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| ScHoolboy Q | |
|---|---|
| Age | |
| Also known as | |
| Birth date | October 26, 1986 |
| Birth name | Quincey Matthew Hanley |
| Born in | Wiesbaden, Germany |
| Origin | South Figueroa Corridor, South Central Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Styles | West Coast hip hop gangsta rap American hip hop |
| Occupation(s) | Rapper |
| Years active | 2007–present |
| Label(s) | Top Dawg Entertainment, Interscope Records (current), G.E.D. Inc. (former) |
| Associated acts | |
| Website | |
Quincey Matthew Hanley (born October 26, 1986), better known by his stage name Schoolboy Q (often stylized ScHoolboy Q), is an American hip hop recording artist from South Central Los Angeles, California. In 2009, Hanley signed to Carson-based independent record label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) and in late 2011, secured a recording contract with major label Interscope Records. Hanley is also a member of the hip hop supergroup Black Hippy, alongside his label-mates and fellow California-based rappers Ab-Soul, Jay Rock and Kendrick Lamar.
In 2008, Hanley released his first full-length project, a mixtape titled ScHoolboy Turned Hustla. He later released a follow-up in 2009, titled Gangsta & Soul. He then returned in January 2011, with his first independent album, titled Setbacks. The project, released under TDE, to digital retailers only, reached number 100 on the US Billboard 200 chart. A little over a year later, his second independent album Habits & Contradictions, was also released exclusively to digital retailers. The album received generally favorable reviews and debuted at number 111 on the US Billboard 200.
After signing with Interscope, Hanley subsequently began recording his major-label debut studio album, titled Oxymoron. The album was released on February 25, 2014 and debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200. The album was supported by the singles "Yay Yay", "Collard Greens", "Man of the Year", "Break the Bank" "Studio" and "Hell of a Night", with "Collard Greens", "Man of the Year" and "Studio" all charting on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Early life[]
Quincey Hanley was born October 26, 1986, on a military base in Wiesbaden, Germany.[4][2] His parents split up before he was born, and his mother gave him a surname different to those of both his parents, supposedly at random. His father remained in the Army while his mother left and moved with Hanley to Texas for a couple years, before settling in California.[3] He grew up in Los Angeles, California, on 51st Street, neighboring Figueroa and Hoover Street. He claims to have been playing American football from the age of six years old, up until he was 21. Hanley played receiver, cornerback, and tailback, and in college he played receiver and returner.
After graduating Crenshaw High School, Hanley went on to attend Glendale Community College, Los Angeles City College, Southwest College and West Los Angeles College, the latter of which is where he played football for the West Los Angeles Oilers: "I went to West L.A. college, I went to Southwest college, LACC, and Glendale. I didn't really get the school like that. I would go to practice and go home. I wasn't really paying attention in class. I was just in there making sure I did enough work so I could still be eligible. I wasn't really trying to pass the class. I was just trying to be eligible to play football." As to how he came up with his stage name: "When I was in school, all the homies called me Schoolboy. I wore glasses and I had a 3.3 in high school, before fucking up my senior year gang-banging. My name's Quincey, so I just stick to Schoolboy Q."
Growing up on Hoover Street, Hanley joined a street gang called the 52 Hoover Gangster Crips: "I was gang-banging at 12. I was a Hoover Crip. My homies were doing it and I wanted to do it. I can't really explain that. I didn't get into it with another hood or anything like that. I was just following the leader." Before turning to music, Hanley became a drug dealer selling Oxycontin, and for a short time crack and marijuana: "I was selling Oxycontin. I sold crack a little bit, but I didn't make a whole lot of money selling crack or weed or any of that. I made a lot of money selling Oxycontin. I used to go out of town and get it. You just sit back, your homie tell you about this person, and that person spread the word. And then they come to you. You don't need to get that hype. So I was selling all types of shit. Got beat up, beat shit up." In 2007, he was arrested for a crime he won't disclose and says he was sent to jail for six months, half of which he finished on house arrest: "When I was 21 I got arrested and went to jail. I got a felony charge and they gave me a strike too. I don't be putting out what my charge was but it wasn't a sexual thing." He revealed on reddit that it was related to a home invasion but did not go in to detail.
Musical career[]
2006–09: Career beginnings[]
Schoolboy Q has said he wrote his first verse when he was 16, but wasn't serious about music until he was 21. Music became his way of expressing himself: "I wrote my first verse when I was 16. I wasn’t really rapping, but you know everybody wrote a verse before. I wrote the verse but I wasn't really fucking with it. By 21, I started to really get into it and gained a passion for it. You got to let your aggression out, so you got to get in the booth and let it out. I was really working on my craft, studying music, and I became Q. I did all of it, school and the streets. I was just lost; I didn't know what I wanted to do. I was just trying to do something. Then I found music and it was just over after that. I made my first little bit of money doing music, after that I wanted to get used to doing it, and I kept rapping. Then it became something that I had to do."
