This week, Schoolboy Q will release his first full-length album since 2019’s Crash Talk. The Top Dawg Entertainment OG has spent a few years out of the limelight enjoying fatherhood and working on his golf game, but this Friday (March 1) he’s dropping Blue Lips after spending much of the month promoting it. After announcing the album’s release date to begin the month, Q spent the next three weeks releasing new tracks to showcase its direction, including “Back In Love” and “Blueslides,” the defiant “Yeern 101,” “Cooties,” and “Lovebirds.” featuring Devin Malik and Lance Skiiiwalker.
Release Date
Blue Lips is out 3/1 via Top Dawg Entertainment/Interscope. Find more information here.
To date, the only official single is “Yeern 101,” but Q has released teasers for “Back N Love,” “Blueslides,” “Cooties,” and “Love Birds.”
Features
Blue Lips will feature AZ Chike on “Movie,” Jozzy on “Lost Times,” Freddie Gibbs on “Ohio,” Childish Major on “Pig Fee,” Rico Nasty on “Pop,” Ab-Soul on “Foux,” and Devin Malik and Lance Skiiiwalker on “Love Birds.”
Artwork
Schoolboy Q
Tour
Schoolboy Q hasn’t announced a tour for Blue Lips as yet, but if he does plan to do so, it could be after the album rollout is complete.
Blue Lips is almost here, and ahead of its release this Friday (March 1), ScHoolboy Q wanted to give us one more treat to hype us up. Moreover, he just revealed the updated tracklist for the album. It comprises of 18 tracks and nine feature performances between eight special guests. These are Rico Nasty on the second track “Pop,” Devin Malik and Lance Skiiwalker on the sixth track “Love Birds,” AZ Chike on the seventh track “Movie,” Freddie Gibbs on the ninth track “OHio,” Ab-Soul on the tenth track “Foux,” Devin Malik again on the thirteenth track “Back N Love,” Jozzy on the fourteenth track “Lost Times,” and Childish Major on the seventeenth track “Pig Feet.”
Of course, there is one particular name on here that fans will probably recognize thanks to the TDE MC’s previous praise of it. Freddie Gibbs is having a killer 2024 so far, and many hope that his feature here is even better than his appearance on Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign’s 2024 album Vultures 1 with “Back To Me.” In fact, ScHoolboy Q admitted that the Indiana MC bested him on this track, and we hope that it was a close race. After all, they’re both incredible lyricists with so much charisma and a wealth of experience and skill. Fortunately, it seems like everyone else here will also provide some amazing art.
ScHoolboy Q Drops Blue Lips Tracklist With Features
Furthermore, we can’t help but wonder what Jay-Z had to say about all this when he listened to Blue Lips with its creator. Amid other song snippet teases and a whole lot of hype, this is looking better with every new peep behind the curtain. Check out the full tracklist below and drop your predictions and expectations for the album down in the comments section. As always, stay posted on HNHH for the latest news and updates on ScHoolboy Q.
Blue Lips Tracklist 1. Funny Guy 2. Pop (feat. Rico Nasty) 3. THank God 4 Me 4. Blueslides 5. Yeern 101 6. Love Birds (feat. Devin Malik & Lance Skiiiwalker) 7. Movie (feat. AZ Chike) 8. Cooties 9. OHio (feat. Freddie Gibbs) 10. Foux (feat. Ab-Soul) 11. First 12. Nunu 13. Back N Love (feat. Devin Malik) 14. Lost Times (feat. Jozzy) 15. Germany 86′ 16. Time Killers 17. Pig Feet (feat. Childish Major) 18. Smile
March 1 can’t come soon enough, because ScHoolboy Q’s new album Blue Lips seems better with every look. Moreover, he recently held an album listening party for the upcoming and highly anticipated project at El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles, California on Sunday (February 25). Specifically, the TDE spitter previewed a particularly grimy, rambunctious, and heavy banger that had the crowd going wild. If this is the kind of quality rapping, impactful production, and charismatically energetic performance that we can expect from this LP, then we’re likely going to get one of the best hip-hop full-lengths of the whole year.
Furthermore, this preview is also particularly exciting because we can only imagine how Hov must’ve reacted to it. After tweeting about his desires to play Blue Lips for Jay-Z ahead of its release, ScHoolboy Q actually linked up with him for a listening session. This was partly due to “hip-hop Twitter” blowing this wish up, and he even thanked a particular account for tagging the Roc Nation legend on the social media platform to make it happen. Just goes to show that in this Internet age, listeners can be the bridge between artists and provoke some amazing things, however casual they may seem.
Back to this snippet, though, it will be interesting to see how this cut meshes with previous Blue Lips singles like “Cooties” and “Love Birds.” Apparently, ScHoolboy Q is going to bring a lot of different aesthetics, moods, appeals, and sounds to this album, and seeing this versatility grow from its already impressive state is a treat. What’s more is that he seems just as excited to put it out as fans are to listen to it. After all, it’s been almost five years of studio album silence, yet the excitement for the next chapter’s never wavered.
