ScHoolboy Q has returned with CrasH Talk, his follow-up to 2016’s Blank Face LP featuring Travis Scott, 21 Savage, Kid Cudi, Lil Baby, Ty Dolla $ign, and more. The album arrives after the TDE rapper scrapped multiple albums he recorded while going through depression. To discuss the album, Genius' Head of Artist Relations Rob Markman convened a panel with Power 105.1 on-air personality and DJ Nyla Symone, Grass Routes Podcast host Brandon Hall, and cultural critic Jameer Pond on the latest episode of For The Record.
To open the discussion, Pond said he wasn’t sure what to expect from CrasH Talk. “He put out a tweet like, ‘Drug addicted Q was dead. Fat Q is dead. Groovy Tony dead. This is CrasH Talk Q,’” he remembered. “I didn’t know what that meant, and because he has been going through the death of Mac [Miller] and depression… I didn’t know what to expect with this project. I’m just glad that he’s able to ever evolve, he’s one of those artists that continues to do that.”
Hall felt like Q didn’t address his depression in depth. “It’s kind of a let down for me just because I connect with the artist, I’m following your journey, I’m rooting for you and I would like to hear how you got up out of it,” he said. “‘Cause maybe it could help me in the future, or maybe it could help somebody in the future. I just feel like it just fell short a little bit. It touches on it and hints at certain things, but he doesn’t really go in depth with darkest moments and I felt like for his audience I think they needed that.”
Symone stressed that Q wasn’t obligated to share his dark experiences. “I don’t think vulnerability and depression are the same thing,” she said. “So the fact that this album isn’t dark, like I’m kind of happy to see that ‘cause it’s him getting out of it. Just because he was sad doesn’t mean he has to share that.”
Watch the full discussion above, and read all the lyrics to ScHoolboy Q CrasH Talk on Genius now.