In 2006, he began to work with Top Dawg Entertainment, a Carson-based independent record label, recording at their studio House of Pain and collaborating with their artists. His first time at the studio he worked with his soon to be Black Hippy cohorts Jay Rock and Ab-Soul: "I walked in and the beat was playing. Ali told them that I rap. Punch told me to jump on the beat. It was a record that Jay Rock and Ab-Soul were writing to, so then I wrote it. Punch liked it and he told me to come back through. I kept coming back, kept getting better, and eventually they signed me to [Top Dawg Entertainment]." On July 29, 2008, Hanley released his first mixtape titled Schoolboy Turned Hustla, with G.E.D. Inc., the same imprint that helped launch the career of fellow West Coast rapper Tyga, with whom Schoolboy Q worked with early in their respective careers. After the release of Schoolboy Turned Hustla, he signed a deal with Top Dawg Entertainment in 2009, where he later formed Black Hippy, with fellow label-mates and frequent collaborators, Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock and Ab-Soul.
In 2009, Hanley was involved in a short-lived "beef" with fellow West Coast rapper 40 Glocc. ScHoolboy Q released a diss track titled "Ezell (40 Glocc Killa)", where he questions 40 Glocc's gang-banging. Hanley later stated in a video interview as to why they were "beefing": "He made some false statements about my boy, Tyga, that's my little brother. He did a lot of fake stuff with Wayne, a lot of lies, rumors and childish shit that I really didn't like, and I really felt disrespected by this clown saying all this shit so I just had to like air it out". He went on to say "It's over with, I did what I did, I said what I said and I won't diss him no more, because it's obvious he ain't on my level...so why categorize myself with a loser?". Hanley released Gangsta & Soul, his second mixtape on May 14, 2009, which included the aforementioned diss track. The mixtape was his first official project with Top Dawg, which presented the mixtape alongside G.E.D. Inc.
Musical style[]
Influences[]
ScHoolboy Q cites American East Coast rappers Nas, Jay-Z, The Notorious B.I.G., Mobb Deep, Beanie Sigel, 50 Cent, and Wu-Tang Clan along with West Coast rappers Kurupt and 2Pac, as artists who influenced him: "But Biggie, Nas and 50 Cent [are my biggest influences]". He claims Queens rapper Nas, is his all-time favorite rapper. In several interviews, Schoolboy Q has stated 50 Cent is the biggest reason he started to take rapping and his music career seriously, even going as far as saying 50 Cent probably saved his life:
Rapping technique[]
In an interview with Complex magazine, he stated he got his "rhyme-style" from Brooklyn rapper Jay-Z: "I got [my rhyme style] from Jay-Z though. If you really listen to Jay-Z, he has a new sound every time he raps. It's never the same. He might use a little swag, but it's always like a different flow. So that's all I try to do." He says he chooses to not always do the traditional style of rapping, having no restrictions when he raps: "But at the same time, it's just a feeling I can't really explain. You got to be wiser to stay on the track, but there's no rules. When you start rapping with rules, it’s when you start sounding boring. You may hear me fuck with my voice, you may hear me do a two-bar pause, you may hear me do an odd 33 bars instead of 30. Give you 14 bars instead of 16." Schoolboy Q has said: "what I get from 50 [Cent] is a lot of aggression", in a 2012 interview, adding "he basically birthed my whole style". ScHoolboy Q has been called very versatile with his rapping, as proven on his albums Setbacks and Habits & Contradictions. LA Weekly noted on Setbacks: "His style had begun to take shape, with his penchant for stretching vowels like Silly Putty or slurring a word and then snapping back into double time."
Personal life[]
Schoolboy Q has a daughter, born in 2010, named Joy Hanley, whom he has mentioned in several of his songs. She has also appeared in several of his music videos, notably "Phenomenon", "Nightmare on Figg St.", "There He Go" and "Break the Bank".[17] Schoolboy Q's daughter was also involved in his major-label debut album Oxymoron, where she appeared on the album cover and had various speaking parts throughout the album.[74]
Schoolboy Q revealed why he capitalizes the letter H in all his words when he tweeted: "wHy my H always capitalized???? HIIIPOWER X HIPPY X HOOVER X HEAVEN & HELL AKA MY LIFE."
Discography[]
- Main article: Schoolboy Q discography
- Main article: Black Hippy discography
- Setbacks (2011)
- Habits & Contradictions (2012)
- Oxymoron (2014)
Links[]
See Also[]
- List of Rappers and Rap Groups
- List of Rappers
- List of American rappers and rap groups
- List of Greater Los Angeles Area rappers and rap groups
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