Meanwhile, the West Coast native’s upcoming release also got praise from the likes of Vince Staples. How are these snippets and singles shaping up for you? However you may feel about Blue Lips, let us know in the comments section down below. Also, for more news and the latest updates on ScHoolboy Q, keep checking in with HNHH.
On Feb. 25th, ScHoolboy Q celebrated the 10th anniversary of his album Oxymoron. According to research conducted by Megaways-Casino, it stands as his most popular work to date. On Spotify, the track “Collard Greens” has amassed 595,743,669 streams, while “Man of the Year” boasts 383,195,149 streams. Monetizing these two tracks alone, estimates suggest a revenue of approximately $3,916,444.44.
ScHoolboy Q is dropping his highly-anticipated new album Blue Lips this Friday (March 1), and he and fans just found yet another reason to be super excited for it. Moreover, you may recall that he shared this jitteriness with Twitter recently, expressing wishes to play this album for Jay-Z. Well, it looks like hip-hop Twitter did its thing and made it happen, because Hov and the TDE MC posed for some pictures online and the latter confirmed that he was able to fulfill his wish. “HipHop twitter actually came tHru, played Hov tHe album,” he tweeted on Monday (February 26).
“I lokey Hate HipHop Twitter, tHey looked out tHo so I love em again,” ScHoolboy Q expressed jokingly in a follow-up tweet. In fact, he even specifically shouted out Joey from @gothamhiphop for posting the tweet that got Jay-Z’s attention. Even though the California native doesn’t want a Bobbi Althoff interview, it’s nice to see that he was able to manifest the meetings that he actually wanted. All in all, this really builds up even more anticipation for Blue Lips, and sets it up as one of 2024’s biggest music moments.
Furthermore, looking at ScHoolboy Q’s past comments on Jay-Z, this admiration is understandable. “Nas is my favorite rapper. I also think Jay-Z is the best rapper to ever rap,” he said back in a 2013 interview. “Just because he’s at his age and what he’s doing and he still is relevant. He’s been doing it for years and [he’s] consistent.” “Honestly, I think Jay-Z won [the Nas beef],” Q told VladTV around the same time. “I mean, Nas is my favorite rapper, but Jay-Z, he was pretty scandalous.
“Jay is the best rapper and everybody don’t wanna believe that,” he added. “Jay, even though Nas is my favorite, Jay is like LeBron, Kobe, Jordan, people just wanna say no or hate. He’s so good you got to hate him.” We can only wonder what the Roc Nation leader thought of the “Cooties” MC’s new record. For more news and the latest updates on ScHoolboy Q and Jay-Z, keep checking in with HNHH.
TDE has long held its position as the home to one of the best artist rosters in all of hip hop. Despite Kendrick Lamar departing the label in 2022, the lineup still consists of artists such as ScHoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, SZA, Isaiah Rashad, and many others. Unfortunately, the label has also garnered a reputation in the past few years for allegedly preventing their artists from releasing music for years at a time, prompting labels like Dreamville and Quality Control to put out a much larger and more compelling body of work. However, several posts from Top Dawg signees and label heads seem to hint that 2024 will be a massive year for the label, with several announced projects already in the works.
In late January, a leaked TDE release schedule began circulating the internet, with many fans unsure of the document’s validity. The document outlines a release order for over a dozen Top Dawg artists, all expected to land on streaming in 2024.
The fact that ScHoolboy Q will release his 6th studio album next week suggests some validity behind the leak, as he occupies the first position on the list. If this leak proves true, listeners can anticipate a SiR album shortly after Q releases Blue Lips, closely followed by Jay Rock’s next album. According to the leak, rapid subsequent album releases will follow by artists such as Doechii, Ray Vaughn, and Zacari, before SZA finally drops the long-awaited SOS deluxe album, Lana. Then, fans could expect new music from Ab-Soul and Isaiah Rashad.
Top Dawg and Punch at the Billboard Power 100 Event held at NeueHouse Hollywood on January 31, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty Images)
The Top Dawg 2024 roster lists several relatively new artists who have found a home on the California-based label, including Kal Banx, Devin Malik, and Lance Skiiiwalker. Most surprisingly, however, the image also suggests that the label will be dropping records from three unnamed artists, redacted in the style of a classified government form. If all goes according to plan for TDE, this would reinvigorate the label as one of the best homes for high-quality hip hop known to the music industry, rivaling historic successes from the likes of Death Row and G-Unit Records.
Jay Rock reveals TDE compilation album – celebrating 20 years of the label will release Top Of The Year. – Majority of the Black Hippy will be in the album toopic.twitter.com/DJR2kJwLtu
Despite Kendrick’s departure from the label, Jay Rock has confirmed that a compilation project celebrating 20 years of Top Dawg Entertainment is set to release in 2024, featuring “a majority of Black Hippy on that thang.” It’s still unclear if the album will be composed of previously released music in the vein of a greatest hits LP, or if the project will have numerous brand new songs on it. However, Jay Rock has specified that he and his label-mates have been hard at work on the compilation, with the album release planned for the first quarter of 2024.
