No one realized or expected it, but when Schoolboy Q released his third studio album, Oxymoron, he was providing us with a classic. The mix of West Coast and Gangsta style rap could almost be compared to a personal narrative, as he raps of his experiences selling drugs and his time on the streets of Los Angeles.

The February 25 release supplies anything from slow, relaxing beats to quick, bouncy tunes to anything in between.

Appropriately titled Groovline, Pt. 2, the song is barely more than a freestyle as far as the rapping from Q and featured artist Suga Free goes, and the simple beat in the background makes the listener want to lean back, relax and, well, just groove. Having the opposite effect, one of the most popular songs on the album is Man of the Year, which basically forces anyone within earshot to bounce their body in sync with it and sing along.

Oxymoron has received mostly positive reviews and is currently ranked at number 46 on the overall Billboard 200 chart and debuted at number 1 in the R&B/Hip-Hop section upon its release.

Q released four singles: Collard Greens, Man of the Year, Break the Bank and Studio, with Collard Greens taking the world by storm with a dominant performance by Q and fellow Top Dawg label mate and Hip-Hop superstar Kendrick Lamar. The jittery song filled with dings, pops and thumps of all kinds draw the listeners attention to the equally catchy lyrics.

As far as the featured artists go, Q struck gold for the most part. Jay Rock (Los Awesome), Kendrick Lamar (Collard Greens) and Tyler, The Creator (The Purge) were the standouts in my opinion. The vocals of SZA also greatly contributed to His & Her Friend.

Unsurprisingly, however, the 2 Chainz feature on What They Want has me stuck between loving the song and hating it, as the quality Mike Will Made It production is drowned out by Mr. Chainz ranting about rice, the police and whatever “yayo” ism, but I guess that’s why the music gods created the ‘skip’ button.

Possibly the worst part is the fact that the best song is available only by the purchase of the album through Target. And that’s why the gods created all those pirated music websites, right? Not that I would ever stoop to that level or anything.

Californication is my jam, plain and simple. The non-stop, heavy bass added to the fast paced rapping makes some of me want to start a riot. The A$AP Rocky feature is the best on the album by miles and pairs fantastically with Schoolboy Q. If I were any good at baseball, this is the song I would have them play for me when I step up to bat, because the energy just penetrates my soul and could be compared to musical caffeine. Also, the fact that there’s a whole six and a half minutes of such beauty is just icing on the cake.

Overall, it’s a great album and Q’s not only a great rapper, but a smart one too, which is rare at the moment. He does a great job with the balance of album and perfectly places features on certain songs.

However, when I’m listening to this one on shuffle I have a hard time telling which song is which as many are very similar to others, which doesn’t make them stand out as much. Granted that’s partially due to the producers job, Q should still be able to make the difference.

Basically any true rap fan will find at least one or two songs that appeal to them, and if they have a wide range of styles that they enjoy, then they’d might as well stop reading this now and go buy it.

Bravo Mr. Q.