Album Of The Week: Schoolboy Q Habits & Contradictions

The young L.A. rapper Kendrick Lamar is well on his way to becoming something truly special. Section.80, Kendrick's very strong 2011 album, was the work of a ferociously talented rapper and a restless, emotive mind. It wasn't perfect -- it chased a few too many half-baked ideas down different rabbit holes -- but it felt like the beginning of something exciting. And a couple of months ago, I saw a room full of UVA students chanting along with nearly every one of that album's twisty stanzas. The kid is catching on in a very real way. And now it's worth noticing that he doesn't come from a vacuum. In many ways, Kendrick is an heir to a long-storied L.A. rap underground that's historically found ways to be fun and adventurous in equal measures; he's got a ton of Pharcyde and Freestyle Fellowship in his creative DNA. And Kendrick is also one fourth of Black Hippy, a loose L.A. crew that includes three other rappers nearly as talented and inquisitive as Kendrick himself. Two days ago, Schoolboy Q, another Black Hippy member, dropped his new album Habits & Contradictions on iTunes. And like Section.80, this one seems like the work of a young, not quite fully-formed visionary. I wouldn't be surprised if thousands of college students were frantically attempting to memorize its verses at this exact moment.