For now, we’ll still have to wait and see what TDE has planned in 2024. The only album 100 percent confirmed with a release date is ScHoolboy Q’s Blue Lips, though many other projects are currently in the works at the prolific label. If Top Dawg Entertainment releases even a fraction of the albums they’ve promised for 2024, this year will certainly go down in history as the label’s greatest achievement.
Vince Staples’ praise means a lot, as he’s defined himself as a compelling and intelligent voice on music, entertainment, culture, sports, and so much more. Still, many fans see him as a rapper at heart, and they love to hear him collaborate with his fellow creatives. Moreover, the Long Beach native answered a question about whether or not he’d appear on ScHoolboy Q’s upcoming album Blue Lips. While it seems like it won’t be the case, he did give his West Coast partner high acclaim. “No but I heard it and hit several dance moves it’s his best yet,” the 30-year-old replied.
Furthermore, Vince Staples and ScHoolboy Q go way back. They toured together with Isaiah Rashad a decade ago and collaborated on Q’s 2016 album Blank Face on the track “Ride Out,” plus Traffic’s 2017 cut “All Blue Everything.” Back in 2014, Vince spoke to DJ Vlad on how the “Yeern 101” MC touches on important issues that music can sometimes miss. “The sincerity in ScHoolboy’s music, to me, just comes from the actuality of the situation,” he shared. “A lot of my family is from the hood or whatever, so a lot of my people, they still on that s**t. And you need s**t like Chief Keef, but that s**t really be making n***as wanna go kill n***as, for real. But then you need s**t like ScHoolboy that’s really gonna have motherf***ers really trying to better they self in life.”
“Q will tell you if he likes something, if he didn’t like something,” Vince Staples told us of ScHoolboy Q during a 2022 interview. “He’s not very wordy so he’s like, ‘It’s cool.’ He liked it. So, that’s always a good thing to hear. I go to Q kind of to hear what he doesn’t like more than what he does, and he didn’t seem to have many complaints, so I was happy about that.”
Meanwhile, even though the Prima Donna lyricist won’t appear on this LP, the TDE mainstay did excitedly gas up another guest appearance on the album recently. Apparently, Freddie Gibbs“low-key washed” him with his feature on the project, which is very exciting to hear considering how great they both tend to be on the mic. With all this hype in mind, it looks like Blue Lips is going to be fireworks. For more news and the latest updates on Vince Staples and ScHoolboy Q, check back in with HNHH.
It’s getting busier and busier for new hip-hop releases in 2024, and our Fire Emoji playlist update is here to round it all up. Moreover, we’ve highlighted the best of the best new music drops this week for your convenience, and we have a big one to start off with. Yeat just dropped his highly anticipated studio album 2093, and its lengthy tracklist contains a lot of standouts. If you want some appetizers to ease you in, we’d recommend the Future-assisted “Stand On It” and the Lil Wayne-assisted “Lyfestylë,” plus the brand-new Drake collab “As We Speak,” which isn’t on the playlist but warrants a mention.
Next on our Fire Emoji update is the new song from Tierra Whack, “27 CLUB,” ahead of her new album dropping later this year. It’s a solemn and dreamy cut that leans more into soulful and low-key atmospheres rather than a straight-up banger, but it still resonates a lot. In addition, speaking of an upcoming album, ScHoolboy Q just dropped his Blue Lips single “Yeern 101.” With distorted bass, clubby claps, fast flows, and sharp snares, this is an exciting new direction for the TDE veteran that sets his next project up to impress.
Beyond singles for upcoming albums and other, more developed rollouts, we also have a lot of loosies to cover on Fire Emoji this week. Buddy’s “Like This” is a great example, whose breezy and crisp instrumentation showcases it as a great standalone pallet cleanser. Also, Gunna came through with another somber, guitar-led cut with “Bittersweet,” whose melodies, sentiment, and mood definitely reflect that emotion. Planet Giza’s “2wice Again” melds R&B and pristine boom-bap in a similarly melancholy way, and we hope there’s much more of where these singles came from. We apologize if these artists are leading up to projects and we’re just waffling about loose tracks.
Rounding out the list is Bryson Tiller with “Whatever She Wants,” whose lo-fi but bouncy beat provides a lot of energy for his passionate vocals. Finally, one of the best drops this week was Conway The Machine and Joey Bada$$’ long overdue team-up, “Vertino.” Let us know what your favorite Fire Emoji inclusion was this week -– and what else we missed, too. Check out the playlist above and stick around on HNHH for more great music drops around the clock.
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played Hov tHe album,” he later tweeted.
(@3ternalsirenity) 