When you think of the TDE (Top Dawg Ent) label and the West Coast supergoup Black Hippy, the first name you'd think of would undoubtedly be Kendrick Lamar. The second you'd think of would most likely be that of ScHoolboy Q who, after three years, returns with his fifth studio album titled CrasH Talk.
On April 26th (the day of the album's release), ScHoolboy Q posted on insta-
which is in stark contrast to the album cover. It's an animation of a man (presumably Q) with a paper bag covering his head who, judging by the eyes, looks extremely depressed. Also a fair chunk of the tracks cover topics which wouldn't evoke emotions that you'd equate with being ecstatic. Sonically, tunes such as the 6lack-assisted Drunk; Dangerous (featuring Kid Cudi) and Black Folk certainly give off an 'emo' vibe with the lyrics to match. I'm guessing Schoolboy Q wrote that post like this.
Critically speaking, this is a tale of two sides. So let's cover the first portion of the album first... which, to me, is the 'bad' part...
If this is the 'happiest' Groovy Q's ever been with an album droppin' then this quite possibly came at the expense of the quality of his musical output. This is unfortunately not on the same level of his previous release(s). From looking at Metacritic, I'm not alone in thinking this as this is his lowest rated album to date.
Maybe my expectations were too high. His previous album Blank Face LP was one of the best-produced albums of 2016. So when I saw that the likes of DJ Dahi; Sounwave and Boi-1da were on production for this album, I was expecting more of the same. To my disappointment though, the album was predominantly trap beats and tbh I've never been a fan of trap. If you're a trap fan, you might like it way more than I did.
Still covering the first portion (from tracks 1-9), I would say Drunk was kinda dope although 6lack was severely underused. My dude didn't even get an 8-bar! This was a shame as this tune sounds more East Atlanta Love Letter than CrasH Talk. I gave Lies a couple wheel-ups as Ty Dolla $ign delivered a customary dope hook. I don't know how in-fashion trap music is now but I can imagine 5200 doing a madness in hip hop raves. The transition from track one to two was clean AF as well. Other than that, I wasn't too fussed about the rest of the tracks. CHopstix with Travis Scott could be a potential hit though.
Now for the other side (tracks 10 to 14) aka the 'good' part...
I was more or less ready to give up on this album until I heard Track 10, the DJ Dahi-produced Dangerous. Lemme talk about DJ Dahi real quick. On numerous occasions he has produced either the best or one of the best tracks on an artist's project. Case in point: GKMC- Money Trees; NWTS- Worst Behaviour; DAMN- Loyalty; BFLP- Neva CHange and he may have done it again on CrasH Talk with Dangerous. What starts off with quite an eerie guitar riff, the tune intensifies by the second with additional layers as Q gives a first-hand account of what sounds like a hallucinogen trip. Kid Cudi's (who's no stranger to drug abuse) vocals was made for this track and although this is only 150 seconds long, it's imo better than the first 9 tracks of this project.
The momentum continues as even though I'm not a fan of trap, I do f with Die Wit Em and Water. Them beats were tough.
One of the common criticisms of trap music is often the lack of emphasis on lyricism. While Q is far from a mumble rapper in terms of technical skills, his verbal ability definitely took a backseat for the majority of CrasH Talk. Luckily for the traditional hip hop fan (like myself), the Boi-1da produced CrasH (which samples Royce Da 5'9's trademark classic Boom) and the album's closer Attention shows he hasn't forgotten how to bar. A good level of multi-syllabic and internal rhyming on both tunes as he highlights past memories, present achievements as well as his future plans. Both of those tunes had that Blank Face LP feel that I was hoping to hear on this bumpy 39 minute ride.
Overall CrasH Talk had it's moments but if it weren't for the 2nd part of this album, this could've been a write-off. I'll give it a 6.
*2020 UPDATE*- The more trap I hear, the more I appreciate this album. I'm upgrading the score to a 7.
FAVES
Beat- Water
Verse-CrasH Verse 2
Feature- Kid Cudi (Dangerous)
Track- Dangerous
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