger 5:00
11. "Gangsta in Designer (No Concept)"  Willie B 3:48
12. "How We Feeling"  Dave Free 3:12
13. "Druggys wit Hoes Again" (featuring Ab-Soul)Nez & Rio 3:39
14. "Nightmare on Figg St."  ASAP Ty Beats 3:36
15. "My Homie"  The Alchemist 3:47
16. "Blessed" (featuring Kendrick Lamar)Dave Free 5:10
17. "Niggahs.already.know.davers.flow"  Nez & Rio 3:53
18. "2 Raw" (featuring Jay Rock)Tae Beast 4:39
Total length:
 67:42
Notes

"Raymond 1969", "How We Feeling" and "Blessed" do not appear on iTunes version of the album[37]

Sample credits

Charts

Chart (2012)[47] Peak
position
US Billboard 200 111
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard) 25
US Top Rap Albums (Billboard) 16
US Top Independent Albums (Billboard) 17
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard) 3

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Druggy's wit Hoes Again – Single by ScHoolboy Q – United States". iTunes. Retrieved April 2, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Hands On the Wheel – Single by ScHoolboy Q – United States". iTunes. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
  3. ↑ "my new ALBUM TITLE is (HABITS & contradictions) #HnC prequel 2 #setbacks – Q". Twitter. 2011-09-22. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
  4. ↑ "@ScHoolBoyQ". Twitter.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Exclusive: ScHoolboy Q "Figg Street Hippy"". 2012-01-09. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
  6. ↑ Mark Iraheta (November 29, 2011). "Video: Schoolboy Q "Sacrilegious"". Complex. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  7. ↑ "ScHoolboy Q – Blessed f. Kendrick Lamar (prod. Dave Free)". 2012-01-02. Retrieved 2012-01-03.
  8. ↑ "i got da Homie @asvpxrocky on #HnC JAN.14TH itunes". Twitter. 2012-01-06. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
  9. ↑ "i got da Homie @dopeitsdom on #HnC JAN.14TH itunes". Twitter. 2012-01-06. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
  10. ↑ "i got da Homie @CurrenSy_Spitta on #HnC JAN.14TH". Twitter. 2012-01-06. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
  11. ↑ "SCHOOLBOY Q – HABITS N CONTRADICTIONS (PSA)". 2012-01-06. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
  12. ↑ "12. Schoolboy Q f/ A$AP Rocky "Hands On the Wheel" – The 50 Best Songs of 2012". Complex. 2012-12-11. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  13. ↑ "10. ScHoolboy Q, Habits & Contradictions – The 25 Best Album Covers of 2012". Complex. 2012-12-13. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  14. ↑ Langley, J. T. (January 17, 2012). "Album Review: 'Habits And Contradictions' By ScHoolboy Q". Ology. Retrieved 2012-01-21.
  15. 1 2 Matthews, Aaron (January 17, 2012). "Schoolboy Q – Habits & Contradictions Hip Hop Reviews". Exclaim!. Retrieved 2012-01-21.
  16. ↑ "Habits & Contradictions by Schoolboy Q reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
  17. 1 2 "Critic Reviews for Habits & Contradictions at Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
  18. 1 2 Garcia, John (January 20, 2012). "Album Review: Schoolboy Q's "Habits & Contradictions"". AllHipHop. Retrieved 2012-01-21.
  19. ↑ Jeffries, David. "Habits & Contradictions ScHoolboy Q – Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  20. ↑ Rytlewski, Evan (2012-01-31). "Schoolboy Q: Habits & Contradictions · Music Review · The A.V. Club". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  21. ↑ "Album Review: Schoolboy Q – Habits & Contradictions | BPM". BPM. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  22. ↑ Michael C. Walsh (2012-01-31). "Schoolboy Q | Habits & Contradictions – CD Reviews". The Boston Phoenix. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  23. 1 2 S., Nathan (January 17, 2012). "Schoolboy Q – Habits & Contradictions – Hip Hop Album Review". DJBooth. Retrieved 2012-01-21.
  24. ↑ Krishnamurthy, Sowmya (2012-01-23). "ScHoolboy Q – Habits & Contradictions | Read Hip Hop Reviews, Rap Reviews & Hip Hop Album Reviews". HipHopDX. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  25. 1 2 Greene, Jayson. "Schoolboy Q: Habits & Contradictions | Album Reviews". Pitchfork. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  26. ↑ Jon Dolan (2012-01-30). "Habits Contradictions | Album Reviews". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  27. ↑ Fleischer, Adam (2012-01-19). "ScHoolboy Q, Habits & Contradictions – XXL". XXL. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  28. ↑ "Album Of The Week: Schoolboy Q Habits & Contradictions". Stereogum. January 17, 2012. Retrieved 2012-01-21.
  29. ↑ Rott, Ivan (January 30, 2012). "A$AP Rocky & ScHoolboy Q – Purple Reign". Hip Hop Is Read. Retrieved 2012-01-30.
  30. ↑ Yanney, Henry (January 18, 2012). "ScHoolBoy Q – Habits & Contradictions Album Review". SoulCulture. Retrieved 2012-01-21.
  31. ↑ "5. Schoolboy Q, Habits & Contradictions – The 50 Best Albums of 2012". Complex. 2012-12-18. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  32. ↑ "Stereogum's Top 50 Albums Of 2012". Stereogum. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  33. ↑ "Staff Lists: The Top 50 Albums of 2012 | Features". Pitchfork. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  34. ↑ "9. ScHoolboy Q, Habits & Contradictions (2012) – The 10 Best Rap Albums of The Last 5 Years". Complex. 2013-10-07. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  35. 1 2 Jacobs, Allen (January 18, 2012). "Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 1/15/2012". HipHopDX. Retrieved 2012-01-20.
  36. ↑ Ramirez, Rauly (February 26, 2014). "ScHoolboy Q Heading for No. 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  37. ↑ "Habits & Contradictions – Album by ScHoolboy Q – United States". iTunes. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
  38. ↑ "Schoolboy Q's THere He Go sample of Menomena's Wet and Rusting". WhoSampled. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  39. ↑ "Schoolboy Q's THere He Go sample of Monk Higgins' One Man Band (Plays All Alone)". WhoSampled. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  40. ↑ "Schoolboy Q's Hands on tHe WHeel sample of Lissie's Pursuit of Happiness". WhoSampled. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  41. ↑ "Schoolboy Q's My Hatin Joint sample of Brian Bennett's Image". WhoSampled. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  42. ↑ "Schoolboy Q's Raymond 1969 sample of Portishead's Cowboys". WhoSampled. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  43. ↑ "Schoolboy Q's Grooveline Pt. 1 sample of Marlena Shaw's Feel Like Makin' Love". WhoSampled. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  44. ↑ "Schoolboy Q's Gangsta in Designer (No Concept) sample of Genesis' Firth of Fifth". WhoSampled. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  45. ↑ "Schoolboy Q's Blessed sample of Soulstice's Fall Into You". WhoSampled. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  46. ↑ "Schoolboy Q's 2 Raw sample of Rick Wakeman's Merlin The Magician". WhoSampled. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  47. ↑ "ScHoolboy Q – Chart history". Billboard. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
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