Rob Markman
Schoolboy Q kept things simple when he touched the stage in New York City on Thursday night. There were no guest MCs or fancy tricks, just a whole lot of passion and unbreakable connection with his fans. Five minutes past 11:00 p.m., several hours after his appearance on “RapFix Live,” when the emerging Los Angeles MC took the stage setting things off with “Oxy Music” from his recently released Habits & Contradictions LP.
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From the top fans who packed into SOB’s recited the song’s hook word for word. “I got my hustle dog, I gets my hustle off, oxycotin, marijuan,” the spit in time with Q.
There was no Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock or Ab-Soul, but School proved that he could rock just as well without his Black Hippy counterparts. Ever the ball of energy Q jumped into the crowd during several occasions, choosing to perform in the crowd amongst his rowdy fans. Before performing “Duggys wit Hoes” the TDE spitter invited a fan named Ricky on stage with him to serve as his hypeman. Ricky was no Ab-Soul, but he sure was entertaining with his off-beat bops and spirited recital of each word.
A$AP Rocky wasn’t in attendance either, but that didn’t stop Schoolboy from performing his portion of their collaborative underground favorite “Brand New Guy.” Next he called Kendrick Lamar and put him on speaker phone for the New York crowd to hear. K.Dot requested his own “ADHD” and Schoolboy obliged by performing Kendrick’s Section.80 stand-out.
By the time Q finished the rambunctious “There He Go,” there was only one song left to rock. The packed club all rose to the occasion when the opening chords to “Hands on the Wheel” rung through SOB’s. At the night’s most exciting moment, TDE fans jumped up and down shouting “Weed and brews, weed and brews” as Q orchestrated the musical madness, just as he did all night long.