Back in May we heard a snippet of rapper ScHoolboy Q’s Chromatics-sampling “Man of THe Year” at the end of his TDE label mate and rising superstar Kendrick Lamar’s “Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe” video. The thirty second preview could only satisfy fans for so long and after several delays of the release of his debut Oxymoron and a few less-exciting singles (“Collard Greens” excluded), it seemed like ScHoolboy’s hype had run dry among the online hip-hop community that gave him success in the first place. Well, forget all that because the full version of the track is finally here (released as part of the NBA Live videogame soundtrack) and it appears the ScHoolboy support movement has roared back to life. Lyrically we find Q back doing his hyped up sex fiend schtick. He’s rich, horny and has access to a lot of drugs, this isn’t new territory but he fits the role so well it doesn’t matter. The real star here is the beat, produced by Nez & Rio (and mixed by Ali as always), it features a prominent sample of Chromatics track “Cherry” and manages to simultaneously resemble the best of cloud-rap production (in fact cloud rapper Deniro Farrar flipped this same sample in a song earlier this year) with the radio potential of mainstream bangers.
Listen to “Man of THe Year” here and check out Oxymoron when it drops sometime early next year via TDE/Interscope.
By: Nathan Kerce